Trip day 3

We got up and discovered that the bitter cold weather we had been not enjoying had just gotten even colder. Neither of us felt that our stomachs were up to the challenge of another McDonald's breakfast, so we decided to head over to Perkin's for omlettes.

As we were leaving the restaurant, we could hear geese. After looking around for a minute, we noticed that there was a large field between us and the Cabela's HQ that was full of geese. I checked it out, and there was a pond there with open water. At that temperature, the only way to keep the water from freezing must have been to heat the water. The geese figured out that this was a good thing, and thousands of them were hanging out there. Good for Cabela's.

The drive across Wyoming was annoying as usual. Blowing, drifting snow, poor visibility, and a constant assault of flying gravel. Wyoming doesn't even bother using salt or sand for ice traction, they just go straight for gravel. Whenever we got passed, we got showered by flying gravel. No wonder we've had windshield breaks in the past (nothing this year, thank goodness).

We found an interesting little souvenier shop along the highway in Buford called "End of the Trail." Typical little tourist trap, with the assorted Indian hand crafts and other stuff. Only it wasn't overpriced here for some reason, so Norah decided to do a little shopping. I took a few minutes to talk to the owner while she was looking around. Somehow we started talking about the gang violence problems that Toronto has been having lately. He told me that he used to be in to drugs, alcohol, gangs, the whole bit, but he had a personal crisis and one day decided to turn his life around. He's now a minister in a local church. I'm not sure how much of his story was true and how much was exaggeration, but he was a really interesting guy to talk to nonetheless. Experiences like that make me wish I could just retire and spend my time driving around the country, seeing the sights and talking to people. It seems that if you stop and really talk to the people you meet rather than trying to get away from them as quickly as possible, you stand a pretty good chance of hearing some really interesting stories. It's too bad that the big cities train us to be afraid of each other.

There is really something to be said for rural America and Canada. The people, on average, are much more friendly, helpful and honest than people you meet in the cities. It's ironic that I would feel more afraid of having a mechanical problem at night in Toronto than I would in Wyoming or Nebraska. In Toronto getting out of your car makes you a target, but in Wyoming you're much more likely to find someone who would want to help you out. You'd still need to be careful, of course, as psychos are everywhere. But the more concentrated the population gets, the higher the psycho percentage is. Screw anyone who calls everything between Los Angeles and New York City "flyover country" or "those dumb square states". This is what makes this country truly great, not the shallow self-serving greedy city dwellers.

Anyway, we continued on our way and made it across despite the weather. It didn't get really bad until we got near Park City. We had almost zero visibility coming down Parley's Canyon, which was fun. But we made it. We grabbed a Quizno's sandwich for dinner and made it to my parent's house without any problems.

Trip day 2

Today we managed to get up and on the road on schedule. We ran down to McDonald's again for breakfast and got on the road. We made it over to Council Bluffs, IA almost exactly on schedule to meet Norah's friends Alenna and Shannon at La Mesa Mexican restaurant for lunch. We stayed there for almost two and a half hours and ate probably way too much food. But we definitely enjoyed our visit.

Unfortunately, we paid for it the rest of the afternoon, especially me. Indigestion is uncomfortable enough at home, but when you're driving across Nebraska it's just that much worse. I asked Norah to remind me never again to eat that much when we're on the road.

By this time I was starting to get a bit concerned about the fuel mileage we were getting. Our Dakota has the 4.7L V8 engine in it, which isn't exactly an economy-minded hybrid tree hugger mobile. But it was getting in the 15.2 mpg range, which is low even for it. We usually get more like 17.4. I was a bit worried that we might have a bad injector, or clogged filter, or something. Since it seemed to be running okay, I figured all I could do was to keep going and see if I could figure something out later.

We managed to push on to Sidney, NE that night. The Motel 6 there is in the complex right next to the Cabela's headquarters. There's also a super Wal-Mart right next door. For dinner, I just walked over to Wally World and got a sandwich from the deli, which we split. That was all either of us were able to eat.

The "no smoking" ashtray

What, you think I can make something like this up? They have these in all of the Motel 6 non-smoking rooms. I actually asked about it when I called the front desk to request a wake-up call. Apparently they're provided for people who like to use an ashtray to put their keys and spare change in. It makes sense now that I know that, but I still say the non-smoking ashtray makes for a pretty weird image.

Trip day 1

We got on the road this morning about an hour late. It could have been worse. Quick stops for fuel and breakfast at McDonald's and we were on our way.

We ran in to the duty free shop at the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia. The duty free shop at the Peace Bridge is nicer, but this one isn't too bad. When we crossed the border the agent asked if we were bringing any dog food. Yes, we had two weeks worth of food for the dog with us, already measured out and everything. She wanted to know where it was made. Being Iams, it was made in the US. Good thing, as we wouldn't have been allowed to bring it across the border had it been made in Canada. We couldn't figure out what the big deal was with dog food until later that day: dog food might contain beef by-products, so Canadian dog food might possibly have Canadian beef in it. The US is taking their beef ban quite seriously, it seems.

Lunch this day was leftover pizza from the night before. Good thing we hadn't ordered hamburger on our pizza. We met Josh at Buffalo Wild Wings in Tinley Park, just south of Chicago. The traffic through the area south of Chicago was its usual insane construction mess. We sat in the construction zone for an hour, and when we got to the end they had their hands out looking for a toll. Sixty cents. Norah and I felt like handing them an invoice for our wasted time. All I had was a $20 bill. He have me fourteen $1 bills back in change. Thanks a bunch.

After dinner, we had a fairly uneventful drive and arrived as per our plan at the Motel 6 in Davenport, IA. Checking in was an adventure. The clerk's computer crashed four times in a row. Turns out they're running their hotel computers on Windows 98. Once it finally decided to keep working for more than two minutes at a time, we were set, and we headed off to bed.

The big trip

Well, we're getting ready to head out on our big road trip tomorrow morning. Here are the driving directions according to Mapquest.

We're planning on meeting Josh for dinner Saturday night in Tinley Park, Illinois, and spending Saturday night in Davenport, Iowa. Sunday we're meeting Alenna for lunch in Council Bluffs, Iowa and Sunday night we'll be staying in Sidney, Nebraska. Monday we don't have any plans to meet up with anyone, so we'll just see what Wyoming has in store for us this year, and we should be at my parents place on Monday night.

The weather so far is looking like it might actually cooperate, at least as well as it ever does in December. We'll try to post updates if we have Internet access in the motels. High speed wireless access isn't exactly a feature provided by Motel 6, they keep things to a minimum to keep the prices down. But they are pet friendly, which is a lot more than I can say for the other motel chains I looked at.

Wish us luck!

I listen to Jack

Heard this morning on Jack FM:

"Christmas is like a day at the office. You do all the work, and the fat guy in the suit takes all the credit."

Don't try this at home

moparts: another reason to tow in neutral

Just goes to prove, no matter how stupid you (or I) might feel, there's probably someone out there who's done something even more stupid.

Thank goodnes I'm not a game programmer

From a comment posted on Slashdot:

I cut back to 80 hours a week, even though people were bitching at me for the laziness. (Why couldn't I take my work seriously like the people who slept in their company provided sleeping bags under their desks 6 hours a night?)

Just goes to show, no matter how grumpy I get about working overtime, there are many who are much worse off.

Are they kidding?

Amazon.com: The Ultimate Star Trek Collection: DVD

$2500??? I can just see the late-night infomercial describing all the stuff that's included.

I guess the good news is that anyone insane enough to buy this probably already has some of the previous releases. They might start showing up in the used outlets for a bit more reasonable price.

Hanging out with Biff and Muffy

So, at some point last week, we got a telephone message from Unique Chrysler, a local dealership. They wanted to personally invite us to an evening to demonstrate some of their new models. They promised wine and cheese, and a chance to win a million dollars just for showing up.

We aren't in the position to be buying a new car, but some day we are eventually going to need another vehicle. I joke about planning on being buried in my '95 Dakota, but realistically I know that it's not going to last forever. Since we didn't have anything else going on, we decided to go check it out. By the time I'm ready to buy something, I'll probably be in the used market looking at vehicles that are being made today. Besides, how many people from Burlington would be attending? The odds of winning the million seemed pretty good.

Well, it turned out that they weren't giving away a million dollars of their own money like we assumed. They were handing out $2 lottery tickets to everyone in attendance. We didn't win (big surprise). The refreshments were pretty good, even if the wine was non alcoholic (I suppose as a car dealership, they aren't licensed to serve alcohol, particularly not free alcohol).

As for the vehicles, it's pretty obvious that they were marketing at people who have a lot more disposable income than we do. I don't think there was a single vehicle there under $40,000. They had a Jeep Commander, a Dodge Charger SRT-8, a Chrysler Crossfire convertible, a Dodge Magnum R/T AWD, and a Chrysler 300.

The Commander is HUGE! But it's clearly too low to the ground for any real off-roading, no matter what the Jeep division's marketing people say. Trust me. I crawled under it and looked. I could utterly destroy one in just a couple of hours, on trails I've driven in my Dakota or my dad's CJ. It looks nice and cushy inside, if that's your thing in a 4x4. I still think the TJ (a.k.a. Wrangler if you prefer) is the only true Jeep left since they killed the Cherokee.

