Another year has come and gone

2010 is just a few hours away and I realise that I haven’t written anything for over a month, so it’s time to reflect.

December always tends to be a blur as there always just seems to be so much to do and often not enough time to get it all done. However, it didn’t seem to be so bad this year as it has been in previous years. Maybe we’re getting more immune to it, or perhaps we may be more organised or something!

The people I work for seem to have had a hard December, if you go by what has been said in the press. We seem to hear the same thing year in year out, so perhaps it is time to rethink the whole approach to how things are done in regards to the huge fund-raising and PR machine that rolls heavy at this time of year. People start to get cynical when they hear the same old sob stories each year, so it may be time to reflect on how things could be improved upon. Maybe instead of saying ‘we need more money to carry on helping in the way we do’, the approach just needs to be one of humility and gratitude, thanking everyone for their generosity in hard times, acknowledging that each quarter, loonie, toonie (or whatever donation given) is more than we started with. Any organisation that comes out with arrogant claims/slogans such as ‘Doing The Most Good’ or ‘We see things that most others don’t’ should ask themselves what those slogans say to the other groups and organisations who also tirelessly help those in need or in unfortunate situations. Those slogans and campaigns make me cringe and I refuse to be a part of them. If the money raised keeps going down then maybe it is time to ditch these campaigns and take a more humble approach with the public. I have had members of the public ask me why so much is being spent on some of the national advertising that has been undertaken and I have no answer to give other than sending their question ‘higher up’.

Locally, we did quite well. Our Moose FM Radiothon was down a bit on last year, but our kettles were up almost 40%. So, overall we are round about the same as last year, which is quite surprising given the economic climate of the past few months. I have no real explanation as to why this year was so successful, but we are thankful that it was. A lot of it is down to community spirit and the way in which many people from all walks of life get involved in helping us at this time of year.

After Christmas we took some holiday time and headed off to Sault Ste Marie, Michigan for a couple of nights. It was nice to get away to relax and have some family time together. Sometimes we feel that the kids get cheated a bit in the run up to Christmas.

2009 hasn’t been a bad year. There have been worse, there have been better.

Changes

There were some major changes that occurred in my life this year. First of all, in February, after much thought, I decided to become a vegetarian. This turned out to be a lot easier than I thought and I have felt healthier for it.

Secondly, we finally moved the group we gather with from the old location to a better location.  Overall the move has been a good one, although there is still much to be done. Everything takes time, but I believe we are headed in the right direction.

Family

It’s been a mixed year as far as family goes. Our kids continue to grow and flourish, and they keep us busy. It’s a joy to watch them grow up and develop their little pieces of independence, but it can be worrying sometimes as well.

We had quite a few family members come and visit this year and it was great being able to spend time with them. Being so far away makes those moments even more precious.

The one downer for our family this year was the passing of my granny, at 95 years old, in November. She led a full life and left quite a legacy of family behind. It gave me the opportunity to travel back ‘home’ to Orkney, which was nice, but it would’ve been better in other circumstances.

Highlights

There were some good highlights in 2009 as well. Those who know me well, know that one of the biggest was in September seeing U2 on their 360 tour at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. We have tickets to see them again in Toronto next July.

Another highlight was getting to meet Thomas Mathie, aka the Headphonaught. It was a hastily arranged get together for coffee and a yarn whilst I was over in Scotland for the funeral, but it was worth the effort. I’m really appreciative of the support I receive from my online community (many of whom I have never met face to face), one of whom is Thomas, and I look forward to meeting more of them in the future.

