Finished my book and started another

Well I finally finished North and South after a few months. I never realized how much I had forgotten from the first time I read it but it was fantastic! I decided to take a break from all the war and heavy reading before jumping into the second of the series, Love and War. Instead, I picked up one of my new books, The Jane Austen Book Club and am finding it very entertaining so far. A much quicker read than the historical books I read from time to time. It should only take another week or so to finish this one. I'm still waiting for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to come out on paperback but having just checked Raincoast's website (the Canadian distributor) I now know it will be available on July 25. Finally!!

I haven't been reading much else lately but I did happen to check out my horoscope for the year under the Chinese zodiac. I'm very encouraged by the predictions for the Year of the Snake which stated that it would be an auspicious year for moving, changing careers and business as well as my love life, including marriage! Other than the moving part, I'm excited about the rest and can only dream that they will happen. Although marriage doesn't have to happen in the next 12 months, it would be nice to at least have my love life sorted out. Especially considering that it is non-existent at present!

Jobs and luxury homes

OK, so remember when I said I was looking for the Calgary Inc. magazine that had "HELP WANTED" splashed across the front cover? I had guessed that someone removed it from our office so that we wouldn't get any ideas about leaving (little do they know, many of us have thought that for quite some time already!). Well anyway, miraculously, we received a second copy of said magazine in the mail and I happened to snag it before it reached the kitchen this time! Woohoo! Anyway, I love the section where they include stats of any kind. The ones in this issue of course had something to do with jobs, etc. so here are a few of my favourites:

• 76% of employees enjoy their work but their bosses' quirks make the workplace less enjoyable
• 62% say a key obstacle in performing their jobs is excessive bureaucracy (here, here!)
• 57% say another obstacle is inconsistent management decisions (absolutely!)
• 43% increased trips on Calgary's public transit system from 1995 to 2004
• 42% of workers travel to the downtown core on Calgary transit (this would explain why I need to trample on five people or more just to get off the bus in the morning!)

I haven't finished reading the rest of the articles yet but they certainly look interesting.

I happened to spot the magazine for people in want of luxury homes and associated toys (i.e. yachts) today in the kitchen. I love to thumb through this one as it's amazing how much people will pay for an ocean view or in one particular case, a 2-storey penthouse with 5950 sq. ft. at the top of a 30-storey building in Vancouver. This penthouse broke the previous record for the most expensive condo in Vancouver just a few months ago. The price? $7.75 million!! Unreal! I don't care what this condo and its building have to offer, why would you want to pay so much for essentially an apartment? You still have neighbours in fairly close proximity and will still have to take an elevator every day just to leave or enter your home! However, I have to admit that the rooftop garden and 1500 sq. ft. of decks would be nice features. I just don't know what I would do with all the space!

Community kitchens

While eating my breakfast this morning, I came across an article in the most recent edition of the Neighbours paper about community kitchens. I had never heard of this concept before but instantly thought, "What a great idea!" As someone who is not particularly fond of cooking, I could think of no better plan for getting a bunch of meals made at once that could be stored in my freezer until I was ready to eat them. According to the Community Kitchen Program of Calgary website, www.communitykitchenprogram.com, people get together to plan a 14-day menu based on the current sales at the various grocery stores that week. Each family pays their share of the cost of the groceries then all the meals are made and split amongst the families for later use. The concept is mainly intended to ensure that children are not going hungry and are still learning about proper nutrition. It's also meant to help families learn how to make economical yet nutritious meals.

Although I'm not truly in need of this program, I think it would be a good idea to practice the concept at home. I too often only make enough food for one supper and one lunch then need to make a new supper the next night, which I rarely feel like doing. What I should do is take a Saturday morning and cook up a storm. Then I could have meals for a week or two just as the community kitchens do. Awesome!

