Google Street Map Scene

So today Google launched it's street map view for Google Maps Winnipeg. Needless to say I jumped on and started to check out the various addresses I've lived at. I checked out businesses and other places I hang out and just wandered about the city. Along the way I came across all sorts of great things but I wanted to share my favorite screen capture of the day.

The is the house I grew up in, and the man in the blue coat is Grandfather.

A day without a stolen car

So this morning I woke and turned on the news while I got ready for work. My eye was caught by a piece of news as it scrolled across the ticker bar.

"On March 4th no cars were stolen"

I was sure I had read it wrong the first time so I paid a bit more attention and sure enough there is was again. I thought it was a little odd that no crime was news and figured maybe it was someone at the station playing around a little or had miss typed something.



Then I get off the bus for work and see the local newspaper, the Winnipeg Sun. A full page colour picture with the caption 'Thieves Shut Out.' Once I saw that I just had to read the article. Apparently on March 4th no cars were stolen in Winnipeg. This was the first time that had happened in decades. Yes I said decades. Apparently crime is so bad that the lack of crime has become news.


The article in the paper spun things in a way to say that it was proof that the anti-car theft campaigns were working. I ony hope that is the case, because I really don't like my odds of keeping my car otherwise.

Rain in February

It is february in Winnipeg and the temperature is currently +1 and it is raining. The whole city is one giant skating rink... I walked from my bus stop to the office I work in taking baby steps to avoid falling.

Cold *Warning bitching content*

For those of you who might of woken up this morning and looked outside and said "Man it's cold out this morning." To you I say move to Winnipeg and then complain. I woke up this morning only to learn that it is -50 Celisus (thats with the windchill)

Bitch... Bitch.. Cold... Bitch

Road Side Memorials

So today in the Winnipeg Sun they have an article about roadside memorials. For those of you who might not be familiar with them basically they are a memorial put up at the scene of an car accident involving death. Now these memorials are put up by friends, family, loved ones and come in all different shapes and sizes. Finally they can leave them up for as long as they like, even replace them year after year. All of that has changed now with a new law that passed yesterday here in Winnipeg. Now they have to follow a few new rules including

• 90 day time limit
• Size limits
• A ban on glass elements (like vases)
• a requirement for contact information
• The article in the paper suggested that there were other rules as well but didn't include them.

A lot of people are up in arms about these new restrictions and guidelines. Now on one hand I can completely understand how they feel after all people need to be able to remember and deal with the lose of a loved one in their own fashion. At the same time though what about the rights of the people who live in the area, have businesses near by, or have to work in the area. Don't they have rights as well?

As a home owner would you want someone memorial to be the first thing that you see every morning when you look out your window? What would happen if you tried to sell the house? I can pretty much promise that a memorial on your front lawn would impact the sale price. The same types of questions come up in the case of businesses. Some people are superstitious and wouldn't shop near a place where someone died.

The last example is one that I feel deserves special attention and thats the city workers. What happens if a watermain breaks right near a roadside memorial? Is it fair to ask them to move these memorials so that they can do their job. I don't think so, but that is what they are having to do right now. In talking to a few of them over the summer I learned that they move them and then put them back as best they can.

Wouldn't someones memory be better served by doing good in their name? Maybe volunteering time, donating money in their name. At all the site of their death is just that a place, their spirits do not live there, they are not trapped there.

Passchendaele Movie Premier

Good evening one and all

I just came home from the most amazing movie premier. Now am lucky and I get to go to a fair decent number of movie premiers, a lot more then your average person. It helps to have a really good friend who promotes movies for the studios.

Set during the height of the First World War, Passchendaele tells the story of Sergeant Michael Dunne (Paul Gross), a soldier who is brutally wounded in France and returns to Calgary emotionally and physically scarred. While in the military hospital in Calgary, he meets Sarah (Caroline Dhavernas), a mysterious and attractive nurse with whom he develops a passionate love. When Sarah's younger asthmatic brother David (Joe Dinicol) signs up to fight in Europe, Michael feels compelled to return to Europe to protect him. Michael and David, like thousands of Canadians, are sent to fight in the third battle of Passchendaele, a battle against impossible odds, commonly known as "Passchendaele". It is a story of passion, courage and dedication, showing the heroism of those that fought in battle, and of the ones that loved them.