The Charger had the 6.1L HEMI engine. There was a gentleman there who told me he owned one. He was complaining about the cost of replacement tires. Apparently the low-profile performance tires only lasted him about 30,000 km, and cost $350 each to replace. He pointed out that the salespeople had carefully avoided mentioning that to him. I had to wonder, if he has the kind of money where he can feed $4/gallon premium gas to a 6.1L HEMI V8, why is he complaining about the tires? He had to have known that it was a performance vehicle when he got it. I guess these things catch people off guard, as I hear stuff like that a lot. They also had a poster showing the orange Daytona edition. Apparently the color is called "Go ManGo!", instead of HEMI orange like I thought. At any rate, I'm a big fan of the look, with the blacked out grille and spoiler. I'm waiting for them to bring Sublime back... that would be wonderfully obnoxious.

I must be strange, because I really like the styling of the new Charger. I know a lot of people hate it for having (gasp!) four doors. Personally, I don't get the controversy. If it were a small coupe with a microscopic back seat like a Camaro, then obviously it wouldn't need four doors. But I can't stand full-sized cars with two doors. You get two huge, wide, heavy doors, and a large back seat that's pretty nice once you get back there. Too bad you can't squeeze through the front door opening. When Car & Driver reviewed the two-door Neon, they said "we have about as much fondness for two-door sedans as we do for one-wing airplanes... the only point seems to be that you never have to suffer the indignity of being called practical." I have to agree. The argument goes that the new car shouldn't be called "Charger" because the original Charger had two doors. Just because they used an inconvenient design in the past, does that mean we have to repeat it? Anyway, moving on...

The more I look at the Magnum, the more I like it. If I had the money to buy one or the other, I'd probably take a Magnum over a Charger, even though I think the Charger looks slightly better. Ever since we rented a Durango on our vacation in British Columbia in 2000, I've realized the benefits of the wagon-style cargo area. It's much more convenient and practical, too bad a comparable Durango would have been $11,000 more more than our Dakota. That's an awful lot of money for some extra glass and a hatch. Norah definitely approved of the paint color on the Magnum, a color that Chrysler describes as "brilliant black crystal pearl". I didn't realize that these things came in an all-wheel-drive configuration. It caught my attention much more when I realized that. The one they had there was equipped with a 5.7L HEMI, and had the ultra-plush leather interior with the GPS navigation system and all the other bells and whistles. The GPS system looks pretty cool. Much nicer than our little handheld GPS sitting in its cradle on top of the dash with wires going everywhere.

I didn't really look at the Crossfire much. It had too many people crawling all over it all night. I don't think I actually looked at the 300 at all, so I have no idea what the specs on it were. Personally, every time I see a Chrysler 300, I expect to see a mafia type in a pinstripe suit holding a Tommy gun standing on the running board. Not that this is a bad look, but I can't get the image out of my head.

The highlight of the evening for us was actually parked just outside the showroom. A Ram 2500 4x4, Cummins turbo diesel, with the new "Mega Cab". Again, this thing is HUGE! But it's easy to see the advantages of the extra cab size when you climb in it. The seats are like real seats, they recline and everything. Not like the jump seats in the Quad Cab. The Quad Cab is a huge improvement over the Club Cab, but the Mega Cab makes the back seats that much better, even if it is a silly name. I think it has more interior room than our apartment. We decided that we would need a two wheel drive version, as we both had trouble climbing up in to the cab. I looked up the trailer towing rating. Something like 12,800 lbs. Certainly much more than the 5700 we get out of our Dakota. Needless to say, we both left the dealership wishing we could upgrade to a Ram. Maybe some day.

The things that were notably missing were all the vehicles more in our price range. The Liberty, TJ, Dakota, PT Cruiser, Neon, etc. Like I said, this was obviously a night for Biff & Muffy, but we thought it was interesting to check out what the rich people drive. I would have preferred to check out a TJ Unlimited. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say it's safer if I don't see one. I could always go back any time and test drive one, but then I'd get a salesdroid there drooling over the idea of selling it to me. I have to give them credit, even though the evening was definitely sales motivated (and who can blame them), they did a good job of standing back, making themselves available to answer questions, and keeping their sales pressure to themselves.

Must be October

My mom sent me a slide show in a weird patented secret file format made by some obscure software company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Perhaps you've heard of them. Micro-something-or-other.

Anyway, once I managed to speak the proper incantations and click on "I agree" to sell my soul to some guy named Bill so that I could view the slide show, I saw some really cool looking pumpkin carvings. The artist who does these has a web site up at Pumpkingutter.com. Be sure to browse through the gallery, the pictures he takes at night with lights inside the pumpkins are really cool. And some of them are downright creeeeeeeeepy.

For a few good laughs, check out the FAQ.

(Okay, I didn't really have to sell my soul to Bill, all I had to do was move over to our laptop and download his special PowerPoint viewer program. I haven't figured out how to view these things in Linux yet, or if there's even a way to do it.)

Interesting

I was looking at prices of flash drives (in case the one I have can't be repaired) and came across a University of Utah flash drive. When did these things make the transition from being computer storage devices to fashion accessories?

The PVR

On Friday I finally broke down and went to get a Bell Expressvu model 5900 PVR satellite receiver. What's a PVR, you ask? It stands for "Personal Video Recorder." Like most acronyms, that probably doesn't tell you much more than you already knew. It's what a TiVo is, integrated in with our satellite receiver. It has a hard drive in it, so we can save TV shows in their direct digital format as they come down the pipe from the satellite. Then we can play them back later at our leisure. It also buffers whatever TV show you're currently watching, so you can pause live TV, back up to see something you missed, then fast forward through the commercial to catch back up to the live broadcast, etc.

To say this thing makes the VCR obsolete is an understatement. You can't even compare it to the difference between CDs and cassette tapes. That comparison applies to DVDs. The biggest drawback of DVD is that the recorders are very expensive, so most people only have DVD players. The PVR is to the VCR what television is to stone tablets. You don't realize just how convenient it really is until you use one for a while. It completely changes the way you watch television. Setting up a program on the VCR has always been a pain, no matter how easy they try to make the process. Part of that pain comes from the reality of dealing with tapes, and managing the stacks of tapes that hold shows you've recorded to watch later. Or at least we have stacks of them. You always had to plan out in advance what you wanted to record, and when, and whether you had enough blank tapes, and what else would be on that tape, and so forth. Now you just find something interesting in the guide listing, and pick it. Later, it magically shows up in a list of saved shows. Cool.

So if it's so cool, what took us so long to get around to getting one? It's just that I'm opposed to Bell's monopolistic price fixing policy. They've decided that the price for this thing is going to be $300, and nobody is allowed to sell it for less than that. They're the only game in town. They control the programming, so if you don't play by their rules, you don't get to watch TV. No third party hardware. You can't even use Dish Network hardware with their service, even though the hardware is actually identical other than the software load and the little logo sticker on the front. Nope, if you don't buy your receiver from Bell, they won't allow you to use it. It's like if Ford bought all the roads, and wouldn't allow you to drive your car on the road unless it was made by Ford and you paid full retail price for it new from a Ford dealer.

The security protocols I had to go through in order to get this thing were nothing short of ridiculous. I bought it from Future Shop. I had to show photo identification in order to prove that I was actually who I said I was. They looked up my account information on a secure Bell web site to make sure I had been paying my bills. Am I the only one who isn't crazy about Future Shop having access to everyone's account details with Bell? I had to sign two copies of a two-page form with a huge agreement detailing what I can and can't do with the receiver. And apparently, had I not called Bell to activate the receiver, I would have had a huge non-activation fee piled on my account.

By way of comparison, it took me approximately 10 times longer to buy a satellite receiver than it usually does to cross the border between the United States and Canada.

From what I've read in the various user forums online, all of this is to combat the piracy problem. Apparently people have a tendency to buy these receivers, hack in to them so that they'll display television without paying the monthly subscription fees to Bell, and then re-sell them on the black market. THE HORROR! I've also read that these precautions against piracy are in place because of pressure being put on Bell by the government ("we're here to help...") I can only guess that the government is squeezing the satellite companies because of pressure being placed on them by the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) or the Canadian equivalent. Hollywood, in other words.

It amuses / depresses / concerns me that we live in a world where you can download instructions on how to make a nuclear bomb off the Internet (because the words are protected as free speech) as long as you don't actually do anything illegal with that information and knowledge, but it's illegal to even tell someone how to copy a DVD or watch satellite programming without paying for it.

But, anyway, after being interested in getting a PVR ever since they first came out a couple of years ago, and then realizing that we absolutely must have one of these one day after using my parents TiVo last December... the wait is finally over and we have one. Just in time for the fall TV season. Now if only we had any actual time to watch any of the shows we're recording... :-)

Healthy eating

It's been a while since I've posted anything here. To be perfectly honest, I kind of forgot about it for a while. So, now that I've remembered, what's new and exciting, you ask?

Well, there's the Mad Max end-of-the-world gas price panic. See that post below.

We've also been continuing our quest to improve the health value of what we eat. Obviously we're trying to get rid of a lot of bad things. Some of these are easier to give up than others, but we're trying to limit the ones we can't quite seem to get rid of. Like chocolate. Still, we have managed to eliminate most of the dairy products we used to eat.

What's surprised me more than the things we've given up has been the things we've added that I never thought I would be able to eat. And I've actually been enjoying them. In the past few weeks, I've tried and liked lots of things I never would have touched as a kid. I've eaten entire meals made up only of things I used to hate. For instance, recently I've had smoked salmon, whitefish, yams, turnips, corn on the cob, cabbage, coleslaw, vegetarian pseudo sausages, salad greens... and I think a few other vegetables that I can't remember at the moment. I never used to eat any of this stuff as a kid. Yeah, I was a pretty picky kid.