Calgary's Swerve magazine

OK, so another Calgary magazine that I've come to love is Swerve. One of the best features by far is the extremely comprehensive listings of everything going on in Calgary. This includes everything from movies and concerts to plays and festivals; you name it, it's in there. What caught my attention today however, was the cover picture of a public washroom in a restaurant. It turns out that the feature article by Janet Naclia was all about how public washrooms have evolved into a major design consideration for the owners of the venues in which they are located. This article, "The Call of the Loo" described how owners have now moved more into the arena of thought that the washroom should be relaxing and restful and essentially, pretty. Some of the featured washrooms included Earl's in Bankers Hall, the Cactus Club Cafe on Macleod Trail South, the Telus World of Science and Ric's Grill. I do have to agree that the washroom (at least the ladies' room anyway) in Ric's Grill does make you feel like you are at the spa. I was pleasantly surprised to find it so beautifully decorated. Although, I must make it clear that I could really care less about a washroom's design. I'm more concerned with cleanliness and neatness. If there are pieces of toilet paper or paper towels on the floor, I don't care how nice the room is decorated, it would still disgust me.

For me though, the nicest and most opulent washroom I've ever visited has to be the ladies' room at the Calgary Petroleum Club. I was there a few years ago for a retirement party and just to give you an idea of the place, you must be a member in order to hold a function there. I don't remember exactly the materials used in the washroom but I don't doubt it easily could have been marble. I do remember the sinks being separated from the stalls instead of right outside the doors. In any case, at the time I was certainly impressed. Now, this seems to be the norm at any public washroom.

As I've said before, I read for entertainment and this article certainly was entertaining if not somewhat strange as a feature story. Another article I read back in September in Swerve was about the owner of Simple Simon Pies. It was a great article and made me want to rush out and try some of the pies. Unfortunately I didn't at the time however, at the HomExpo in Calgary last weekend I had the chance to taste test the broccoli and cheese quiche. It was fantastic! My sister-in-law tried the swiss, mushroom and chicken pie and was equally impressed.

This is what I love the most about Calgary - there is absolutely no shortage of reading material to keep you informed about what is going on here.

New discovery

A few weeks ago, I stumbled onto a website, www.ChangingCourse.com. This website was exactly what I needed to see at the time since I was feeling downtrodden and discouraged once again about how I was going to get out of debt. In my opinion, the only way to get out of debt was to find a new job that paid more. Makes sense right? Well, what I found on www.ChangingCourse.com gave me such encouragement that maybe there was another way and that I could actually enjoy myself along the way. What I found was an e-book entitled Finding Your True Calling: The Handbook For People Who Still Don't Know What They Want To Be "When They Grow Up" But Can't Wait To Find Out by Valerie Young. I thought, "This book was written for me!". For whatever reason, although I suspect it had something to do with letting my head take over instead of my heart, I didn't immediately purchase it but read more about it first. Finally, today I bought the book and have started to read it. It sounds fantastic and I can't wait to finish it and really put it to use!

You see, I'm one of those people who did extremely well in school, particularly in secondary school. I am in fact a Governor General's medal winner from high school so naturally, everyone I grew up with expected that I would do well in life. Well, that's not exactly the case. School was easy for me since I was really good at memorizing. I couldn't apply the theories in a practical sense but I knew the background inside out. I always liked school but I never knew what I wanted to do once it was over. So, since I got involved with the school environmental group in my Grade 12 year, I decided why not take Environmental Science at university. So that's what I did with my partial scholarship in hand. However, after two years of struggling with material I didn't understand and professors who couldn't care less whether you passed their class or not, I decided to leave university. I knew I couldn't just give up altogether so I wound up at a tech school and completed my diploma in Environmental Engineering Technology in the next 2.5 years. I figured that it would be such a waste not to use my two years of university somehow so that's why I stayed in the environmental field. I was hired straight out of school by an environmental consulting firm where I still work today.

As much as I find the environmental field interesting and very important for future generations, it's not a particular passion of mine. Working for the same company in various roles for the past six years has certainly shown me that. Not to mention that it has made me question my sanity and my morals on more than one occasion. Perhaps all companies are like this, but I've never been so frustrated in all my life by the blatant promotion of incompetent slackers while the real workers are treated like garbage. Needless to say, I haven't enjoyed working here in quite some time.

