Spring has Sprung?

Thursday, March 20, 2008

 

Overnight I upgraded my operating system to Vista Service Pack One and so far everything seems to be working.  The update went smoothly if you discount the time involved:

 

1. Half an hour to run checkdisk on the drive
2. Twenty minutes to run System File Checker
3. An hour to back up all my files
4. An hour and a half to download the update—things went slowly last night even at 1 AM
5. Half an hour to initiate the installation
6. Then three reboots and an hour to complete the install including a DOS System File scan.
7.  And finally two more reboots to get the system to function properly. 

 

 

By my count that’s a five-hour update.  I hope it was worth it.  By my calculations that cost $100.00.  The first two steps are necessary to ensure a smooth update, the third was insurance.  One is also advised to update all one’s drivers before one starts though it is considered inadvisable to update a video driver unless it’s giving problems. 

 

I’m somewhat more gruntled than I was at this point yesterday, Wednesday, and discovered that after spending at least four hours getting my apartment ready for the plumbers to change the shut-off valves in my apartment I came home to discover that the work hadn’t been done.  To add insult to injury the task wasn’t accomplished because the plumber was diverted upstairs because the imbecile in the unit directly above me who has been making all his neighbour’s lives uncomfortable with his eternal renovation for the past two years had broken something.  You might say I went postal. 

 

Holy Saturday

 

Or so the day is designated in the church calendar.  Didn’t get around to writing yesterday.  This week marked the death of Arthur C. Clark the visionary behind 2001: A Space Odyssey and author of more than seventy books at the age of 90.  Also the sudden death of the 54-year-old Anthony Minghella after surgery in London. 

 

I seem to be catching up on my unwatched movie collection as the number of recent new reviews in my sister blog will indicate.  On Monday I managed to get to my local grocer’s to replenish my pantry.  That leisurely stroll took 2 hours the challenge of finding the items I want in a store where things continually get moved about making the job take longer than I’d prefer.  When I got home unpacking took another two hours.  At least I got to listen to podcasts and eat supper while I unpacked and put things away.  When I finally got to sit down fell asleep in an upright position and slept for nearly four and a half hours with the TV on but not playing and lights blazing. 

 

Tuesday I dropped by Future Shop and picked up the movie Atonement on my way home from work.  Ended up spending much of the evening writing two letters. 

 

Got up early Wednesday to get my apartment readied for the plumber as noted above.  Ate out on the way home to ensure they’d be finished when I arrived.  So much for that. 

 

The installation of Vista Service Pack 1 seems neither to have repaired nor impeded the operation of any system on my computer that I’ve been able to detect so far.  At least it appears to have been a benign procedure, for which I’m thankful.

Beware the Ides of March

Luckily my name isn’t Julius, I’m not an emperor, I don’t know anyone named Marcus Brutus, and I feel no need to go out today. I just spent some time exploring my Blogs online. I’m approaching the second anniversary of my blogging venture and have made 310 entries to date or one every other day. Apparently 165 people have visited my blog. I write most of my entries in Microsoft Word 2002 and post them by E-mail using Windows Mail—formerly Outlook Express but my laptop is blessed with Vista. When I take the time to see what happens when the entry is translated to the blogger I am mystified as to why a single document manages to get translated using different fonts, sizes and even colours for the text. When I add pictures to my movie reviews even weirder things happen. Oh Well, I hope my readers are more tolerant than the one commenter who posted an obscene rant I promptly deleted.

Just checked the weather. If I manage to overcome my trepidations about meeting men with daggers there may be some sun in the offing today. With rain featuring in the forecast for next week I suppose I’d better enjoy the sun while it lasts. We have indeed broken a 1939 record for snowfall in the Toronto area. Somehow it seems like a dubious accomplishment.

After waiting nearly twenty years to have the shut-off valves in my apartment replaced so that I may deal with my dripping faucets and plumbing I was bemused this week to learn that it will finally get done because water is dripping into a neighbour’s ceiling. Guess I should have thought of that one years ago. Whatever it takes I suppose.