So here is the trailer


And more importantly here are the pictures of Paul Gross and Caroline Dhavernas

The two of them as they walked in

Paul Gross being interviewed by ET Canada


The pair of them

After the movie there was a Q&A Session but it was to dark for any good pictures. But here is another one of them signing a few autographs as people were leaving.

It really was a great movie and very enjoyable I would recommend it to anyone. After the end of the movie it was very touching during the Q&A session to here how moving it was for some of the veterens who had come out to see the movie. In fact as Paul was leaving the theater one of them back him to pins for the black devils squad which seen in the movie.

Oh the guy in the centre of the picture looking back from the concession counter. That is the mayor of Winnipeg waiting in line for his own pop corn. Way to go Sam Katz its good to be one of the average people.

Elton John Concert

So those of you who follow my Twitter my have noticed that am at a lot more concerts then normal. Well the reason for that is I have gotten a part time job as an Usher at the MTS Centre. It's the local arena here in Winnipeg, its also one of the top ten stops in the world on concert tour circuit which means we get some amazing concerts in town.

Todate I have seen Neil Diamond, Oasis, and Sir Elton John. I also got to listen to Crewfest, it is a great little job with lots of perks like getting to see and listen to the various concerts from time to time. Tonight I was blessed to witness a bit of group magic and the power of the human voice. Sir Elton John was playing his old hit Crocodile Rock and there is that part of the song where everyone is singing Na Na Naa image that being sung by 15,000 people all of them getting more and more excited as they are conducted by Elton. It was a wonderous and powerful thing.

Media Mistakes

So last week we here in Winnipeg had a sad and sick man behead someone on a Greyhound bus driving in to Winnipeg. Its made nation and international news due to it's nasty and disgusting nature of the crime. After all if the terrorists in the middle east and the global news channels have taught us anything its that beheadings make good news.

This fact has not escaped the notice of groups like PETA and Westboro Baptist Church making their opinion's known about the events. Guess what the Media is lapping it up.

PETA has attempted to have ads published in local news papers comparing The Beheading on the bus to the beheading of animals in factories. So the papers made a choice and refused to put the ads in. After all an ad like that is in bad taste and they can't possible print something like that. Instead of paying to run there ads they are now getting FREE international coverage of their attempts to have the ads run.

I wouldn't be surprised in the least to learn that PETA had no money in the budget for these ads and there whole plan was to get the free advertising through media. They should have just shut up about the ad taken their money and put in the ad. Peta would have been left looking like insensitive idiots about the whole thing, instead they are getting massive coverage at no cost. So far I've seen blogs about it, news paper, tv and radio spots. All that's left is for the sky writers to get in on the act.

The Westboro Baptist Church has also gotten in on the act and released a press release announcing that they would be traveling to Winnipeg in order to protest the victim's funeral. After they feel it is their Gods way of punishing us for supporting the war and allowing same sex marriages (Why do some people call the unions?)

So two guesses what the media is doing about this. They have started giving them more media coverage to a group that has a history of putting out pres releases and not following up on it.

Why doesn't the media think things through before they leap out and start talking? They have so much power in their words but they just don't seem to realize it. Its sad...