I had my chances to leave, once in particular nearly 3.5 years ago. Why I didn't go then is beyond me but I have a feeling it had something to do with money. I'm sure that I figured I wouldn't get paid nearly as much as I was already being paid if I switched jobs. I wasn't interested in any more schooling for a while (if ever again) and so I stayed. I think about that moment every so often and wonder why I didn't just bite the bullet and go for it. I guess the thought of the Government of Canada coming after me if I missed just one student loan payment was a hard image to overcome.

That's why finding this e-book was perfect timing for me. One thing I know for sure; there's nothing I will read in the book that will make me feel any worse about my current situation than I already do. So with renewed faith in myself and my ability to live my dreams, I venture forth into learning even more about who I really am.

Political correctness gone too far

As per usual, I picked up the Calgary Herald to read at lunch today. After thumbing through a few other sections first, I happened upon the News & Opinion section and eventually, the Editorial page. Much to my surprise, I found an article written by Mahfooz Kanwar, "a Muslim and a first-generation Canadian who believes political correctness has gone too far." He spoke of a Christmas party that he had been invited to but when he arrived, the sign stated "Season's Greetings". It had been explained to him that this had been done so as not to "offend some minority groups". Mr. Kanwar himself belongs to one of these groups and yet finds it difficult to understand how Canadians are ignoring the "majority's rights", the majority being (at least in Canada) white Christians. He in fact describes it as "reverse discrimination". I couldn't agree more.

I have thought for years now that the majority of Canadians have been bending over backwards so that they would not offend anyone. Obviously, as a white woman born and raised in Canada, it would have been fairly difficult for me to have written the same article as Mr. Kanwar and have it create the same impact. However, as a Christian I am offended when people will no longer recognize the biggest celebration of our faith. Why can't we call it a Christmas party instead of Winter Celebration or Holiday Party or Seasonal Gathering? It's like changing the name of a Christmas tree to a Holiday tree. Does any other faith use an evergreen tree as a symbol of their December celebration (please correct me if I'm wrong here)?

I do not consider myself discriminatory nor do I think that my opinion as expressed here is discriminatory. I would merely like to stand up for my religion and my beliefs and have them recognized in the same way as everyone else's. Canadians are always so ready to sit on the fence instead of standing up for themselves and this is one Canadian who refuses to do so. I love my country but I will not sit back and watch it become a country where I no longer feel welcome.

Today's readings

There's this wonderful magazine that comes every other month in our Globe & Mail at work called Backbone. It's all about technology and is a very interesting and sometimes fascinating read. This month's issue is a look back to 2001, when the magazine started, and it compares some predictions from then to what has actually happened in the technology field until now. Great stuff! There's also an article where 10 people were interviewed to discuss which technological advancement in the past 5 years has made the most impact on them. Stuff like high-speed internet, WI-FI and digital cameras are on the list. It's hard to remember a time when we didn't have these technologies and yet that was only a few years ago! If you are remotely interested in technology, you will find something to grab your attention in this magazine. Fantastic! It's available online too (see http://www.backbonemag.com).

Another magazine we get from time to time is the CalgaryInc magazine. Obviously, this is all about Calgary but it has so much information in it that could easily apply to any large city. One of my favourite parts of the magazine is near the beginning. It's the section where they list all kinds of stats about anything you can think of. Truly amazing and yet completely useless (unless of course you enjoy playing trivia as I do) information. This month's magazine mysteriously went missing from our kitchen at work within hours of its arrival. I have a very strong feeling that it had something to do with the cover page showing a large Help Wanted poster with a subtitle of "Hot Jobs in the City". I was so looking forward to getting my hands on that issue during my lunch break but apparently the powers that be were too quick for me. If only it were online!

Today, beyond the usual time reading North and South on my daily commute, I have been reading an e-book I purchased a while back about becoming a technical writer. I had to take Technical Communications courses every semester at tech school and always did very well. Although the good marks were likely a result of submitting assignments exactly as described by the instructor, I like to think that I must have had some skill as well. I've had some experience writing technical documentation at work too so it seems like a natural progression for me to consider working as a technical writer.