Yes, I realize this is no longer the Ides of March but I ran out of steam. I also neglected to wind my striking clock so it too needs attention. I noticed today that one of my calendars still reads February—if I wait I can switch it to April and save the bother. Outside the sun is peering out through a hazy sky and the temperature is hovering around the freezing point. Not a temperature calculated to make our mountains of snow disappear anytime soon but a comfort to those concerned over the risk of flooding. With heavy rain predicted mid-week those in low-lying areas still have cause for concern. If I pay attention to where I place my feet it should be safe to take a walk today. After all, if you believe MacLean’s Magazine, Oakville is one of the safest places in Canada or indeed the world to live. But that’s another blog.

Elecro-Convulsive Shock Treatment

The history of the treatment of mental illness is one of closets and fads.  Whether it be Mrs. Rochester confined to the attic at Thornfield Manor or the inmates of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; the arts have followed the trends of the times.  Although confining a person in restraints to a small dark room may no longer be considered humane and lobotomies are no longer performed the use of trauma in the treatment of depression has a long tradition because it works and does so almost immediately.  The larger issue has always been at what cost in terms of long-term side-effects to the patient involved. 

 

Cold showers may well snap a catatonic out of stasis temporarily but are not effective on a long-term basis. Insulin Shock Treatment may also work but has other dire consequences.  We know so little about how our minds work that finding treatments when they malfunction is very much an inexact science.  We have all heard about the placebo effect which uses the power of suggestion to affect a therapeutic result. Shock however applied introduces blunt trauma which serves to reconcentrate the mental processes on other things.  If you leg is amputated the blister on your finger may well stop throbbing.  If your house burns down that leaking tap will no longer be an issue. 

 

Electro-Convulsive Shock Treatment seems to have a polarizing effect on those in the mental health profession; one is either enthusiastically in favour or vehemently opposed.  My second-year university Abnormal Psych Professor spent nearly a quarter of our class time inveighing against its use.  Watching a patient who was formerly a crack-a-jack cribbage player rendered incapable of telling a Jack from an Ace leaves a lasting impression. 

 

The rehabilitation of ECT as a treatment for depression seems to have coincided with our current shortage of doctors and in-patient facilities.  The current thinking tends toward the rapid re-integration of mental patients back into the society at large.  This has led to the closure of many long-term care facilities.  Psycho-therapy whether one-on-one or in a group setting is a long-term proposition which carries attendant economic considerations.  Pharmacology suffers from the problem of compliance—how do you make sure the patient takes his medication on a regular basis?  ECT, whatever you may think about it, is effective because it enables a health-care provider to quickly discharge a patient from hospital. 

 

Would I willingly consent to its application to my body—Emphatically No!  Should it be used as a treatment of last resort—Maybe.  The sad truth is the fact that we have not been able to find an alternate treatment that is as rapidly effective in treating a disease that affects so many. 

Weekly Rant 2008-03-07

"Democracy is the worst form of government... except for all the other forms that have been tried,"

--Winston Churchill

Made the mistake of listening to the news this morning. Reports of the American Presidential Primary System lead one to some rapid conclusions. First off, if this is the exercise of democracy; democracy is available, just as is justice, only to the fabulously rich. Secondly the amount of mud-slinging that goes on leads one rapidly to a sense of distaste for the entire process. If this is what it takes to get elected to the presidency then anyone who would aspire to the job is by definition insane and should be disqualified from holding the office.

Southern Ontario is again under a sever weather advisory; snow plough operators are fighting a losing battle to keep our roads clear. Maybe the bears have it right—lets all hibernate until spring. This being winter break thousands will be making like the birds and migrating south.

A judge in Brampton, Ont., rejected a human rights challenge to an Ontario law on Thursday, ruling that motorcyclists must wear helmets while riding because safety concerns outweigh religious rights. So goes a news item on the CBC website. There are those who might say if they want to kill themselves let them do it; problem being that the rest of us would have to foot the cost of the medical care and rehabilitation for those who don’t manage to kill themselves outright. For once the law may actually make sense. If only it were possible to as quickly settle disputes over Christian prayer in schools, kirpans, Sharia Law, and the hajib. Is it racist to wish that those who come to our country would not insist on attempting to rewrite Canadian Law? Are those who flout Moslem Law in Moslem countries treated with as much indulgence and leniency as we exercise in the West? Who is being abused here?