Thursday Thirteen

The Winnipeg Fringe festival is • 100% UNCENSORED • 100% UNJURIED • 100% ACCESSIBLE • 100% OF TICKET SALES GO DIRECTLY TO THE ARTISTS INVOLVED! Thirteen Things you can do at The Winnipeg Fringe Festival 1.... Grab a program book from the info Tent in old market square. You'll need one to read about the plays and find out times and locations. 2.... Go see a play that is what the Fringe Festival is all about and with a 141 different companies putting on shows you have a lot pick from. 3.... Tell people what you thought of the play. Shows live and Die based on word of mouth around the Fringe so if you like something tell everyone you know. The motto for the Fringe this year may be What happens at the Fringe... Stays at the Fringe! But it should be What happens at the Fringe... Gets told to everyone I know!!! 4.... You've seen a play so what now you ask? That's easy grab tickets to another one. 5.... Take a break and have beer at the beer tent. 6.... Spend an afternoon watching the free stage in old market square 7....Wander through the vendors and pick up a few memories of the Festival 8.... Have a bite to eat from the various food merchants. 9.... Buy some lemon aid and then realize that you're not at the folk festival 10.. Look at all the cool people in the white fringe shirts and then go volunteer yourself. If you can't volunteer then stop a couple of volunteers and thank them 11.. Pick up a copy of the Jenny Review and write a review of your own. 12.. Listen to someone elses suggestion and go see a play you wouldn't normally see based on there suggestion 13.. Open your home to strangers and billet an actor or crew

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


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Fringe Play Review

Here is a Sound and Fury Review

So it's opening night of the Winnipeg Fringe Festival and we decided to start it off with a show that we had no doubt will be among the Best of the Fest and that would have us laughing in our seats before the show even got started. Sound and Fury continued there winning streak and didn't disappoint.

Since I returned to the Winnipeg Fringe and started attending shows again Sound and Fury has been one of the highlights for me. Sherlock Holmes and the Saline Solution kept the tradition alive. The laughs start before the show even starts with a bit of audience interaction and chatting with the crowd. The new 3rd guy Vinney Cardinale blends with Shelby and Richard seamlessly bringing to the stage some new acrobatics a great new song and someone who is truly hung like a pony.

***** Out of *****

Folkfest Night #3

Here is from Saturday +13 C wind gusting to 70kph and rain.

Alex getting Jim B autograph


The field of Tarps I mentioned in my Thursday Thirteen



Family

Folk Fest Day 2

Here are a couple more photos from the past couple of days at folk fest...

Supper it was called a Potatoe Tornado with a bit of Potato

A shot from main stage of the crowd and the sky.

Folkfest Night #1

Here are a couple of pictures... Wow what a night. Everything to an African sing whoes energy level was so high she was bouncing and singing and moving about. She reminded me of the opera singer from the 5th Element. Followed by the Weakerthan's who I've always enjoyed. I was a little disappointed when the who made walked off at the end of the set without singing One Great City. But then the lead singer came out by himself and belted it out with his guitar. At that point the crowd pretty much rushed the stage. So we became tarp bouncers for the last show which was beyond description. Micheal Franti rocked the place had us bouncing and singing and waving our arms about. The last picture is of him hugging my wife after the show.

Wordless Wednesday

A nice memory

National Celebration or Side walk sale

Ok yeah I know I’ve been quiet and hardly writing anything here, and to my readers I say am sorry. It is something I am going to be working on improving over the next couple of weeks. A few things in life have been keeping me busy, mainly learning a new department at work and working on a couple of new stories that have grabbed my attention.

On to the subject at hand National Celebrations, in Canada we have Canada Day on July 1st and in the US they Independence Day. So you can imagine it is something of a big deal around here for a lot of people or at least that was what I thought until this past Canada Day…

The day started off pretty quiet my wife had to work so my daughter and I hung out at the house and got a few things done. We really didn’t have any intention of going to any of the 3 big celebrations happening around town. Tamile my wife got off work decided to swing by and pick us up and that we should head down to the village and check things out and enjoy the celebration. Now for those of you who don’t know the village is a shopping district in Winnipeg that has traditionally held more of a counter culture feel to it. It was for a very long time felt to be a trendy and hip place to hang out.

On Canada day they would shut down the whole street to cars and use the whole area for a big celebration. They would have clowns, shows, music, face painters, a beer garden, more music and a few little stalls of things selling things that we in some way related to Canada Day. That was how it once was now it’s changed. This year it felt like I was walking through a big market or side walk sale. The only way I knew it was a Canada day Celebration and not just a side walk sale, was when the crowd cheered as a trumpet player blared out Oh Canada before his band started playing. Beyond that it felt like it was just a great big sidewalk sale. Nothing beats shilling out crappy products while pretending to do it in the name of our country.