Usually during my lunch hour I will read the Calgary Herald; first the Entertainment section which, more often than not, gives me something to laugh about, then Sports or Real Life or sometimes the City & Region section. Today, I read a bit of the Real Life section and found a short article about how many calories you can burn doing work around the house. Since I plan on painting my walls soon, I was overjoyed to discover that, as a female, I can burn 140 calories per 1/2 hour that it takes me to paint one room! This is great and I don't even care about burning calories!

Still plugging along

Well I haven't yet put the list together of all the books I still need to read from my collection but I do intend to read at least half of them this year. That's the plan anyway. I'm still plugging along with North and South. It's such a fantastic book and I'm surprised that I had forgotten a lot of it from the first time I read it. I'm over halfway finished so maybe only another two weeks or so. I only read it when I'm on the bus so maybe an hour a day which is why it's a little slow going.

In any case, my new books have arrived so I'm very excited about that and want to rip into them already! I picked up All He Ever Wanted by Anita Shreve, Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy and The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. Other than the fact that they were all on a good sale, I had specific reasons for buying each one. I had read The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve previously, as well as saw the TV movie, and I quite enjoyed it. I figured it was about time to read another of her books. Maeve Binchy is one of my favourite authors and I had been wanting to read this newer book of hers for a while now so when I saw the sale, I couldn't resist any longer. Finally, I'm a big fan of Jane Austen and figured that a book about a book club surrounding her works would be interesting. Plus I'd heard a bit about this book by Karen Joy Fowler and thought I was bound to like it.

I'm a big proponent of reading reviews before buying books or going to see movies for that matter. I like to know what others think so that I can decide for myself whether I will like the book/movie. I've found that going in without any idea usually results in me feeling like I wasted my time and money. Obviously, surprises don't go over too well with me.

While I'm eating breakfast, I like to keep up-to-date on the community news by reading our weekly Neighbours paper and the monthly newsletter, which comes much too late in the month to be of much use unfortunately. This morning, I read an article about an older gentleman who plans to cross-country ski to Disneyland from here. It always fascinates me that people are willing to do things like this. The second article I managed to squeeze in was about this new type of "exercise" that involves getting your mind and your insides in the proper space so that traditional exercise would be more beneficial. Again, very interesting!

Guess that's enough for today. Hopefully, I'll get back to this soon.

Getting started

Since this is only my second blog (and my first one is still quite new), I'm still learning about this entire process. However, I started this one to talk about books and what I like (or don't like) to read. I used to read all the time growing up then drifted away from it somewhat when in university and tech school (who really likes to read textbooks anyway??). Now that I ride public transit for roughly 1.5 hours a day, I have more time to read and it makes the bus trips that much shorter. Not that I mind riding the bus anyway :)

Currently, I'm in the middle of North and South by John Jakes. This is the first of his three books about the Mains of South Carolina and the Hazards of Pennsylvania in the time leading up to the Civil War. Some of you may remember the series that had been on TV a while back starring Patrick Swayze. This series, as I understand it, was in fact based on the second book in the series, Love and War. In any case, this is the second time I'm reading this book as it had been a while since the first reading and I am determined to read all three books in a row this time. I thought a refresher might be useful in this case.

The book has drawn me in as much the second time around as it did the first. Reading for me is an escape (much like television) and therefore, I like to see things that may not actually be possible. However, I still like to believe that they are possible. In North and South, two vastly different families stay connected because of the friendship of Orry and George, who met at West Point while training to become military men. Although it seems likely in this day and age (and for that matter, during the era in which the book is set) that this friendship would not have held up, it nonetheless does and it's encouraging to see. I love the dynamic between them with regards to the slavery issue. Neither wants to tell the other that they disapprove of their means of making their way in the world and yet it is understood between them.

Anyway, it is only getting juicier as the book progresses and I'm really looking forward to finishing it and starting the next one. I have about 25 books at home which I have not yet read. I keep telling myself that I cannot purchase any new books until I finish the unread ones. Of course, being obsessed with books after all, I just bought five new ones during the year end sales. What can I say?? In my next post, I'll provide a list of my unread books and my plan for reading them all.