Today is apparently Woman’s day. Let’s begin by getting two statements that are now considered politically incorrect out of the way. “A woman’s place is barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.” “Feminism is an excuse to put ugly women on Television.” I like a Nova Scotia prelate’s take on the matter: “The Holy Catholic Church will be truly universal when a black pope is pregnant in the Vatican.” In Sharia Law we see an extreme take on the rights of woman. The legal rights of woman have progressed in the last century and a half. They are considered persons and are allowed to vote and own property. They may incur debt in their own names and own businesses. On the other hand their salaries still lag behind those of their male counterparts in the same professions and the glass ceiling is still very real. When it comes to elected office equality is still a thing to be aspired to and all too often it is people of their own gender who hold the most severe prejudices.

My Weekly Scribble 2008-03-02

Once again the paparazzi dog the House of Windsor. It is ironic that having been implicated in the death of his Mother; the press has now threatened the life of Harry, her son. Prince Henry has been serving on the front line in Afghanistan since December in an undercover operation honoured by the British Tabloids but his cover was blown by the Australian Press this week and his unit was forced to return to England for their own safety.

Once again the public’s right to know and the freedom of the press are pitted against the safety and security of a public figure. Those of us who buy and read these publications are equally to blame for providing a market for these tabloids in our insatiable desire to know the minutest details of a celebrity’s life. Modern technology has made it impossible to hide anywhere from those who would snoop. It is impossible for an athlete to scratch an itch on any part of his body without risking the threat of it appearing on the evening news or in the morning paper. The list of political careers wrecked by an off-the-cuff-remark made near a mike that shouldn’t have been open is endless. Telephoto lenses, parabolic mikes, wiretaps, eaves-dropping devices, and satellites in space make it impossible to hide anywhere. The chambers used by the College of Cardinals to select the next Pope used to be bricked in so that their only contacts with the outside world were the plumbing system and the dumb waiter used to supply their meals. The sign that a new Pope had been elected was the wet straw added to the fire when the ballots were burned. In our modern world this scenario is laughable.

Cell phones, text messaging, and the internet make it possible to be constantly in touch instantly with what is happening anywhere on earth. A mountain climber dying of altitude sickness on Mount Everest at an altitude too high to be reached by rescue helicopters used a satellite phone to call home to say good bye to his wife. Whether or not she appreciated this last communication from her husband the irony of the situation does not escape me. Just last week Fidel Castro used the internet to announce his resignation. Does this constant connectedness to the outside world actually improve our lives? In an office setting the constant ringing of phones, the arrival of new E-mail, faxes, and the beeping of cell phones make it impossible to get any work done. Concert halls, hospitals, and meeting rooms find it necessary to ban these devices. Do we really need cell phone service on our subways? The disconnect is best illustrated by a pair of executives on a businessman’s lunch busy talking on their cell phones to other people or a mother who texts her son upstairs in his bedroom that dinner is ready. In all this mass of communication we have lost human contact with those around us.

Just as it is now possible to keep a body technically alive for years after the individual inside it is clinically dead; the fact that we can be constantly electronically in touch with the world at large doesn’t mean that it is necessarily a good thing that we actually do so. Too much information and stimulus can lead to intellectual and emotional overload. We need time for quiet reflection and contemplation. Why else would oriental practices that teach this be so popular? We need sleep so that we may dream but wakeful day-dreaming is equally healthy. The fact that it is possible for us to learn what Tom Cruise had for breakfast doesn’t make it right or necessary for us to have this information. Technology continues to outpace philosophical, theological, and legislative thought on its use. Celebrities’ rights to privacy and by corollary those of ordinary citizens will become more and more burning issues in the years to come. Does the fact that their fame fuels their salaries make it right for the public to stalk Sports and Entertainment Stars 24/7? I think not!

Daily Rant 2008-02-21

Toronto is burning! An historic section of Queen and Bathurst St in old Toronto went up in smoke yesterday; the collapse of the buildings obliterating century-old businesses and peoples’ homes. An area served by Toronto’s Red Rocket Street Car line, in my more night-owl prone days I frequented this neighbourhood often to visit the local theatres. A nearby downtown neighbourhood has been suffering from an infestation of bedbugs; poverty, illness and ignorance serving to aid the spread of this plague. Termites are yet another menace eating away at the fabric of Toronto’s wooden heritage. Fire, insects, and disease may bedevil those in poverty but left untreated they will spread to richer neighbourhoods as well.