Raccoon Adventures

So Tamile and I headed out last night just before nine run a couple of errands and to pick up the tickets for Kung Fu Panda (Great movie by the way but more on that another time) after every thing was said and done we pulled in to our drive way and what do we see but this.

Sure the little bandit might be cute but there is no way I want it around my neighbourhood let alone my house. In the cities these things are nasty scavengers who often have rabies and nasty attitude. We had him trapped up in the tree and called animal control. They didn't have anyone who could come catch it and take it away. In the end we it came down and was chased away from the area.

It wasn't the nicest thing to do the raccoon but none of us wanted it coming back around or moving in to the little girls tree house a couple of doors down. So while we didn't do anything final to the little creature we did give it a good scare and chase it out of the area.

Here are the other two pictures we took of it.

Waded in the Basement

So this past Sunday I was working away on Laundry and the next thing I knew I found myself wading about in the basement. A quick examination of the washing machine confirmed my worst fears and the washing machine was leaking from the bottom some where. This wasn't the first time it had happened so I quickly cleaned up the water and thanked the Goddess that nothing had been left on the ground in the water's path.

Like I said this wasn't the first time it happened last time around we were able to keep using it but only with smaller loads. Thankfully it was enough that we didn't have to replace at the time. Saddly however this time around we were not so lucky. So yesterday was spent doing some research online and getting a good idea of pricing and cost. We looked at some of the new models from places like Future Shop but the price was one them was restrictive. In the end I found a place online Elmwood Appliances right here in the city. It was a small local shop that had a well designed and up to date website that gave us a lot of information to make decisions.

In the end the own even cut Tamile a deal because she brought up the website and threw in delevery.

Insect Spraying Buffer Zones

Alright so summer is about a month away officially and last night was the first time I had heard a news cast mention the bane of Manitoba's summers, the Mosquito! They are a yearly problem to one degree or another depending on how dry the spring is and how wet the winter was. So basically each years brings different volumes of mosquitos, but two things are consistant and those are at some point over the summer they will spray and people will complain.

So basically here is how the buffer zone works out I decide for what ever reason I do not want to have my property sprayed when the mosquitos get bad enough. So I register with the city of Winnipeg and when the trucks do come around nothing within a 100 meters of my house can be sprayed. No one takes the time to consult the people living within that 100 meters, they just get to suffer.

Now as a Wiccan who is very pro environment this is the area I lapse in I guess. This whole system strikes me as completely unfair, why should I have to suffer just because someone else doesn't want to close there windows, or carry there puffer with them for a few days. The spraying certainly won't kill them, after all the government orders the buffers cancelled if the mosquito population levels gets to high.

If my neighbour is outside painting something or using a solvent to clean I don't have the right to stop them. Remember fumes in both of those examples are toxic and people do have allergies to them. I have friends with both Nut and Fish allergies one of them has to close the windows and turn of the AC when the guy three doors down fires up the BBQ to cook up some fish. They don't get to tell him not too. For whatever reason when it comes to mosquito spraying it's different they have ability to stop my house from being sprayed.

It is very frustrating growing up I had a serious reaction to bug spray, I would bubble and rash up in a matter of minutes. So them spraying the area was the only chance that I really had to go outside and actively enjoy it and not be spending my time playing swat the mosquito. If I had the allergy am sure others do too.

Did anyone notice?

Yesterday was officially Earth Day, Google had a nice little logo, the papers all had there little logos announcing it. Am sure they even had the happy public interest moments on the various news shows. But that seemed to be about it, did I miss some thing along the way? I remember Earth Day being this big huge thing.

• Local Native groups would hold sunrise ceremonies at the Forks and events through out the day. The forks is a shopping mall and public parks space here in Winnipeg built around where are two rivers meet.


• They would have events at the Zoo


• Tours at the Musuem


• A ralley or two promoting some Enviromental Cause or another


• Multi page articles in the local papers showing ways people can be more environmentally friendly.