2009 Favourites

No old year reflection would be complete without some favourites lists, so here goes:

Top 5 Books read this year:

1. ‘Pagan Christianity’ – Frank Viola
2. ‘Irresistible Revolution’ – Shane Claiborne
3. ‘Enough’ – Will Samson
4. ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society’ – Mary Anne Shaffer and Annie Borrows
5. ‘Mozart and the Whale’ – Jerry and Mary Newport

Top 5 Movies watched this year (for the first time):

1. ‘Star Trek’
2. ‘Where the Wild Things Are’
3. ‘Slumdog Millionaire’
4. ‘Earth’
5. ‘Burn After Reading’

Top 5 Movies watched this year (seen previously):

1. ‘The Shawshank Redemption’
2. ‘Hoop Dreams’
3. ‘The Mission’
4. ‘On A Clear Day’
5. ‘Back to the Future (the trilogy)’

Top 5 albums purchased/downloaded:

1. ‘No Line On The Horizon’ -U2
2. ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ – Derek Webb
3. ‘The Knee Plays’ – David Byrne
4. ‘A Hundred Million Suns’ – Snow Patrol
5. ‘Flesh and Bones Electric Fun’ – Mutemath

Anyway, feel free to disagree with anything I’ve written here. That’s pretty much it for 2009. Looking forward to 2010. I’m not much of one for resolutions. There are some things I’d like to achieve. For one, I’d like to get my weight under 200lbs, which means I have about 25 to lose. The Wii fit board is helping me to achieve this. The other major thing I really need to do this year is to get my Canadian citizenship. I’ve only been eligible for 13 years! Getting this would save a lot of hassle any time I want to visit the USA. It would save some money as well in the long run. I like the idea of a 365 photoblog, but the last time I tried it I didn’t get beyond January. We’ll see how it goes this time! I’d also like to do more reading. This year I managed 25 books, but it would be great to get closer to 40 or more.

So, have a great New Year! Hopefully I’ll get beyond the one post a month here that seems to have been the recent output, but I’m not making any promises that I can’t keep!

Staying put

Today was the day in the SA in Canada/Bermuda when officers would find out whether or not they are moving or not this year. We are not and happily enter year 9 of our time here in Elliot Lake. We are very happy with this as we are just in the middle of a time of great transition which we want to continue to be involved in. Added to that, I found out that one of my best friends from college days has been appointed (along with his family) to Sault Ste Marie. They’ve been in Flin Flon for the past 9 years, so we haven’t seen much of them recently. We look forward to lots of catching up.

If the moves are something that interest you click here.

A Waste of Time and Money – time for a real change

Well, yesterday’s general election was certainly a waste of time and money for the Canadian people. Basically, it was an election that just shouldn’t have happened. It was called by Stephen Harper, against his own fixed elections bill, because he believed that he had the opportunity to get the majority needed to be the party in full power. He also claimed he called the election because the present government just wasn’t working. He made some gains and there were some surprising shifts in power in some ridings, but the real losers are the Canadian people, because the big picture is still a minority govenrment that, unless there is willing participation for cooperaton from the other parties, will end up being just as dysfunctional as before.

One thing the final results from yesterday show is that it is time for a real change in the area of electoral reform. Some form of proportional representation really needs to be looked at. There is something wrong when a party that gets just less than 10% of the vote ends up with 50 seats, whilst a party with close to 7% of the vote ends up with none. With proportional representation the former would have had about 30 seats, whilst the latter would have had 20.

The shame of the whole thing, not counting the waste of taxpayers money, is that we could be back at this within a couple of years again, which also means that I really need to get on with processing my Canadian citizenship.

What are they scared of?

So, the Bloc Quebecois party leader, with a party that runs in only one province, is allowed to speak on the nationally televised leader’s debate, but the Green party leader, with candidates in over 300 ridings cannot. What are the others scared of? I, for one, am more interested in hearing what Elizabeth May has to say than what Gilles Duceppe, leader of a sovereignist party, has to offer.

Story here.

Petition here.

UPDATE: Wednesday – they changed their mind, click here. Good news!

Only in Canada?

snowmobile racing in Eliot Lake

One of them was clocked at almost 120mph!

Happy Canada Day!

Can’t have the best of both worlds…

…but I guess they are going to try.

There will be no end to the crappy toys, dangerous pet food, and so on. Do we make anything in our country any more? I’d be willing to pay more for toys that were actually built to last more than a day or two, or wouldn’t be subject to some kind of recall.

Happy Canada Day!