I missed making an entry yesterday as a result of a road trip to Whitby to order the Roadtrek RV I plan to make my home for the next couple years. The trip out went smoothly as I encountered only light traffic in making the drive—just as I was about to leave I had the presence of mind to come back to my computer to make sure I knew exactly where I was going. I’ll never pretend to understand dealerships but one way or another the contract is signed and my home is on the way. On the return journey traffic was thicker but it kept moving even when we encountered a sudden snow squall. Why do people insist on bunching up in those kinds of traffic conditions? Keeping a safe distance from the car ahead is an exercise in watching others determined to occupy that space just to get a few metres in front. Being tailgated is a hazard for which there seems to be no cure.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The abuses to which private schools are prone have been in the news since the days of Dickens. The list of orphanages, residential schools, religious institutions, sports venues and communities where mental, physical, and sexual cruelty have been practised seems to just keep growing. Wherever people in authority deal with vulnerable clients; the opportunity for predatory individuals to practise abuse exists. Prisons, refuge camps, and oppressive regimes such as existed in South Africa are institutionalized examples of this phenomenon. Mount Cashel in Newfoundland; Cornwall Ontario; the Catholic, Anglican, and United Church native residential school system; the Butterbox Babies of Nova Scotia; Upper Canada College; Maple Leaf Gardens; A priest at Cape Croker, Ontario…. All have been examples of the malaise and society has not dealt kindly with whistle-blowers. In the case of church-run native schools the government’s objective in obliterating an entire culture was blatant. The fallout has bankrupted many church organizations and traumatized an entire generation of First Nations Peoples. Making restitution for past wrongs in this case has joined the Land Claims process in dragging on interminably. For those involved there are lasting psychological scars; for the rest of us endlessly repeated news reports on the subject just seem to breed ennui.

Daily Rant 2008-02-19

The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem; it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.

David Friedman

The world is just full of news lately. For nearly fifty years Fidel Castro has been the putative Communist Dictator of Cuba. Since the fall of the USSR and the loss of their financial support Cuba has fallen on hard times. I realize that a one-week vacation in Cuba hardly makes me an expert in Cuban politics but I’ve always said I’d love to go back but I wouldn’t want to be around if something happened to Castro. The man his been more of a cult in Cuba than its leader. Standing in Havana City of an afternoon and witnessing everything come to a stand-still for the playing of the National Anthem on loud speakers is a phenomenon that is hard to forget. The man was given to the making of 5-hour-long speeches to a captive populace on National Holidays. I realize my own Martin Luther was noted for his hour-long sermons but I’ve always figured that if you can’t say it in 10 minutes you don’t have anything worth saying. As I’ve implied I fully expected the man to hang onto office until death but today word comes to us of his retirement. Whether it be the recognition of failing abilities due to failing health or from a desire to see an orderly succession to his rule Castro has committed a statesmanlike act; history is not over-populated with absolute rulers who willingly relinquished power. Intelligence networks worldwide will be working overtime to analyze the implications of this move. His demise will mark the funeral of this young millennium. Even more interesting is the fact that Fidel made the announcement in the middle of the night via his personal online blog. Who knew an 81-year-old Castro was computer savvy. I’d be tempted to check it out if I read Spanish.

In other news the death from natural causes of Willie P. Bennett was announced today. A singer/songwriter who received high recognition from his peers; he was satisfied to ply his chosen career without seeking the limelight. In an industry littered with shy individuals who pushed themselves too far with disastrous results Willie was willing to restrict himself to small venues and backup gigs. To someone who is two years his senior fifty-six seems too young to be dying of natural causes but in the entertainment industry this would seem to be old age.

Continuing on the Entertainment industry theme it would seem that the writer’s strike has finally come to a close. Hopefully this marks the demise of ‘Reality TV’ programming. I have lost patience with broadcast TV interrupted by up to 20 minutes of commercials per hour but without new episodes there will be no new complete series to purchase on DVD.