I've also switched from coffee to tea. I'm still trying to move from the regular caffeinated tea to the caffeine-free herbal teas. Green tea is a good compromise. It has a lesser amount of caffeine to keep me from falling asleep at work, but also has lots of health benefits. The first time I tried green tea, I thought it tasted a lot like lawn clippings. One of the things about becoming health conscious is that you don't really change your opinion on whether something tastes like lawn clippings, but you decide that it's okay for it to taste like lawn clippings if it's good for you, and you therefore decide to drink it anyway. And maybe even learn to enjoy the taste of lawn clippings.

Gas panic

It's been an interesting few days in Southern Ontario. It just illustrates what total lemmings people are. It's mass panic up here.

Why? Rumors of fuel price spikes due to Hurricane Rita. I have to admit, I'm not totally immune either. Last week I heard speculation that gas was going to hit $1.70 per liter, then $2.00, and then I heard to expect $2.50 per liter by Saturday afternoon (that's $9.45 per gallon). None of this materialized. I haven't seen one station actually charging above $1.04. In fact, prices seem to have dropped a couple of cents. There were a few stations out there taking advantage of the situation, but I haven't personally seen them.

How does this happen? All it takes is one jerk to trigger a chain reaction. Wednesday evening, one independent gas station in Chatham puts their price up to $1.76. Surrounding stations, thinking he knows something they don't (or just gleefully following along with the profiteering spirit), follow suit. Remembering a couple of weeks ago when the price went from $0.99 to $1.25 overnight, people panic and run to get to the cheap stations before the price goes up. They also call in to the DJs on the local radio stations, who in turn tell everyone in the broadcast area that gas is soon to be on the rise, so go fill up while you still can.

I have to admit that I also fell for it at first, and ran out to fill up both trucks, even though they were already nearly full. It took me a while to realize what was really going on, which amounts to nothing much. The more rational news outlets are reporting that we might see $1.20 per liter soon, but nobody but the idiot DJs on the local music radio stations are seriously predicting $2 any more.

I've personally seen lines to get in to gas stations wrapped around the block, although I've been avoiding getting involved in that mess. Many stations are running out of fuel. I've heard that actual fights have been breaking out in these lines over who gets to fuel up first. To illustrate the panic, read this message that came in from someone else on the Burlington Freecycle list:

Burlington....10pm....Petro Canada at Lakeshore and Appleby I just got gas for 99.6...the lines are there but not too heavy...only had to wait 10 minutes or so...gassed up the truck and a couple of cans as well...calling around for a locking gas cap tomorrow (and if I find one, I may just take the bus to pick it up)...hoping to find one...siphoning is happening...almost feels like a Mad Max movie...this is unreal...good luck folks

I think locking gas caps might be a good idea. We were able to order one for the 2001 from Canadian Tire's warehouse. Apparently their computer says no Canadian Tire store in the entire chain has a locking cap for my 1995 Dakota. Maybe they just don't make them any more. I'll have to try other stores. I know these things aren't foolproof, and you can't really siphon from a modern vehicle anyway, but I figure it'll keep the opportunists from fooling around with it in the first place. It's as much of a psychological barrier as anything.

Maybe I'll also post a nastygram to the inside of the fuel door telling would-be gas siphons to go steal from someone with a hybrid who can afford it. Or a Smart car. Hopefully they'll be too dumb to realize Smarts use diesel, which would serve them right.

Stories that came across the local news:

9/21 "Hurricane Gas Price Dilemma: $2 A Litre Possible"

9/22 "Motorists Brace For New Gas Hikes"

9/22 "Rumours Fuel Insane Gas Rush"

9/23 "Unnecessary Gas Panic Creates Chaos"

The price of gasoline

Gas prices hit the $1.00 per liter mark up here a couple of weeks ago. With the current exchange rate, that's just above $3 US per gallon. Several of the stations are too cheap to buy new signs, and the signs they have won't display the extra digit. They either put up 10.2 or 02.1 and expected people to understand that it meant 102.1 cents per liter. I figured if they're too cheap to spring for a new sign, then they should give the gas to us for 2.1 cents. I think the poor guy working there had heard that only about eight hundred times that day, as he didn't look very amused when I suggested it :-) .

But wait, it gets worse. This morning, before I even opened my eyes, the alarm on my stereo turned on. They were talking about gas prices. I was awakened by the news that the price jumped from $1.00 to $1.20 per liter OVERNIGHT!!! This is insane.

The stations all have friendly little stickers on their pumps telling us all about the evil taxes we're paying on the fuel we're buying. It's all a very good point, but it's also a thinly disguised propaganda technique designed to divert anger away from the oil companies and towards the government. I hate the extreme taxes as much as anyone, but let me tell you something: gas tax sure as hell did not increase 20% last night.

I really feel for the guys over in Europe, they're getting gouged much worse than we are. Fortunately they have trains and buses that work for them. I wish we had the kind of public transportation infrastructure where I could actually put it to practical use. I figured it out once, it would take me four buses, one train, and about two and a half hours to replace my 25 minute commute. Do the words "not an option" mean anything to these people? The public transportation system is designed to cater to anyone who works right in the core of downtown Toronto, anyone else is SOL. And then the idiot politicians in charge of it get on the news and whine and moan about how nobody uses it. It couldn't possibly be because THE SYSTEM SUCKS, now could it???

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the situation. I seriously don't think I can afford to shell out $1.20 per liter for gasoline just to drive to work every day. That's like $75 every week. I'm looking at either carpooling, or trading the Dakota for some fuel efficient piece of crap tinfoil car. I really don't want to get rid of this truck. I have a certain emotional attachment to it, which I know is irrational, but there it is. Norah and I met because of our two '95 Dakotas, and since hers was totalled, this is the only one we have left. Besides, I feel much safer driving something made in Detroit out of steel than I would driving something made in Korea out of recycled Coke cans.

Something has to give somewhere, I'm just not sure where. The small amount of good news is that by the time I came home from work, most stations had gone back down to $1.045 per liter. Was the $1.20 thing just psychological warfare designed to make us feel good about paying $1.00?

Here's some more information for you to consider.

The Propaganda:
These are the stations I deal with locally:
Petro-Canada's helpful guide to understanding gas prices
All about Shell's gasoline prices
Esso's information about gasoline pricing

The Reality:
ABC News: Record Prices Mean Record Profits for Oil Companies

I'm sure I'll be able to find more, but it's getting late and I'm getting tired of searching.

It's too bright in here...

Did you know hornets eat duct tape?

So I was out in the back yard the other night with the dog, and happened to look over at the kitchen window where we have the air conditioner installed. As the A/C doesn't fit exactly in the window, I used some pieces of styrofoam to fill in the space around it, and sealed up the gaps with duct tape.

Apparently we have another hornet nest in the cracks in the house. What surprised me was that one of these stupid hornets was sitting on the edge of the duct tape, eating it! I ran to get my camera and tried to get a picture of this behavior, but the stupid things wouldn't cooperate. This was the best I could get:



Or, in case you can't make it out:












This sounds like a job for (cue drum roll)...
















Oh, sorry. I always get the stupid French side first. Like I was saying, this sounds like a job for (re-cue drum roll)...

Yet another difficult day :-(

Today just pain sucked. I think I did ok on the test, but won’t know until probably next week. We learned a lot about essential fatty acids, fats, and oils today. Some of which pretty much blew my mind. I think I’ll be throwing out all the cooking oil we have in the house and just buy a small portion of Extra Virgin Olive Oil that has been cold pressed. After learning about how the other oils are processed and how toxic they can be, especially if not stored in the fridge or exposed to light really opened my eyes. I’ll try to post about it when I have more time.

We were given yet another assignment which I will have to present on August 31st. Eeeek… another presentation that has to be around 30 minutes on vitamins. We were each assigned a vitamin or mineral to talk about. I lucked out and got Magnesium. This is one mineral that I happen to know a lot about as I’ve researched the heck out of it. Magnesium is one of the reasons my Fibromyalgia is in remission. Well, I don’t really think it’s in remission right now though.

All the stresses lately have really got me hurting a lot. After class I had an appointment with the Chiropractor. After my adjustments to my neck and lower back, he worked on my bad left leg. The muscles in this leg have gone into total spasm yet again. I thought we had this all working pretty well, until this Monday. The Osteopath worked on it for 50 minutes and finally got it to release, but it only lasted one day. Today the Chiropractor decided to really get this to release and with manipulation and extreme/painful pressure, got it to let go of the spasm in about 10 minutes.

This was horribly painful, but at least I can walk relatively normal again. This lopsided crap just has to go. His orders for me were to go home, ice the muscle, do my stretches and ice it again. Ok… there goes my homework time again, as this process takes about an hour. Instead of coming straight home, I had to pick up some supplies for my 2 assignments, and then I got home and did what I was told to.

Tomorrow is clinic day so I won’t have to worry about doing any of the class homework, but I do have to be ready to give 2 Aromatherapy treatments. Man, I hope my back holds out for this, right now it’s not very happy. I’ll have to remember to put the back support on for the clinic day tomorrow and to use the massager on my back tonight before I go to sleep.

Today’s depression hit a little harder. I found myself wanting to cry for no reason at all. I don’t want to go back on prescription drugs for this as the side effects are not something my health wants to deal with (weight gain, sugar cravings, etc.) I’m already taking 5-HTP, which is a natural anti-depressant that also helps with Fibromyalgia and I don’t want to stop taking it. I’ll have to research it and find out if I can up the dosage or not. Wish me luck.