Where did it all go? I went on line and did a couple of Google searches trying to find events on Earth Day to post to our Communitas Paganus discussion list there was nearly the amount of things I was expecting. There was a event on Sunday the 27th, and another last night(As part of a two forum on Climate Change) I was stunned by the lack of build up and the lack of excitement surrounding Earth Day.

I think we have become so desensitized to the Environmental issues that people just don't care anymore. Every other month there is a new issue cropping up and a new movement or something to try and resolve it. So many people are starting to be told do this and not do that. The media doesn't know what to promote and report on any more. To make matter worse Environmentalist often get lumped together with other fringe groups. Let me give you an example from the Monday edition of the Winnipeg Free Press. The headline reads

"Thousands celebrate love of Earth, weed"

The article which took up about half a page of the paper, with several pictures and only a single column written. It was roughly about 400 words in total and of those 400 words 34 were given over to the Earth Day event. While the remainder focused on the people who gathered at the Manitoba Legislative building to light up and smoke a joint at 4:20 on April 20th. Clearly the Free Press showed their opinion that people getting away with illegally smoking pot and getting away with is more important then the Environment.

With everything going on around us? and the Environment being about the most important challenge facing how could people not pay alot more attention when Earth Day comes around.

Writing in The Point

The Point is a local community based News paper / News letter here in my community. I've worked with it in one capacity or another for a few years now and at the start of the year I committed to writing one article per issue for the whole year. Well I've kept it up and in fact have done the feature article for the last two issues..

Here they are for your reading pleasure, I welcome any feed back and comments.

Looking Back 5 Years of The Point

Wow, it’s been five years of The Point! In fact this is the 38^th issue that the newsletter team has put out for your reading pleasure. We have had contests, recipe exchanges, great tips for life and limb, and a variety of articles written by and for members of the community. I’ve always felt that is the most important thing about The Point--it is not outsiders coming in and telling us residents how to improve and make things better, it is community members speaking out.

In the past five years the newsletter has benefited from a variety of staff members and has had articles written by far too many community members for all of them to be listed. However it is important that we recognize their contributions because without them The Point wouldn’t be what it is today. It is also very important that we celebrate the contributions of a couple of people who have been strong supporters and hard workers since the very beginning.

First off is Mary who really is the driving force behind getting every issue out. She’s been with The Point since day one and worked on some of the original funding proposals. She’s continued on since the beginning, serving as co-editor and regular contributor as well. Even as I write this article celebrating our five years together, I know she is waiting to receive it so that she can edit and get it ready for publication.

Another person who has been with The Point for a very long time in one capacity or another is Valerie. She started out writing articles about community centre events and was the official photographer. Now she is co-editor and helps with the many tasks involved in producing and distributing the newsletter. Both Mary and Val work tirelessly and often without thanks, so when you see them on the streets or at a meeting, take a moment and thank them for the endless hours they have put towards The Point.

Over the years the newsletter has also lost a lot of good volunteers, although some have moved on to other things in the community. Heather was a huge force in the initial visioning and planning of our community newsletter. She served as editor and then did layout during the first months of publication. She went on to create a home-based business and recently started working as capacity builder for the North Point Douglas Residents Committee. Jim was a regular part of meetings for a long time, wrote some great articles, and served as co-editor for a few issues. He got more involved with PDRC as well and is now treasurer. Before returning to school, Olive came to planning meetings and did wonderful work as a photographer and editor’s assistant. Sandy produced many wonderful features as our Roving Reporter. She is now a leader of SISTARS and active in many other community groups.

Sadly not everyone involved in The Point has moved on to other commitments. A few years ago we lost a wonderful volunteer, as well as a good friend, when Nancy Barbour passed away. She is often in our thoughts when we work on new issues, and we know how excited she would be if she were here today to see us putting out our 5^th anniversary issue.

Without the production team, distribution crew, and volunteers you wouldn’t be reading this or any other issue of The Point. However they are not the only ones who make it happen. In almost every issue we have a few advertisements at the end of the issue or a flier insert menu from Kung Po. These businesses spend their money to support our newsletter, and we hope our readers will return the kindness by supporting these business neighbours.