There has been a great deal of ballyhoo today about the demise of HD-DVD. Before you rush out and invest in Blu-Ray remember Sandisk has developed a memory card one-quarter the size used in most Digital Cameras capable of storing 26 hours of High Definition TV programming without any moving parts. When the technology has been perfected and the costs come down conventional DVD’s will be history.

Every time I Try to Get Out They Keep Dragging Me Back In. . .

Every time I Try to Get Out They Keep Dragging Me Back In. . .

Saturday Feb 9, 2008

Here it is Saturday morning and I’m supposed to be kicking back on the start of a two-week holiday—my last as an employee of Canada Post. Instead, come Monday I’ll be shut in an airless room in front of a fifteen inch laptop with no mouse making data entries into a picayune dialog box which refuses to maximize. Well, I was able to trick the system by resetting the computer screen’s resolution to a lower setting. The program updates route information, one route completed and forty-four to go! How did I let myself get talked into such insanity?

The FCC has fined ABC over an NYPD Blue nude butt scene from five seasons ago. They do realize they’ve guaranteed unparalleled sales of that Season on DVD and increased rentals for all video outlets that stock it! You might remember that Kitchener-Waterloo’s Oktoberfest was a small regional event until someone named Adamson as head of the LLBO decided they shouldn’t use a poster featuring a buxom lass holding, was it six or eight, foaming beer steins with an immodest amount of cleavage bursting out of her blouse. You can’t buy that kind of publicity. What’s all the fuss about in any case; is there really anyone who doesn’t know about the nudity clause in the contracts of all that show’s actors? Does anyone really need to see Dennis Franz fat ass?

On the Fifth had another go at writing minutes on my laptop during a meeting. I would choose to leave the power cord at home for the first meeting that went over 2 hours. On the plus side I don’t have to calibrate my battery again for another month. We got a presentation on the evils of drugs and more than I needed to know about grow houses.

The reason I’ve missed a week’s blogging is the virus to which I’ve been playing unwilling host for the last two weeks. On the Sixth and Seventh essentially I lost two days. I don’t usually mind a legitimate excuse for taking a couple of days off work—I have more sick leave than days left to work—but this time my eyes were as rheumy as my nose and reading was an impossibility; eventually I even had to give up watching TV. Got out some audio-book type CD’s; my tape player is downstairs and I spent most of those two days in bed not even bothering to get dressed. When the infection reached my chest I coughed until my diaphragm was sore along with my lower stomach muscles.

I know, I know, I’m crazy; but then as we say you don’t have to be to work here—but it helps. Went in to work that Friday to get acquainted with a Post Office Laptop minus mouse and the data entry programme it runs. On the way home encountered an unprecedented traffic jam on Trafalgar Road. Fatefully I’d decided to have fish and chips out at a local pub which took me past Sheridan College. At the main intersection encountered a duo of police officers miss-directing traffic—the cause of the traffic jam—and noted a cruiser blocking the main entrance. It wasn’t until Saturday I learned the cause was a lock-down of the college occasioned by someone sighting what looked to them like someone carrying a weapon. One of the departments at Sheridan is photography; it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that a student might be carrying around a tripod. Brings back memories of the day a friend and I innocently wandered into a Brock Univerity cafeteria to escape a shower while we were hiking and ran into a full court press emergency response—some jock had spilt his body building whey powder. I’ve been as quizzical of the paranoia over anthrax in the Post Office; green postal bands come packed in talcum powder. Our local incident gave the Police Services of at least three area regions the opportunity to try out all their toys.

February 18, 2008

So sue me, I’ve fallen behind. This past weekend I indulged myself completely. Turned up the heat to encourage the laundry I’m doing to dry and didn’t bother to get dressed. Two things happened this week to give me pause to ponder. One of my fellow workers got interviewed—euphemism alert—for dropping outgoing mail he’d picked up from his customers in a Street Letter Box. Apparently it’s OK to do your customers favours but appearances being important one should lug that mail around until one gets back to the office. Not so convenient when one is on foot. He was accused of “red-boxing” his mail. On Friday an employee was shown the door permanently. Whether or not he actually deserved firing I could not be the caring person I claim to be if it didn’t cause me some sadness at the plight of another.

