A Friend is Dying

It happens to all of us, maybe it has already, or maybe it has yet to be.

"A friend is dying", and I wrestle with what that means. For him, it is the end of existence in the world we believe we inhabit and the possible termination or rebirth of conciousness. Despite the efforts of millions of sincere seekers, we have no clear answer. If we did, there would be nothing to seek.

For me, it is a sense of loss and impotence and anger and guilt. I grieve the future memories that we will never make. I rage against the inability to prolong our time together. I look at the ground in shame when I realize the pain of "I" is over-riding the being of "him".

A friend is dying, I have said "I love you", and when he is ready he will go.

Thank You America

A Canadian wishes you, your new president and your country all the best. As a child of the sixties, I saw on November 4th that the dream is still alive.
Peace

Losing It!

Had a strange moment this morning. Was chatting with a friend while I fixed his email on his office computer. He indicated that he'd gained a little weight lately, so I suggested he come to the gym with me. He seemed a little surprised that I was going to the gym so I opened my jacket to show him that I'd lost 78 pounds in the past year (thanks to the FitPath at Mountain Trek). He suddenly broke into a huge smile and said "Thanks for telling me, I didn't want to ask and I thought you must be sick." Isn't the first time this has happened, there's colour in my cheeks and a spring in my step, but people seem to worry when somebody in their 50s experiences a major weight loss. Closest I can figure is that my generation is now convinced we're all going to die of some horrible wasting disease. Until then I'm going to keep working out and feeling beter than I ever have.
Stay well

Proportional Representation

Yet another Canadian election is past, and 62.4% of the voters rejected the party that will govern us for the next 4 years or until unseated by a coalition of non-government MPs.
Our Prime Minister Stephen Harper claims a stronger mandate for his minority government based on a 1% increase in the popular vote. Unfortunately for non Conservatives, this tiny increase resulted in 27 new seats for the Tories. The Green Party, with the support of 6.8% of the population did not win a single seat.
This is a clear demonstration of why "first past the post" electoral systems distort the concept of democracy. If you want to do something about it, talk to your MP, write to the media, and donate your time and money to politicians who support proportional representation.
I'm Mike Jones and I approved this blog.

Woody's in Love

We've got a plastic owl on the deck to keep birds from flying into the windows. This morning we discovered the owl has a new friend.

Directory Assistance

10 PM, and I'm getting ready to go to bed. The office phone rings and my compulsive nature refuses to ignore the call.

"Hello"
"Hi, Gerald?"
"No, you must have the wrong number"
"So, do you have Gerald's number?"
"Do I sound like directory assistance?"
"No, you sound like a (proctological reference)"

Is it just me?

The Big Piece is More

If you're reading this blog, the least I owe you is an explanation as to why I created it. The older I get the more I seem to get frustrated with stupidity, selfishness, and general lack of consideration for others. This is clearly the product of my own ego weaknesses, impatience and righteousness. So, for my personal growth and hopefully your amusement I will document the highlights and lowlights of my experience.

Prime Example (circa 1990)
Back then I was a management consultant for a large government department. I had conducted a year long research and development project, and was presenting my report to a group of senior management. Recognizing that statistical analysis was not a strength (or interest) of my audience, I had prepared visual aids including simplified tables, and one pie chart (neatly labled) which summarized my findings. At the end of the presentation, the Executive Director thanked me for my work, and asked if I could make one final adjustment. He asked that I prepare a one page document explaining how to read a pie chart. Which leads me to the question, what size font do I use to fill a page with

"THE BIG PIECE IS MORE"

Stay well, vote smart, wherever you are