Reflexology

Yesterday was such a busy day; I pretty much collapsed when I got home. My first appointment was with the Chiropractor at 8:00am, which meant leaving the house much earlier than I’m used to. Reflexology class started today and it’s quite intense. One of the prerequisites for this class is Anatomy & Physiology, which I don’t start until October. My brain was totally fried by the time class was over at 4pm but I still had appointments to run to.

I had an appointment for massage therapy from 5pm to 6pm, then the Osteopath from 6pm until 7pm. I didn’t get home until 7:30 and still had all the regular chores to take care of along with my school homework and homework from the Osteopath and the Chiropractor. Needless to say, school homework lost out in the equation. There just isn’t enough time in the day to accomplish everything that needs to be done. I did however manage to get some studying done for the test in Nutrition on Wednesday.

Reflexology is amazing and so fascinating. I really love it. I hope I do well in this. This class requires 60 case studies to be done before taking the final and board exams. 30 of them have to be done outside of the classroom environment. I sure hope I can find 30 willing pairs of feet.

By the time I got home from school, I could tell that my mood isn’t right. I’ve been noticing a steady increase in depression over the last 2 weeks. I think I’m putting too much pressure on myself worrying about doing well in school, whether or not I can make a career out of this, and being able to pull in enough money to put some kind of dent in our financial debt. I worry so much about Jason as I know how much he is worrying and not telling me.

Today was day 2 of Reflexology and we actually got to practice some of the techniques on each other. It’s feels so absolutely wonderful. Only problem is that we each got only one foot done so we were all feeling a little lop-sided. I have an assignment due next Tuesday on the Digestive System. It has to be a presentation… eeek. I hate standing up and doing this kind of thing. Oh well, I better just get over it.

After school today, I managed to get all the daily chores done, now I will crash. My brain has switched off for the day. I need to be sharp for this test tomorrow.

I have a Dodge logo birthmark!

I was looking at my arm the other day for no particular reason other than the fact that I was at work and bored as usual. I have a birthmark on the inside of my right elbow that's sort of triangular in shape. It suddenly occurred to me that this looks vaguely like the logo that Dodge used on their cars back in the 70's.

Specifically, quoted from Allpar:
"The three-delta Dodge emblem used from 1962-1976 is called a 'fratzog'. This is believed to be a name made up by a designer who was told it had to be called something."

For those who don't know what this logo looks like, I've been trying to find a good picture of it on the net. So far, the best I can find is this eBay auction:
eBay Motors: Dodge Air Caps-1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 Charger SE (item 7991864139 end time Aug-13-05 16:13:33 PDT)

I'll keep looking. I've also been trying to get a picture of my birth mark, but the digital camera isn't cooperating. I'll keep trying.

This was the current Dodge logo the year I was born. Apparently I've been a Dodge boy since day one :-).

New Chiropractor & Update

What an interesting day. Jason and I were given a referral from Steve (the owner of the clinic where we have massage and osteopathy) to his long-time friend who happens to be a very successful Chiropractor. Kim telephoned over and got us both appointments and because we were referred, we got a special rate.

When I walked into the wellness center that is owned and operated by this man, I was amazed. Once you open the door, on the left there is a weeping wall (waterfall) that was gorgeous. Upon going through the next door to the main reception, there is this extremely long reception area/desk with all these glass plaques on the wall behind them. Each plaque has a word on it, such as: Health, Peace, Tranquility, Body, Mind, Spirit, Growth, Spirituality, etc. It was beautiful. This is just what I’m looking for. Someone who finally gets what Alternative Health Care is all about.

The clinic has 3 full time chiropractors, holistic nutritionist, acupuncture, & massage therapy. As I’m studying holistic nutrition, I won’t need that service, as for acupuncture, I don’t really use it much at the moment, and I’ll keep my massages with Steve’s clinic and use Bonnie and Kim for that service as I have been for the last year with great success.

The clinic was huge and very impressive. Dr. Will (owner of the clinic) sat down with me and his first impression by just looking at me that there was a serious problem with my neck. He asked if I had been in a car accident before even looking at my medical history form. So far, I’m very impressed.

After x-rays that he took of my neck and the qazillion more I had done at the Radiologist and he scheduled me for his orientation class on Wednesday which was amazing. He spent 2 hours with all the new patients, explaining what chiropractic was all about, showing us examples of x-rays and teaching us what we were looking at.

Basically, there are 5 stages of deterioration. There is normal, Phase 1 is slightly out of whack, Phase 2 has lost the curve in the neck, Phase 3 has the beginnings of the joints fusing, and Phase 4 is completely fused and there is no way to reverse the process. He explained everything so very well and how the spinal cord affects disease in the body. He also mentioned a lot of things that we’re already learning in school.

After the orientation, he took me back to his office and displayed my x-rays. Before he said a word, I got scared. I could see without him saying a word, that my neck was indeed in trouble. There was no curve whatsoever, some of the joints lost their spaces in between, and there was this spur like thing sticking out of the base of my neck.

He then explained that I was in between stages 2 & 3 and that it was a good thing that I came in when I did. This probably explains all of the headaches I’ve been having. He looked at the x-rays that I brought in with me and showed me that my pelvis is out and tilted, that my spine after the cervical area shifts to the left instead of going straight down the body, but the curve in the lower spine is good.

The radiologist’s report showed that my left femer is 8mm. longer than the right and the right tibia is 3mm. longer than the left. I’ve complained for months to the other chiropractor that my left leg felt longer than right and nothing was ever done about it. With regular treatments Will can get the curve in my neck back, adjust my pelvis so it’s not tilting to the left and adjust my left knee so that in time, things will level out a bit more.

I really feel like we’ve found the right guy. My treatment plan is going to take 18 months to get “back on track”, which so happens to be the name of his clinic. He recommended that I stop all weight training for the next 6 weeks while the adjustment process begins. Oh shucks, I’ll have to stop seeing Amy the personal trainer from hell for a while… hehehehe. No weight training, but I can do treadmill, exercise bike and all my stretches. He just doesn’t want the weight training to interfere with the adjustment process and basically retraining my neck to sit properly and get the curve back. I’ll have tons of homework to do at home for this as well.

What really bothers me is this was never caught earlier. No x-rays were ever taken or even recommended at Ed’s clinic. In fact, I should have had treatment for this back in 1998 after the accident and then it wouldn’t have gotten to this state. I can honestly say I’m a bit angry right now that this was never addressed in the last 7 years since the accident. GRRRRRRR!!! Our healthcare system just pain SUCKS!!!

Jason has some work to do as well, he’ll find out next week what needs to be done, but it’s obvious that his posture isn’t quite right and I’ve seen how he sits in front of the computer. It just looks wrong to me. I would be in so much pain if I sat like that… but then again, my issues are just different. We each have our own issues in life to deal with. More updates next week when we find out what Jason needs to have done.

We survived another DML BBQ

Josh has an album of the pictures available here:
Shenanigans :: DML BBQ 2005

Our pictures aren't there yet, but I'm hoping to get them uploaded soon.

How can something that tastes so good, be good for you?

Today was Nutrition class again. We were all to bring in our designated food items for a healthy lunch that we were going to have. As tomorrow Jason and I are leaving for our annual DML BBQ and off-road adventure, I couldn’t prepare any meals, but brought in a jar of organic Almond Butter.

The instructor brought in the most amazing and tasty meal. It was chick pea stew and it was heavenly. I never liked chick peas so this was a pleasant surprise. It was my absolute favorite. She even gave us all a copy of her recipe (with a lot of begging and nagging from the rest of the class – myself included).

She also prepared a cheesecake that was made from tofu. You would have never believed that there was no cream cheese in this dessert that tasted like it fell from heaven. If eating healthy can taste this good… please count me in!!!

I guess you just have to know how to prepare the food for it to taste so sinful. We spent the rest of the afternoon studying more on beans and preparing for a test next class on grains and beans/legumes. Next week the school is shut down so we’ll have an extra week to study. WHEW!!! I’ll need it.

The Letter

Last night 9:30 PM, Ed had telephoned us to find out what was going on. Apparently he had heard through the grapevine that we weren’t coming back. There was no way I was going to explain everything on the phone at this hour so I told him I wasn’t ready to talk about it.

Jason and I spent the rest of the evening and part of this morning composing a letter to give to him. We didn’t mention anything about how we’ve heard from other practitioners that they withhold their paychecks and expect free services for their acquaintances. We tried to stick with just the facts that affected us and not betray any confidences.

Dear Ed,

I’m sorry that I couldn’t talk to you on the phone when you called last night. I feel that too much had happened to be able to discuss it over the phone in a timely manner and I didn’t want to end up going to bed late or upset.

I don’t know if you are aware of all of the events that happened during your Open House as you weren’t present for any of it besides the first incident when I was sitting behind the desk beside Peggy. In fact, you may not have even been aware that I could hear Sharon quite clearly make the comment: “I don’t care who she is, she’s not sitting there.” I was taken a bit aback by that comment, but tried to brush it off as I believed Sharon may have been under some stress due to the Open House and trying to get everything ready. I wish that I could say that was the only incident as that could have been overlooked with your apology on your wife’s behalf.