As advertised I spent most of last week—close to fifty hours—in a cubby hole making data entries on a laptop. I also made case plans for three routes. In addition I kept an appointment to have my hearing tested—the next one will cost $80-100. I’m not there yet but I don’t look forward to having to wear a hearing aid. What’s up with that? While I was in the area went back to have my eyes tested. To my surprise I learned that as I have astigmatism not only does the Ontario Government now cover my eye exams in spite of their delistment but does so on a yearly basis. Who knew; certainly not I as I’ve skipped them for four years? Fortunately my eyes are no better or worse than they’ve ever been.

I ate out three times this week patronizing my old faithful East Side Marios and Swiss Chalet—my waitress remembered I like lots of salad dressing and brought me two servings and vinegar for my chips. After hearing rave reviews I dropped by Cora’s for breakfast after making a very early start one day. I may have caught them on a bad day but service was glacial—they ignored me when I walked in the door and my food order was so slow the waitress actually commented. The coffee was fresh but bland, lacking the rich body I’d prefer; the food was over-cooked and I was unimpressed by salad dressing offered in a box containing blister packs. Perhaps I’ll try once more for their blueberry pancake special. Just checked and learned that the local Golden Griddle is temporarily closed.

So that’s the weeks that were. Retirement never looked so good. 191 days and counting down. I have a lot of work I should do in preparation for that event this week on the home front.

Milestones

"A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people's patience."

-- John Updike

That one had me going for a moment there until I realized the animal in question was human. My muse abandoned me this past week; but then, it seems to have left my correspondents as well as my “In Box” has been a lonely piece of electronic real estate.

What to write about the week that was? Boring is good. A week ago the temperature hit -40 in Calgary with significantly lower wind-chills. At that level the two scales meet. I did not feel left out when that cold wave did not make it this far east. The blizzard that arrived Friday Morning blew in from the South East.

Was at work at an unmentionable hour Tuesday to check to ensure our Personal Data Terminals received the online download that was sent overnight. I was supposed to be able to sleep in Wednesday. I was proud of myself Tuesday when I awoke minutes before the alarm I set for the first time in weeks went off. I was not so satisfied when I awoke at the same time the following day.

Thursday

Today marks a milestone in my life. I submitted my request to be processed for retirement this morning. I also ordered the RV I plan to make my home for the next few years. Symbolically the two are linked. One marks the end of my working life and the other, the beginning of a vagabond existence as a man of leisure. I wrote this last Thursday but didn’t get any further. Be advised that further ruminations on the subject are guaranteed.

On Friday I managed to prove, yet again, that I can make the best coffee. Our sixty cup pot made the best coffee I’ve brought off in ages. Having good fresh cold water always helps. Planning for bagels and coffee on a day that brought us a blizzard was truly inspired if not intended.

On Saturday morning at 2:00 AM I was sorely tempted to go at shoveling the snow off my living room balcony. Directly below were about ten or so drunken college students returning from the pub and loudly and rudely making their parting gestures to their “friends” in the parking lot across the street. Prudence prevailed as I decided that two wrongs don’t make a right but…. ? After that rude awakening it took me some time to make it back to bed. This was not a good start to my weekend.

By the time I did get up I’d completely forgotten the significance of February Second. When it finally dawned on me what day it was I went searching and was surprised to discover just how many prognosticating marmots there actually are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_day

On the plus side most of them are predicting an early spring. After several years which saw almost no cold or snow I must admit that I’m rooting for the hogs. I can only hope that next year sees a return to milder weather particularly in the southern climes where I’d like to spend the season.

I will confess to a particularly unproductive weekend. Since I let lethargy take over and eschewed doing laundry Sunday evening saw me doing something I haven’t done in years. I got out my sewing kit and started darning socks.

Ruminations on Mortality

It may have something to do with my impending retirement in 213 days and my sixtieth birthday in just 549 but I’ve been in a dour mood lately. The past two weeks have seen the death of two gifted young actors more than half my age and their demise has served to highlight the fragility of our human existence. There are so many things that can go wrong with our bodies it’s a marvel any of us manage to survive much less reach old age. Since proper sanitation and nutrition have made it possible for more people to live well into their 70ies, 80ies, and even 90ies degenerative diseases have come to the forefront and more and more we are learning that it is the life-choices we have made or had made for us that are the determinative factors. The diet we ate in our teens, the music we listened to, and the life-styles we chose serve to influence whether we have heart defects, high blood pressure, hearing loss, or bone density problems in middle age. Heredity can predispose us for many ailments but the choices we make serve to shape how severe the health consequences will be.