It’s been a long and interesting run these past five years. We’ve seen a lot of positive changes in our community. The Woman’s Centre was still based in the school when we published our first issue. Now they have their own building and are making plans to expand as part of the proposed Community Hub. SISTARS and Eagle Wing Early Childhood Education Centre are months from breaking ground for the first building in the Hub. The residents committee has its own office, two employees, and has expanded its activities ten-fold. The Boys and Girls Club and Graffiti Art Programming now offer programs for children and youth in the neighbourhood. Considering all this vitality, we are sure that The Point will continue to grow to serve the community.

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Healthy Living Habits

The holidays are over and we have all had our fill of wonderfully sweet and tasty food. The New Year has come and gone, and we’ve made our New Years resolutions. Studies say that by the time the holidays are over, we likely will have gained an average of eight to ten pounds. So our thoughts turn to dieting and weight loss tricks to get rid of that extra weight.

The sad reality is that the majority of us who do turn to diets and weight loss gimmicks may lose a little bit of weight, but we will be hard pressed to keep it off for the long term. Weight loss isn’t about quick diets. What we need to do is change how we eat, what we eat, and perhaps even where we shop. The changes don’t have to be big and they don’t have to be expensive, but they need to be consistent.

We can eat anything-- the trick is to eat in moderation. Ideally we are better off getting locally grown, natural products. The reason for consuming locally grown food is that as a general rule we can know more about what we eat, it’s fresher, and there are fewer preservatives, dyes, and waxes added. As an added bonus local food is better for the environment as well. A healthy eating movement, commonly called the 100 Mile Diet, has grown up around this idea. For more information visit the website http://www.100milemanitoba.org/. It’s a great resource and includes a number of places you can shop including our own California Fruit Market, which offers locally grown fruits and vegetables when they are in season.

As indicated earlier, these don’t have to be expensive changes. For example a butcher just off Regent Avenue called the Carvers Knife offers locally raised meats at a price comparable to what you would pay at big box grocery stores that have meat shipped in from across the continent. They also offer freezer packages and bundles so you can save even more.

If you can’t get local products, then look to organic and more natural alternatives. Those will be much healthier for you then factory farmed and heavily processed foods. Winnipeg has a wide variety of sources for organic products. Two companies, EatIt and Fresh Option Organic Delivery, both offer regular deliveries right to your home. This is great over the winter when we don’t have local farmers markets to visit every weekend.

Now that we have places in mind to shop, let’s look at things like portion sizes and servings. The Canada Food Guide offers a suggested

number of daily servings for all ages. You can order a copy of the Canada Food Guide for free just by calling 1-800-622-6232. Until you receive your copy a good rule of thumb to follow is this. Dividing your plate into four equal-sized sections, two of them should be vegetables, one section meat or meat alternative, and the last section should be a starch. The Food Guide has information on portion sizes, too.

Drinking water is very important. On a daily basis you should drink at least 8 glasses of water. Doing this will keep your body hydrated, which is a very important factor for good health. As an added benefit the water also fills you and discourages you from eating more than you need. You don’t need to rush out and buy bottled water. Just purchase a water bottle, fill it with tap water, carry it with you, and use it.

Eating right is a very important first step in healthy living. We also need to make healthy physical activity decisions. Like with food it is all about making consistent changes. Find some type of physical activity and stick with it. Every little thing makes a difference. For example, I take the stairs over elevators whenever possible and practical. Another thing that has helped is getting off the bus a stop early and walking the extra distance.

Everything I have talked about in this article requires changing habits. Anyone can make anything into a habit by doing whatever it is for 21 consecutive days. Miss a day for any reason and go back to start. It sounds harsh but that’s what it takes. Every day that you make this new habit a part of your life, you are one step closer to success.

I wanted to end this article by saying that weight loss as well as weight control are both life long journeys. I have learned a lot of new things as I wrote this article and am by no means an expert. In writing this I wanted to share some of the insights and things that I have learned though my numerous attempts at living a healthier life style. I am not a professional, so if you are planning on making significant life style changes make sure that you take time to talk with a health care practitioner before hand. Good Luck!