I would have preferred if Sharon could have apologized for herself either on the phone or face to face though as it would have been more meaningful. Again this showed a lack of respect on her part. As for your explanation of why I couldn’t do my case studies there, I was a little confused about that as 1) Lynda is an Osteopath Student herself and not having completed her program at school and certified yet and 2) I was going to be providing my own insurance from the Canadian Federation of Aromatherapists and their Insurance partners which would have covered me under their Student Insurance to perform case studies outside of the school environment.

I’ll give you a play by play as to how the rest of the Open House progressed. After you left the area, I noticed Sharon struggling with the balloons and asked if I could help. I was given a very short and curt “NO” where she proceeded to ask one of your children to hold the balloons instead. OK, I said to myself and again dismissed it, but I was starting to get the feeling that she was having an issue with me personally as she was more pleasant with everyone else.

I don’t want this to be a Sharon bashing letter, however I have to let you know everything and why I am so upset, disappointed and hurt. What happened next was that I was asked to go and sit in the waiting area because the desk area had to be kept clear and she them proceeded to move the chair to the back of the building. This is when I started to get upset. I didn’t appreciate this passive-aggressive behavior. I am a very understanding person and if she would have simply explained that this area has to be kept for staff only due to legal restrictions, I would have understood and not felt like I was being reprimanded like a grade school student. For Sharon to have made up some nonsense about keeping the area clear was simply an insult to my intelligence, as I was well aware that this was not the actual reason she was asking me to move.

So I sat in the patient waiting area while awaiting Elena’s arrival to give her the planned Aromatherapy treatment for my case study. After Elena had left, I contemplated leaving as well. The only thing that kept me there was that I made a promise to you that I would stay for the Open House and try to help drum up some business for you by letting prospective patients know how much all of my treatments here have helped me and how I’m in Fibromyalgia remission because of what you and the rest had done for me.

I didn’t need to stay for the Open House. I knew your operation and everything involved. I was not promoting Aromatherapy, Reflexology, or myself in any way. In fact, when the subject was brought up, I quickly acknowledged it and changed the subject back to massage, chiropractic, etc. My mission was to help you and the clinic. Yes, I believe that making money is important, but I also believe that people’s health and a positive atmosphere is even more important.

I also didn’t like the fact that I heard Sharon tell a staff member while Kim was in her room giving a massage, (can’t remember who she was saying that to) that she didn’t care if Kim said that she wasn’t going to do massages outside in this heat and to bring back that massage chair and put it back outside after Kim had moved her chair back inside. She was going to give free massages, outside in stifling heat, having had nothing to eat all day, on her own time, at her own expense, like it or not. I thought to myself… this sounds rather dictatorial. I don’t think I could ever work with someone that is this controlling and uncaring. Notice that I said “work with” and not “work for”. That is because I believe in working together and not in the old fashioned “boss” atmosphere. You get further ahead when you look at it as a team rather than ownership of people.

At one point, I was explaining how wonderful Nancy’s nutrition program was working for me to a client and when Nancy came by, I asked her to come over and talk to the gentleman. Half way through our little 3-way conversation, Sharon came by, interrupted, and asked Nancy to give someone else a tour of the place. He looked a little confused at the abrupt end of the conversation so I tried to fix it by telling him about Homeopathy. Then Brindusha came by and I told him that she’d be able to explain it much better. Again, we had this little 3-way conversation going when Sharon came by, interrupted, and asked Brindusha to give someone a tour. This guy was very confused by now and I didn’t think I could say much more to fix it. I saw that Kim was outside with no massage in progress, so I pointed him to Kim’s direction for a free massage. I was hoping that maybe this would make him forget what had transpired with the last two practitioners. I wasn’t sure if he was an existing patient or a potential patient, so I wasn’t taking any chances.

I was pretty upset by this time and I couldn’t understand why Sharon was behaving this way. Was this her normal behavior with all of the practitioners? If so, I could never work in that kind of environment, let alone feel like I was getting treatments as a patient that would be as beneficial as possible. I calmed myself down by walking around for a bit and went outside for a smoke. When I came back in, I was feeling a bit better and I thought I’d try again.

This next scenario is what really made me angry. Jen was standing behind the desk talking to a few people. I can’t remember if she was talking to staff or patients. Sharon was seated in the patient waiting area with a potential patient trying answer some questions about Reiki. She called over to Jen: “Jen, come here and explain Reiki”. As Jen was busy talking and I was standing right there doing nothing, I turned to Sharon and said: “I just completed the course with Jen and Kim for Reiki Level 2. I can help explain Reiki.” Sharon glared at me, didn’t say a word, looked over to Jen and said: “Jen, come over here now and explain Reiki.” It was extremely rude. I see no reason to treat any other human being with such contempt regardless of whether or not she knew who I was.

I don’t know what I had done to deserve this kind of treatment, but I had had enough. All I wanted to do was be helpful and I kept getting a virtual slap in the face for my efforts. I said my goodbyes and left. The only thank you I got was from you and I did appreciate it. I then sat in my truck for the longest time, fuming with anger. Then I realized that I wasn’t really angry, I was deeply hurt and disappointed. Then I ended up sitting there and crying for the longest time before I was able to compose myself in order to drive home. I had incredible pain in my lower back from the stress. Strange how getting upset always takes itself out on my back.

Once home, I ended up talking to Jason at work on the phone for about an hour and a half while he tried to calm me down. The next day I had a horrible time trying to concentrate at school. I don’t think I remember most of the day. By Thursday, my back had gotten so extremely stiff and painful, I had to cancel my morning clinic day at school and book an emergency massage with Kim at the other clinic.

I’m so sorry that it had to come to this Ed. I always loved you as my chiropractor and liked you as a person very much. I really wanted to see your business succeed and I believed that I could work with you at one point. I truly believed that it would have been financially rewarding for both of us. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to work with Sharon’s business practices and treatment of fellow practitioners. I saw enough to know that I could never be happy working under that kind of iron hand. I was under the impression it was a team, but from what I saw with how she treated the practitioners first hand, this reminded me of bad places that I had worked in the past.

I can only offer this advice… if Sharon is to be your Clinic Director, she really has to be made to understand how Alternative Medicine works. The Mind, Body, Spirit Connection is a real thing. You cannot run a Wellness Centre like it’s a factory with unionized workers and producing a product. This isn’t an assembly line of cars, but people with pain and medical issues. Even before all of this had happened, I had noticed that all of the practitioners didn’t smile as much as they used to in the beginning when the clinic first opened. It was a steady increase of unhappiness that I could sense. If you think patients can’t pick up on the negative vibes in the clinic, you are very wrong.

I know from first hand experience with receiving treatments at both clinics, that what I received at Total Health link are good, but not as therapeutic as what I receive at Core Link. If the practitioners are under stress or not happy about something, that negative energy flows through to the patient without a word being said. I can only imagine how much better all the treatments could have been with a happier, and less negative atmosphere. If you believe that all of your practitioners are happy and satisfied, take a closer look and see through the smiles they put on for the patient’s benefit. As a relatively good judge of people and a lot of psychology training, I see through it rather easily without anyone saying a word. I just didn’t know what the cause was until witnessing it first hand.

I can’t blame Sharon in this respect as she doesn’t have any Alternative Healthcare experience and most likely doesn’t understand the whole “Mind, Body, Spirit Connection” that is such a huge part of Alternative Medicine. With all that has transpired, we don’t believe that we can get the health benefits that are possible at your clinic. I’m sorry that it had to come to this, but it hurt me very deeply and I have a low, if not zero tolerance for passive-aggressive behavior. I honor and respect when people when that are honest, up front and rational instead. They key to financial success is to have a happy team that will back you 100% and that can’t happen when they are treated like school children.

I have had my own financially successful business in the past in the graphic arts world with a staff of 6 people outside of myself, so I do know what I’m talking about. I ended up having to sell my business because it grew too big and I was no longer happy in that field. I always treated everyone with the utmost respect and kindness and they reciprocated by giving their all at work and then some without me having to ask for it or order it.

The people who work with you have the training and experience and if you lose them, you lose all of that. What you bring to the agreement is, in reality, little more than a treatment space, and without the practitioners, all you will have left is empty space. It is our honest opinion as outside observers that you need these people more than they need you, and we believe that you will be much better off to treat them accordingly. We hate to see this dark cloud over everything you’ve worked so hard to build, but we do see that it’s there, and we have to do what is right for our own health and wellness.

It’s with a sad heart that I have to type this letter, but I thought it was important for you to be aware of everything. Jason and I still want you to be successful in the future in helping people find their way to wellness and live a pain-free and productive life. I can’t thank you enough for how you have helped both of us and we wish that things could have been different. None of my words here are meant to hurt or are said in spite, but rather I’m hoping to help you see things a little differently and hopefully make the improvements you need to do to reap the financial benefits of bringing people their lives back to them. If we didn’t care about your success, we would have simply just disappeared and never bothered to explain why. Both Jason and I wish you the best of luck with everything.

Sincerely,
Norah Bleazard & Jason Bleazard

Work Out From Hell

I worked out with my personal trainer from hell, um I mean Amy today. This woman is evil, evil, evil. Ok, not really. She’s a great trainer, smart, pushes me properly to do more but damn sneaky. She’s been increasing my weight every visit by just a little bit and not telling me. I kept wondering, how come this wasn’t getting any easier? Now I know why. She also increased my situps on the stability ball from 50 to 70. I did them, but it sure wasn’t easy. Without her pushing and encouraging me, there was no way I was going to be able to do it.

I can’t help but remember this joke that I received in an e-mail. Every time I workout with Amy I remember this joke:

Dear Diary.

For my fortieth birthday this year, my wife (the dear) purchased a week of personal training at the local health club for me. Although I am still in great shape since playing on my college football team 25 years ago, I decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and give it a try.

I called the club and made my reservations with a personal trainer named Belinda, who identified herself as a 26-year-old aerobics instructor and model for athletic clothing and swimwear. My wife seemed pleased with my enthusiasm to get started!

The club encouraged me to keep a diary to chart my progress.

Monday:
Started my day at 6:00am. Tough to get out of bed, but found it was well worth it when I arrived at the health club to find Belinda waiting for me. She is something of a Greek goddess - with blond hair, dancing eyes and a dazzling white smile. Woo Hoo!!

Belinda gave me a tour and showed me the machines. She took my pulse after five minutes on the treadmill. She was alarmed that my pulse was so fast, but I attribute it to standing next to her in her Lycra aerobic outfit. I enjoyed watching the skillful way in which she conducted her aerobics class after my workout today. Very inspiring.

Belinda was encouraging as I did my sit-ups, although my gut was already aching from holding it in the whole time she was around.This is going to be a FANTASTIC week!!

Tuesday:
I drank a whole pot of coffee, but I finally made it out the door. Belinda made me lie on my back and push a heavy iron bar into the air -- then she put weights on it! My legs were a little wobbly on the treadmill, but I made the full mile.

Belinda's rewarding smile made it all worthwhile. I feel GREAT!! It's a whole new life for me.

Wednesday:
The only way I can brush my teeth is by laying on the toothbrush on the counter and moving my mouth back and forth over it. I believe I have a hernia in both pectorals. Driving was OK as long as I didn't try to steer or stop. I parked on top of a GEO in the club parking lot.

Belinda was impatient with me, insisting that my screams bothered other club members. Her voice is a little too perky for early in the morning and when she scolds, she gets this nasally whine that is VERY annoying.

My chest hurt when I got on the treadmill, so Belinda put me on the stair monster. Why the hell would anyone invent a machine to simulate an activity rendered obsolete by elevators? Belinda told me it would help me get in shape and enjoy life.

She said some other shit too.

Thursday:
Belinda was waiting for me with her vampire-like teeth exposed as her thin, cruel lips were pulled back in a full snarl. I couldn't help being a half an hour late; it took me that long to tie my shoes.

Belinda took me to work out with dumbbells. When she was not looking, I ran and hid in the men's room. She sent Lars to find me, then, as punishment, she put me on the rowing machine - which I sank.

Friday:
I hate that bitch Belinda more than any human being has ever hated any other human being in the history of the world. Stupid, skinny, anemic little cheerleader. If there was a part of my body I could move without unbearable pain, I would beat her with it.

Belinda wanted me to work on my triceps. I don't have any triceps!

And if you don't want dents in the floor, don't hand me the barbells or anything that weighs more than a sandwich.

The treadmill flung me off and I landed on a health and nutrition teacher. Why couldn't it have been someone softer, like the drama coach or the choir director?

Saturday:
Belinda left a message on my answering machine in her grating, shrilly voice wondering why I did not show up today. Just hearing her made me want to smash the machine with my planner. However, I lacked the strength to even use the TV remote and ended up catching eleven straight hours of the Weather Channel.

Sunday:
I'm having the Church van pick me up for services today so I can go and thank GOD that this week is over.
I will also pray that next year my wife (the bitch) will choose a gift for me that is fun -- like a root canal or a vasectomy.

Fun & Enlightening Visit With Friends

Today, Jason and I went to visit our friends Mark and Leslie. We didn’t get a chance to see the new baby as it slept through our entire visit. This was the first time the baby had slept this long and Leslie was a bit concerned and popped in a few times to check on little Matthew. Man this is one “BIG” kid. Mark is pretty tall (the basic football player size) and at 3 months, Matthew is fitting into clothes for a one year old. Leslie is already finding him to be heavy to hold for long periods of time. I don’t envy her as he starts to get bigger… LOL.

We had a wonderful visit together like we always do and we learned so very much about our chiropractor that we didn’t know. Seems Leslie has no intention of going back to work for Ed after her maternity leave. She doesn’t feel comfortable with his unethical billing practices. I didn’t really care for them either. I was under the impression that he was trying to help patients that couldn’t afford it because their insurance ran out, by billing their chiropractic sessions under other items such as physio or massage.

I did find it rather strange that Kim (certified and registered Athletic Therapist and Massage Therapist) and Lynda (certified and registered Athletic Therapist and final year Osteopath student that was legally allowed to practice Osteopathy) were giving me physio and osteopathic treatments and they were being billed under someone that I have only seen once. Jason was getting the physio and osteopathic treatments from Kim & Lynda and never once saw Frankie (the physiotherapist).

Apparently there was a lot more unethical billing practices that went on that we didn’t know about. Yes, it was good for patients that ran out of coverage from their insurance for Chiropractic care, but not good if down the road you needed physiotherapy and didn’t have any coverage left.

Mark’s company installed all the computer systems for Ed and worked out a great deal for him. At one point, Ed wanted something else installed and Mark told him that the office was closed, but if he really wanted it today, Mark would go out and buy the equipment out of his own personal money, but he’d need to be reimbursed the same day as his insurance payment would bounce. But he’d do him this favor only if they promised to get the money back to him by the end of Saturday.

Lo and behold, Ed and Sharon pulled a fast one and didn’t give Mark the money unless they got their check from Mark’s company for their “special deal – rebate check”. This was not a nice thing to do… basically Leslie is a new mom on maternity leave, Mark’s company is struggling, and they pull this crap by not paying them back and basically pulling food from a baby’s mouth. NOT ETHICAL!!!

Finding out all of this made the decision rather easy for us. We’re simply not going to put another red cent into Ed and Sharon’s pockets. It was a fun evening and a real eye opener.

Chiropractic Conversation

Today, Jason and I got to the chiropractor’s office before he showed up so that we could clean out the room I was using for case studies of all of my belongings. We decided that I shouldn’t do anymore case studies there as the negative energy of the place just wasn’t doing me any good. We got all of my stuff out of there before he came into the office.

While I had my appointment with the Homeopath doctor, Jason had his adjustment with Ed. They didn’t discuss the events as I wanted to talk to him first and tell him what I thought of all of this.

Jason finished and headed off to work, while I went into the treatment room for my adjustment. I decided to hold off talking with Ed until after I got my much needed adjustment for my back. No point it getting him upset while he’s working on my back… that could have been disastrous.

Much to my surprise, he brought it up by saying: “I have to apologize for my wife, she thinks she may have been rude to you. It’s actually my fault as I never told her that I was letting you use a treatment room for your case studies. I also should tell you that after you finish this study, I can’t let you use the room any more. Our new insurance won’t allow non-certified people to perform any kind’s of treatments.”

I was a little lost for words as I was hoping to bring this up after my treatment. All I could tell him was that I was more than a little pissed off and left it at that. After the adjustment, I wanted to discuss it further, but there were a load of patients waiting to see him afterwards. Instead I will talk with Jason more about this on the weekend and come to some sort of decision.

Tomorrow, Jason and I will be going to visit our friends, Mark & Leslie. Leslie used to work for Ed as his receptionist until she had her baby and went on maternity leave. Mark installed all of Ed’s computer systems, so they both know Ed quite well. We’ll talk to them and see what they think of all of this.

OUCH

I had to cancel the morning of Clinic Day as I was in so much pain. There was no way I could give 2 treatments for my case studies. I phoned the school and left a message with the Director that I would be in for the afternoon portion.

I then called Kim to see if she had anything open as I needed a massage very badly. Kim has an amazing talent for releasing muscle spasms in the back. I lucked out and she had an opening and boy was that a great massage. I didn’t feel great, but I knew that I could handle the rest of the afternoon at the school.

Kim suggested that I send her bill to Ed to pay as it was the events at the Open House that caused this muscle spasm. I would love to do that, but I think we should talk to him about all of this.

During Clinic Day, I received a treatment and gave one. That was just what I needed. I felt so much better. Now we have to figure out what to do with our Chiropractor. Both Jason and I are scheduled for an adjustment tomorrow morning. I think we’ll be having a long talk with him then.

Difficult day for learning.

Today was the second class in nutrition. I was in a lot of pain today and was grateful that I didn’t have to do anything physical as my back was crying out with sharp pains. I found it incredibly difficult to concentrate today. I guess the events of yesterday were taking it’s toll on me. Funny how stress effects the body.

Every muscle in my body is screaming as well. I have this feeling that my remission for Fibromyalgia may have been a bit premature. I’m feeling like it’s hit me with a major flare today. But at least it’s not as bad as the flares of the past have been. I am still able to get up at a normal hour, shower, dress, and get myself to school. So it can’t be back full force as I would never have been able to go to school this time last year.

We had our amazingly good breakfast at school. We had a variety of healthy cereals, scrambled tofu, which surprised the heck out of me. It actually tasted quite good. There was this sprouted bread that had no yeast in it that tasted like a sinful dessert. We have to go shopping at Whole Foods and get some of these things.

Later we had some bananas, strawberries and kiwi (all organic) with some organic plain yogurt. It was yummy. At break we all had some filtered water with fresh organic lemon wedges. Seems that lemons are the number 1 alkalizing food and really good for you. The best is to drink the water with lemons in it within 30 minutes as the alkalizing factor weakens with time.

We studied the healing properties of grains today and WOW… what an eye-opener. I wish I could explain it all here, but it would just take way too much space. All I know is that I have to start eating more Millet and Rye. Millet does a great job strengthening the kidneys and is a natural diuretic and boy do I need that. Rye helps with muscles and helps liver stagnancy.

I still felt very out of sorts and emotional today. I have Clinic Day tomorrow and I don’t know how my back is going to hold out for it. What I would give for a massage right now. My body hurts so much today, all I want to do is go back to bed. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

DAY FROM HELL

Ok… Today was a day that I wish I could forget. Many changes are going to happen from here on in for both Jason and I when it comes to our chiropractic treatments. I had my Osteopath and Massage therapy appointments at the other clinic today and afterwards, headed over to the Chiropractor’s clinic to do my second treatment on my patient for the Case Study.

I got there a little early to make sure the room I was using was all set up and ready for her. Tonight, the Chiropractor (Ed) is having an Open House and would like me to stay for it to explain to prospective new patients, the benefits of all my treatments and how it has helped me.

I figured, no problem. He’s helped change my life so very much and by allowing me to use one of his spare treatment rooms for my case studies, I owed him at least this.

I got to the clinic, set up the room, and waited for my patient to show up. Then the darkness came. My chiropractor's wife (the clinic's director) arrived at the clinic. I don't claim to be psychic, but I felt this darkness or negativity surrounding her when she walked in. A series of events occurred afterwards and the rudeness and coldness that she gave me were overwhelming.

I tried to ground and centre myself as much as I could, but the darkness overcame me. I felt emotional, hurt, angry and all the negative feelings you could imagine. I wasn't prepared for this. It came so unexpectedly. Yes, her husband was doing me a favor by letting me use one of the treatment rooms, but I am also a paying patient as is Jason.

We had spent quite a large sum of money for treatments there over the last year, and I was there that day to help promote his business. Silly me, I thought when you try to help someone that there would be gratitude in return, not rudeness. I was completely overwhelmed and had to leave early. She glared at me as her husband thanked me for helping and being there. I sat in my truck for awhile to compose myself as I was extremely angry. The anger turned to hurt and I couldn't hold back the tears.

As soon as I felt better, I drove home. No point in getting into an accident because my mind wasn’t on my driving. After I composed myself I went home, telephoned Jason to let him know all that happened and he was incredibly shocked. I’ll post more on this later as we both still have to figure out what exactly we are going to do next.

Second Degree Reiki Certification :-)

Well, I did it. I’m now officially a Second Degree Reiki Practitioner. I’ll be going for my Masters in February. There’s only one level left after that, and that’s Reiki Master/Teacher. I don’t think I’ll be going for that one, I’ll be happy just to make it to the Reiki Master level. For the Master/Teacher level there is a one year apprenticeship required and I just don’t have that kind of time to dedicate to it.

I’ll be able to add this to my list of certifications towards my Alternative Healthcare Practitioner stuff when it comes to offering Alternative Healthcare Services. Well worth it in my opinion.

All in all, it was an amazing weekend. I have opened myself up to a wonderful form of relaxation and healing. We did a group Reiki Share and did sessions on each other. I could feel the warmth and tingling all over my painful joints. It was great.

What I have noticed is really weird. All day today I’ve felt out of sorts. Like I didn’t really belong and kind’ve depressed. I thing now that all the fun and excitement of the weekend is over, everything else seems to trivial and meaningless. I guess this will pass and things will get back on track real soon.

Today I had a workout with my personal trainer, Amy. I think she is evil. She had me to 50 situps (actually crunches) on the stability ball. I may wish very bad things on her when I wake up tomorrow morning.

Bad Pain Day

Today I skipped Clinic Day at the school. It’s not been a good day pain wise so I thought it would be better to focus on getting myself feeling better. Thank God I’m ahead of the rest of the class for my case studies so I’ll be fine.

This weekend I have a full 2 days of class with my Reiki masters. I’ll be studying and getting my Level 2 Reiki certification. WOOO HOOOO!!!! I’m really excited about this. I’ll post more when I’ve finished the class.

Nutrition Class

Today was the first day of the Nutrition class of the course. WOW!!! Talk about intense. I had already learned a lot of what we were discussing due to my years of personal research and things that I’ve learned from our holistic nutritionist. I have an assignment due in 2 weeks on The South Beach Diet. We each got a different popular diet to research and give a presentation on. This should be quite interesting as I’ve known for years that these popular diets out there are just a fad and a money making scheme. Too bad the rest of the world doesn’t understand how unhealthy these things are and that they simply don’t work over the long term.

Next week, we are preparing a healthy breakfast in class. We were each assigned different items to bring in. I’ll be bringing in organic Soy Milk (natural flavor). I hope I remember to not eat breakfast before school… LOL.

Today we studied the acid/alkaline foods. We were given a photocopy of a chart that listed all the foods and their pH levels. The ideal diet consists of 20% acidic foods and 80% alkaline foods per day. I plan on putting all these in an Excel spreadsheet for my own personal use. Maybe even put a copy on my PDA so I’ll have it with me when we grocery shop.

Our class is planning a field trip to Whole Foods Market. It’s a big grocery chain that sells organic and healthy foods. Jason and I will have to check this place out as it’s only about 20 minutes from our house. They have store all over the Canada and the U.S. Here’s their website:

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com
Seems they don’t have one in Utah though. Oh well, but they do have 5 in Colorado and one in Nevada. Hopefully the Holistic and Organic ways of eating will catch on more in North America in the future.

My First Aromatherapy Case Study

Yesterday I had my first case study done at our Chiropractor’s clinic. And yes folks, it was on a woman. THANK GOD!!! So far, the only case studies I've done outside of school, was on my mom. The Aromatherapy treatment went rather well. I was a bit nervous, but soon fell in the swing of things. I only messed up one thing, I forgot to do the arm portion. Oh well, we were told that we could skip the arms if time was running out or the patient required more emphasis on other parts of the body.

My patient loved it. She said it was out of this world and she was sorry that it was over and would have loved another hour. It’s always good to get positive feedback. I gave her the aftercare instructions with a bottle of water and told her to drink lots of water. She complimented me and told me I was very kind. Wow, I didn’t expect that as I was just following the example of my teacher.

All in all it went very well and the patient is excited to come back next week. I would like to prepare a special blend for her as she suffers with migraines, but as I haven’t taken the blending class yet, I’m really not allowed to prepare blends for therapeutic use when it comes to treatments. I am, however, allowed to prepare as many products for sale as I wish, such as soaps, candles, lotions, massage oils, etc. I may just go ahead and prepare a blend for her to use without actually applying it during her treatment.

I am proud of myself for doing a good job and putting a smile on my patients face and helped her with her relaxation problem. All in all, a good day.

Science Fiction musings

Further to Norah's post about Star Wars, I thought I'd chime in with a few of my thoughts. It really surprised me how... empty we were left feeling after seeing the last Star Wars movie. Not because of anything wrong with the movie itself. I quite enjoyed it. I know a lot of people have had nothing but criticism for episodes I, II and III, saying that they don't measure up to their childhood memories of the original. To those people, I would suggest going back and watching the original again to see if it was really as great as you're remembering. I love Star Wars, but let's honestly look at these movies for what they are: fun entertainment. Sure, there are a few things I might have done differently, and some things that I wanted to see as a fan that weren't included. But I absolutely respect Lucas' right to make his movie his way.

The question remains: where are all of the original ideas in Hollywood these days? Since The Matrix, I can't think of a single original sci-fi movie or TV show that was any good. Even my latest obsession, the new Battlestar Galactica, is a remake.

I keep hearing about how good Firefly is. I like Joss Whedon's other shows (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel) quite a lot, so I watched Firefly. I wanted to like it, and I really tried tried to get in to it. For some reason, it didn't click with me. I don't know if I just can't get past the whole space Western thing, or what. The movie based on that show is going to be hitting theaters later this year, I think I'll give it another chance. I imagine they'll structure the movie so that it isn't necessary to be a fan of the TV show first.

Now that Star Wars and The Matrix are done, they've canceled all Star Trek and the Babylon 5 movie fell through, there isn't much left worth looking forward to. I've heard rumors of another Trek movie with an all-new cast to take place some time between the time of the series Enterprise and the original Trek. My question: why do this, when there are already so many unanswered questions lingering from Deep Space 9, Voyager and Enterprise? Couldn't we round up these cast members and fill in some of the blanks? I suppose the actors probably want too much money.

What other sci-fi movies have we had this year? The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. While this has never been a movie before, it has been a TV miniseries and a radio series. I don't mind making movies from books, if they're going to stay more or less true to the source material. I haven't seen this one yet, I'll wait for the video. From what I hear, they didn't stay very true to the book at all. Batman Begins: another prequel. War of the Worlds: another remake. Fantastic Four: another remake. I'll check these out eventually, but I can't say I have any desire to spend the money to see them in the theater.

Looking through the other movies, we have Bewitched, The Honeymooners, Bad News Bears, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and The Dukes of Hazzard. Did all of these really need remakes? And don't even get me started on television.

The amount of mindless drivel that Hollywood is shoving down our throats is insulting to our collective intelligence. And they wonder why their profits are down all across the board. Could it be because the economy in general is down, and when people get laid off, the first thing they do is eliminate their entertainment budget? Could it be because we're sick and tired of the crap that we're being fed? Oh, no, it must be the fault of the Internet. Clearly the solution is to regulate the Internet out of existence. Yes, that will immediately fix all of our problems and get people running back to the theaters to sit in tiny, uncomfortable seats with sticky floors and put up with other people's bratty children to watch a bad remake of a TV show that was never very good to begin with. The sooner the RIAA and MPAA are forced in to complete technological obsolescence and quit wasting all of their energy harassing all of their own customers trying to ensure that nobody watches or listens to anything without forking over some cash first, the better off we'll all be.

Where has all of the creative talent gone? I think a lot of it has gone to Pixar. Everything they've done so far has been amazing (Toy Story 1 & 2, A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo and especially The Incredibles), although I'm not too sure about their next film (Cars). I'm really eager to see what they'll be able to pull off once their contract with Disney expires and they're out on their own. The team that did Shrek and Shrek 2 also has a lot of talent on it. I haven't seen Shark Tale yet, or Madagascar. I'm not too sure about Will Smith as a fish, he isn't a very good actor as a human (no matter what he plays, it's always basically Will Smith and the Robots, Will Smith and the Aliens, Will Smith and the Other Aliens, etc.). Based on the previews, when he tries to play a fish it still just sounds like Will Smith and the Fish. Madagascar looks pretty funny, but again I'll wait for the DVD.

I think maybe I'm going to start paying more attention to the independent film circuit. Maybe check out Atom Films once in a while to see what people are coming up with. Most independent films are bizarre beyond words, but every once in a while you turn up a real gem like Memento. There must be some talented, creative people out there who are still interested in making quality entertainment. I'm not asking for fine art here, people. Just something that I can enjoy for a couple of hours without wondering if it was written for (or by) a horde of lemmings. Is that really too much to ask?

Who hasn't wanted to watch their junior high school burn?

It's kind of weird, I think everyone in junior high school entertains fantasies of blowing up the building or burning it to a crisp. I only went to Wasatch Jr. for one year, 9th grade. For me, this isn't the school I think of when I think of the unrelenting horror that is junior high school. That honor in my mind belongs to Valley Jr. Wasatch actually wasn't a bad school. My memories of being there are not entirely unpleasant, so it's kind of sad to see it burn down.

Full story in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Now if Valley Jr. ever burns down, I want ring-side seats. I'll bring the marshmallows.

The End of an Era & Reality :-(

Saturday night Jason and I decided to finally go and see Star Wars 3. The movie had been out since May 19th, but we wanted to wait for the lines to die out and rewatch Star Wars 1, 2, and the animated series Clone Wars, before seeing the movie.

Even though we were ready for quite a while to go see it, for some reason I kept stalling. I finally figured out why. Seeing Star Wars 3, would be the end. The end of an Era, the end of the Saga, the end of STAR WARS!!!

The movie was great. I enjoyed every second of it. When it was over, both Jason and I were kind’ve sad. There’s nothing left. It’s finished! There is no more Star Wars, no more Star Trek on TV, no more Babylon 5, nothing.

Being the Sci-Fi junkies that we are, the only thing left for us is Battlestar Galactica. Season 2 starts this fall, and that’s pretty much the only thing we have left to look forward to where Sci-Fi is concerned.

Sure there will be stuff to watch on TV this fall that is ok. We always enjoy the CSI’s, 24, Medium, and Desperate Housewives. But they aren’t shows that I rush home to watch or would be upset if I missed, or felt the need to record while away. Sooo… TV will be a little glum this year outside of Battlestar… the only thing we really, really can’t miss.

Is Sci-Fi losing popularity? I sure hope not. Real life is not all it’s cracked up to be and watching Reality shows are really not my thing. I guess I hate the fact that they call them “reality” when they’re scripted. True reality would be soooo boring. Who wants to watch a day in the life of a Burger King worker, or a day at the assembly line, or the exciting nightlife of a single person that comes home to an empty apartment and has a frozen meal for dinner. Yeah… reality isn’t as exciting as Hollywood would lead us to believe. Just look around and see if the events going on around you would make good television.

Ok... off I go to the clinic for my first "real" aromatherapy patient... woooo hooo :-) AND IT'S NOT A MAN!!!! hehehehehe.

WHAT??? A MAN????

Yesterday was an interesting day. I found myself not very nervous and I hadn’t spent as much time with my notes as I thought I was going to. Jason helps me unload all my gear at the clinic seeing as he had an appointment with the Chiropractor at 9:30 AM anyway. I got busy setting up my table and making the room just perfect. Put some nice candles in the window, great music on the CD player. The room is perfect.

Kim is wonderful. She helped me so much with everything. Then she asks me if I feel ready for Mr. X? Um… Mr. X??? A Man??? WHAT???? I’ve never done a treatment on a man before… OH NO!!!! We studied this, there are some slight differences, especially on the face. Razor stubble makes the technique a little different. I haven’t even practiced this on a man yet. OMG… OK.. my heart is racing like crazy. Oh well, just go with the flow is what I keep telling myself.

Turned out Mr. X cancelled his appointment as he just got a promotion at work and needs to rework his schedule. WHEW!!!! THANK GOD!!!! I better practice on Jason as soon as I’m able to. WOW… talk about anxiety!!!

Anyway, I spent the day at the clinic, had all my treatments, helped put together a new treadmill for the gym area, and studied my notes in my peaceful, quiet treatment room. I’ll be all set for my first patient, today at 11:00 AM… AND IT’S A WOMAN!!!!!!!!

IKEA: a little piece of heaven

Isn’t IKEA just like a small piece of heaven? I just adore this store. Saturday, Jason and I decided to get up early and have breakfast at the restaurant inside IKEA. They serve a nice breakfast for $1. Hash browned potatoes, scrambled eggs, sausages & croissant. YUM! We got there by 8:40 AM, shoveled down breaky, buzzed around the store like madmen to pick up towels, blankets & pillows, and then rush over to my Homeopath appointment for 10:00 AM.

I have my first “real patient” to do a case study on at my chiropractor’s office on Tuesday morning at 11:00AM. Kim (my massage therapist) had referred a patient of hers over to me to be a case study. Ed (my chiropractor) gave me an empty treatment room to use, Kim supplied a massage table and stool, and I needed to get sheets, towels, pillows, pillow cases, etc. for the room.

I was in a kind’ve calm nervousness if that makes any sense. I’m excited to get my first real patient, yet nervous at the same time, but in such a weird way. Nervous without the anxiety that usually accompanies it.

So we get to the Homeopath’s office (she works out of Ed’s clinic) just as she was getting there. She tells us that she needs a new bulb for her color therapy laser machine and would we mind waiting while she runs over to her other clinic to pick up her other machine. We took this opportunity to rush over to Zeller’s and buy some sheets and pillow cases, and one of those plastic wheelie carts with drawers.

I don’t know if you guys know what color therapy is, but I’m giving it a shot. I figure if the insurance company is willing to pay for $500 worth of Homeopath appointments per year… then why not see how this works. Here’s a link:

http://nh.essortment.com/whatiscolort_rime.htm

Ok… I get the treatment done, and off we go home. Jason goes to the gym later and does the grocery shopping, while I soak my new sheets and super-treat them with unscented fabric softener. Laundry is now a full day event to get these towels, sheets, and blankets feeling comfy and cozy.

Then I get some news that I’m not overly happy about. Kim goes into the clinic today to play catch up on paperwork and notices that I have a patient coming in on Monday morning as well. She calls me to see if I know this or not. Of course I don’t. Seems like the "dippy" (and I use the term lightly as this is almost a compliment) receptionist at the clinic has booked me an appointment on Monday afternoon at 2:00 PM.

She never even called me to let me know... uggggh. I could strangle this woman sometimes... she is bossy, arrogant and makes more than her fair share of mistakes. She messed up the phone system at the clinic and now the phone there doesn't make a ring that everyone can hear.I wonder how many patients have not been able to get through... grrrrr.Anyway... thank God Kim was in the clinic yesterday and noticed this.

I already had my day all scheduled. Originally, I had an appointment with my personal trainer at the gym for 10AM until 11:00AM.. a full hour of workouts and sweating. I was then going to rush over to the clinic and see my Homeopath at 12:00 - 12:30 for a color therapy treatment, then 12:30 - 1:00 for my Chiropractor adjustment, then1:00 - 2:00pm with Kim for massage therapy... all at the same clinic. I was going to be there all sweaty and tired. How could I give a treatment at 2:00pm? How fair would that have been to the patient to have a sweaty practitioner working on them? YUK!!!!I would have been there alright... but I wouldn't have had all my supplies with me (oils, sheets, blanket, pillows, music and CD player, etc., etc., etc. What a dipstick!!! Sometimes I could throttle her for not thinking.

Friday she told a patient that the doctor wasn't in yet... and he was in the back in his office doing paperwork. She's messed up my appointments for myself on numerous occasions. I'm so sick of getting calls that I've missed an appointment when she wrote it into the wrong week...ugggh.

So I called my trainer and left a message on her cell phone to cancel my appointment. Now I will go to the clinic first thing in the morning and Kim will help me set up my room... move the massage table in there, get the bed all set up, and do whatever needs to be done to make my first case study down outside of fellow students, friends or family a pleasant and wonderful experience for the patient.I'm reading my notes and studying like crazy... rehearsing what I'll say, etc. etc.

I'm nervous. I want to give this patient the best and make her feel wonderful. Not just is this a case study for me at school... but a real patient of the clinic, so this is the real thing... not just practicing and learning... but actually trying to help someone that needs it.