I have fought a life-long battle with chronic allergic sinusitis and asthma. It’s an inherited disorder but the fact that I developed allergies and their severity was greatly influenced by the fact that woman of my Mother’s generation were taught to use baby formula rather than breast-feed their babies. I reacted to wool at the age of seven days and became allergic to virtually everything you’d expect to find on a mixed family farm. My reactions for the most part were of a respiratory nature with the exception of the eczema that marked my first contact with wool. In the last five years food allergies have also manifested. Health has been defined as an absence of awareness of the well-being of one’s body. By that definition I’ve never been healthy a day in my life. On the other hand there would seem to be no absolutes in life; one can allow oneself to be defined by one’s troubles or one can rise above them and get on with life in spite of them.

Before a computer and the internet entered my life I managed to read 60 to 70 books a year; this past year I managed 20. I formerly read a newspaper daily; two on weekends; today I get my news online. My radio used to be on and tuned to CBC from the moment my clock radio came on in the morning until I fell asleep with the sleep timer engaged; now I listen to iTunes Podcasts. When the sinuses ache and breathing causes wheezing and whistling sounds it is easy to allow oneself to become sedentary and sit back in front of the TV or a computer screen. The World Wide Web is a fantastic smorgasbord of delights. Virtually anything you’d want to know or explore is available and for the most part it’s free.

Although I live near Toronto where two competing alternative newspapers are published weekly I read the Austin (Texas) City Chronicle because it’s available as a .pdf download for free. I formerly read hardcopy editions of both local weeklies until someone named Heather bought Chapters Books and decided she didn’t want freebies cluttering space that could be used to sell stuff. The fact I no longer visit the store weekly has cost her over $1000 a year in my custom—her loss is Amazon’s gain; their prices are cheaper as well. It was in the Chronicle I learned that this week saw the release of a remastered Live CD by Townes Van Zandt. He was known to me but until I went searching I had not been aware that he was a native Texan. Townes is in a long line of performers who died preternaturally: Jeff Buckley, drowning; Harry Chapin, plane crash; Stan Rogers, plane crash; Chet Baker, drugs; Elliot Smith, gunshot; Nick Drake, drug overdose…. Townes was born with a silver spoon but suffered from Manic-Depression which was treated with Insulin Shock. Again one has to wonder which was worse; the illness or the treatment. In any case together they served to make him an erratic performer and acquaintance. His CD Rear View Mirror is available for $15.99 on Amazon Canada or $11.98 from Waterloo Records in Austin Texas--$16.90 at Chapters online by the bye.

When it comes to podcasts on iTunes there is an embarrassment of riches available and my eclectic interests ensure that I continue to download 3 times faster than I listen. Just yesterday I transferred 9 GB of material to my Archos Player. Perhaps when I hit the road I’ll get a chance to catch up. It’s gotten to the point that I’m afraid to go looking because I keep finding irresistible discoveries. Take today, American Public Radio has on offer a 2-hour podcast called Weekend America—at least it’s only once a week. Being a German Canadian Farmboy from Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia I have no background in women’s issues or the challenges of being Black in America. Accordingly it would never have occurred to me that Black Females in the US are being confronted with the conflict of whether they should support the first Woman with a chance of becoming president or the first Afro-American; until I listened to the latest podcast that is. And being a WASP I have no concept as to whether any or all of the previous designations are offensive or politically incorrect. It just seems to me that whatever Whitey gets used to calling those people becomes offensive over time. To me it’s the pejorative tone with which words are used that makes them offensive though some words such as the N word and f@#k are innately offensive, simply in bad taste.

Another change in my life is a developing predilection for attending church online. There are myriad choices available but I opt for either Duke Chapel or Grace Cathedral:

http://www.chapel.duke.edu/media/

Duke has a five year archive of services and concerts that may be streamed at will.

Got my camera out this morning and connected the wide-angled lens to attempt to get some more pictures of our new corridors. Here’s a view of my front entrance: