Black Friday is the busiest shopping day in America.(Associated Press)

Canadians are flocking to U.S. malls located near the border ahead of the legendary American shopping day known as Black Friday, but they may have to root a little deeper this year to find real bargains.

Black Friday falls on the day after American Thanksgiving and is meant to kick off the Christmas shopping season.

CBC News visited Bellis Fair mall, located in Bellingham, Wash., about a 90-minute drive from Vancouver, and found a parking lot filled with cars with Canadian licence plates.

Mike Sorgiovanni of Vancouver had gassed up the car and headed south in hopes of scoring a good deal on shoes. He told CBC he was expecting to save up to $70 on the purchase.

Len Walker of Langley, B.C., was there, too, saying he thought he’d find better deals in the U.S. because “they are feeling the crunch more. The bargains are better.”

Heather Walker of Maple Ridge, B.C., was ready to boost the U.S. economy, saying she was “getting deals — good deals.”

U.S. retailers have, indeed, had a hard time of it but no worse than those in Canada if sales figures are to be believed.

Statistics Canada said this week that retail sales in Canada were up one per cent in September, the seventh increase in nine months. In the U.S., retail sales were up 1.4 per cent in the same time period.

At least with the Canadian dollar being so strong, you’d expect to find some steals, but a quick price check by CBC at the Bellis Fair mall turned up just small savings.

An xBox 360 Elite was going for $299 US at Target in the U.S. At a Future Shop in Vancouver, it was $299 Cdn.

The Call of Duty Modern Warfare video game was priced at $59.99 US, again, the same ticket price as in Canadian stores.

An eight-gig iPod Touch? The same ticket price north and south of the border.

A Canon Powershot? Also virtually the same ticket price.

A Dewalt Drill Driver was only slightly cheaper in the U.S.

However, one retail worker, Krystal Cantrell, assured CBC news that Friday’s bargains would be hard to beat, saying the price drops would be the best all year.

Bellis Fair mall plans to take full advantage of the day by opening at 6 a.m. Bring on the shopping mobs.

From CBC:

British Columbia’s child poverty rate has remained the highest in Canada for six years in a row and it’s time the provincial government took action, according to a child and youth advocacy group.

In its annual Child Poverty Report Card released Tuesday, the advocacy group First Call said B.C. had 156,000 poor children in 2007 — even though that was a good year for the provincial economy.

“When will the provincial government take action?” asked First Call chairwoman Julie Norton, who released the report on the 20th anniversary of an unanimous House of Commons vote to end child poverty in Canada by 2000.

The proportion of children living in poverty in B.C. was 18.8 per cent, while the national child poverty rate was 15 per cent, according to Statistics Canada data cited in the report.

“We’ve been at the bottom year after year after year, and our elected officials still don’t take seriously the pain and suffering that poverty causes children and their families,” said Norton.

And while B.C. had fewer children living in poverty in 2007 than it had in 2006, the group pointed out that the province has since seen an economic downturn, along with the rest of the world.

“Yet half a dozen other provinces — Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba — have committed to poverty reduction plans,” said Norton.

The B.C. government must come up with a legislated poverty-reduction plan that includes the appointment of a cabinet minister committed to the cause, she said.

Call for action disputed

The report calls on the province to increase child benefits and access to high quality childcare while raising welfare rates and B.C.’s minimum wage, the lowest of all provinces at $8 an hour.

But B.C. Children and Family Development Minister Mary Polak said those measures would not have a huge impact on the child poverty rates.

“The stats don’t back it up. The vast majority of people according to Statistics Canada who are earning minimum wage in British Columbia are under the age of 25 and most of those live at home with their parents,” Polak said.

Polak also noted the report also confirms the child poverty rate in B.C. has been consistently dropping since 1991.

“We have the lowest child poverty rate in British Columbia that we have seen in almost the last 20 years,” Polak said.

“We know we have to keep on top of what things are changing our world right now, but nevertheless we know that the kind of interventions we have been using are working, because we are seeing the outcomes,” she said.

“We are seeing dramatic declines in child poverty in British Columbia. And this report concedes the same thing — the number of children living in poverty has decreased by 25,000,” said Polak.

Poverty affects health

First Call did report 25,000 fewer B.C. children were living in poverty in 2007, compared to its 2006 study, but the group’s provincial co-ordinator, Adrienne Montani, said those figures should be viewed cautiously.

“I just would remind the minister that that was during very good economic times,” she said.

The report cites health experts in the BC Healthy Living Alliance saying that child poverty has a huge impact on health.

“The lack of resources and choices as well as social exclusion and stress created by poverty make it one of the most significant contributors to ill health,” said the report.

And while the risk of poverty is more than three times greater for families with only a single female parent, 51 per cent of poor children live in two-parent families, the report said.

First Call is a coalition of healthcare, social service, education and justice groups formed in 1992 to advocate for the rights of children in B.C.

God that was strange to see you again
Introduced by a friend of a friend
Smiled and said ‘yes I think we’ve met before’
In that instant it started to pour,
Captured a taxi despite all the rain
We drove in silence across point champlain
And all of the time you thought I was sad
I was trying to remember your name…

This scar is a fleck on my porcelain skin
Tried to reach deep but you couldn’t get in
Now you’re outside me
You see all the beauty
Repent all your sin

It’s nothing but time and a face that you lose
I chose to feel it and you couldn’t choose
I’ll write you a postcard
I’ll send you the news
From a house down the road from real love…

Live through this, and you won’t look back…

There’s one thing I want to say, so I’ll be brave
You were what I wanted
I gave what I gave
I’m not sorry I met you
I’m not sorry it’s over
I’m not sorry there’s nothing to say

I’m not sorry there’s nothing to say.

Stars – Your Ex-Lover is Dead

I’m up insanely early due to whining dogs and screeching cats, so to keep the anger suppressed I’m searching for a little literary news this morning.

• The Guardian has a lengthy piece that has writers and other literary types picking a few of their favourite books of the year. I sifted through to find some poetry titles I might be interested in getting my hands on.
• Siblin and Brown are up for the 2010 National Award for Canadian Non-fiction.
• Naomi Klein has a new book in the works called No Logo. This piece does a brief overview of it. I put this here merely because my wife is reading The Shock Doctrine now and I’m paging through it every now and then.
• A lovely overview of a Welsh/British form of verse called the englyn. Kind of like the haiku, only cooler. Makes me want to try some of these.
• The National Post has a list of some historically inspired books you might find interesting. I’ve got the first of these on the shelf ready to go, if I can ever get to it.

This has been so long overdue it’s not even funny. This mixtape was probably made a few months ago with a few tweaks here and there…and I wanted to make more changes as every week brings new music and would work so well in this mixtape but alas, no more procrastination! <Clear the Runway> is pretty awesome. Not gonna lie. It has a some songs from my previous mixtape but no worries, it remains Awesome. Perfect for the weekend. Body movin’ body movin’ we be gettin’ down and you know we’re crush groovin’.

Download: Mixtape – Clear the Runway

Track list:

01 Curren$y & Wiz Khalifa – Car Service

02 Drake – Best I Ever Had

Y’all know my obsession for Drake. Seriously if his mixtapes So Far Gone and Property of October didn’t already leave you completely satisfied, as well as the “Forever” track featuring Eminem, Lil’ Wayne, and Kanye, well, you need to get your priorities straight! This boy is seriously blowing up! Not even an album and already he’s got a Grammy nomination. Watch out for some crazy Drake mania in the two zero one oh. This is his best song.  Hands down.

03 Spank Rock – Loose

Off the Bangers and Cash EP. So dirty it’s right. COP IT NOW!

04 Trouble Andrew ft. Diplo – Run, Hide

Not the biggest fan of Trouble Andrews, but this song is pretty sick.

05 Modeselektor ft. TTC – 2000007

Aaaaah my favorite German electronic artists. WHy oh WHYYY aren’t they more well known. It makes me angry. Yet at the same time I’m happy that I have them all to myself…well and a few others. They’ve already released two albums, Happy Birthday and Hello Mom which are ridiculously amazing and seriously unrecognized. They are amazing live. I can’t wait to hear a new album, which is hopefully in the works?

06 Moderat – A New Error

Modeselektor + Apparat. In case you didn’t know. Two huge German powerhouse electronic artists come together and made easily one of the best albums this year, self-titled Moderat. Electronic music, though rising, is continually under-represented! Errrrrbody is all up Indie’s ass with the St. Vincent, Dirty Projectors, and Animal Collective. Sure these albums are great (they really are). But electronic music in the decades and end of year lists are seriously on the back burner. Shit. Moderat is easily in the tops in the decade and end of year for me.

07 Paskal – Sweet Settings (Original Mix)

08 Siriusmo – Nights Off

Download: Mixtape – Clear the Runway

09 TMDP – Running

10 Steve Angello and Eric Prydz – Woz Not Woz (Norman Doray & Arno Cost Remix)

11 DatA – One in a  Million

12 Ducksauce – aNYway

13 Basement Jaxx ft. Lightspeed Champion – My Turn

14 Miami Horror – Make You Mine (Fred Falke Remix)

15 Rustie – Zig-Zag

Electronic artist from G…lasgow! This is off the Body Language Vol. 8 compilation. Short and sweet.

16 Vitalic – Second Lives

17 Trickform – Grain Plek

18 Misteur Valaire – Astronef (SP4 Lovers)

19 Cougarettes – Ego Head

20 Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy

No words can describe how STOKED I am for the upcoming Massive Attack’s Heligoland to be released next year. Splitting the Atom EP was released late this year. It is a short taste of what’s to come and I think it’s pretty sweet. I must admit it’s defs not along the lines of Blue Lines or Mezzanine but it’s freakin’ MASSIVE ATTACK! It will be awesome regardless. This is one of my favorite songs of MA. Enjoy!

21 Craig Armstrong ft. Elzabeth Fraser – This Love

Download: Mixtape – Clear the Runway

As a citizen of the North Pole Santa is probably a little confused about who he should be paying his taxes to.

Sovereignty has never really been an issue in the past not least because there’s actually no land to speak of – the North Pole is a shifting piece of ice and only defined as an imaginary point where the lines of longitude cross.  Indeed back in 1920 when two Eskimos confessed to killing a member of the Peary expedition ten years previously, the case was dropped due to the inability of anyone to prove jurisdiction.

Canada and Denmark have the closest landmasses and just this week we saw Canada once again staking a claim for sovereignty over the North West Passage as well as some robust statements from various politicians over Canada’s rights to the Arctic interest.

Canada, of course, has some form here.  In 2000 they threatened to charge a pilot with ‘littering’ when he abandoned his plane due to engine failure near the North Pole.  He eventually returned to fix it and recovered the errant aircraft.  At the time no other countries sought to challenge Canada’s intent or legal right to do so.

Since then, however, things have changed and the catalyst is the potentially massive quantities of natural resources that sit below the ice pack.  Estimates vary but oil and gas reserves alone could be vast, albeit extremely expensive to recover.

Russia has regularly tested Canada’s patience with their military flights crossing into disputed Canadian territorial waters.  The odd US submarine pops up at the North Pole from time to time too, whilst the Russian navy went so far as to plant a flag on the sea bed at the North Pole.  I think it is fair to assume that this discussion is far from over.

How it will all be resolved or, indeed, if it ever will be resolved are difficult questions to answer.  Would a country actually be prepared to invade the North Pole? Would Canada or Denmark take military steps to defend such an act?  If the answer to either of these questions is actually no, then why bother debating or passing motions around sovereignty?

It’s a bit like hedging your bets – “we’ll keep posturing so no one forgets that we think it’s ours”.  Ultimately we suspect that words will not be enough but, with the price of oil and gas in particular relatively depressed at the moment,  this issue will be a news sub-plot for some time to come.

In the meantime perhaps Santa should just accrue his potential tax liability and make sure his records are accurate.  I guess at this time of year he probably has other things on his mind…

An Interview w/ MP John McKay Scarborough/Guildwood – 12m01s

Click Arrow to Play:

As someone with an admittedly twisted Canadian mind, I grew somewhat impatient while waiting for a weak chimnea fire to pick up and got an idea. Why not fuel it with Butane? Fortunately I did decide to video this event and can share the result with all of you. I set my hand on fire as you will see.

I did however have fun doing this as twisted as that is and will most likely try it again but perhaps with a bit more planning to prevent myself from turning into a human candle or exploding the next time. I would however recommend that you never ever try this yourself and let me be the stupid and twisted guinea pig.

TwistedlyCanadian

In my first stab at a Youtube Video, my 20 year old cat Muffy reviews Whiskas Meaty Pockets dry cat food. I thought the result was funny enough to share with the world, but the story behind this was not humorous in the least and will be an article unto itself.

The basic story is that after following the advice of a vet and an “expert” at a local pet store and giving her certain high priced brand of food exclusively for many years, she became unable to digest it properly and nearly died of malnutrition.

Only because I considered this possibility and decided to start experimenting with other foods did she recover and survive to be a healthy, happy 20 year old kitty with lots of energy and attitude as you can see for yourself. As dry foods go, the Whiskas Meaty Pockets quickly became her favourite and caused the least intestinal distress (although the gas she got was more distress for me than her) and this review is the result.

That story should and will be shared at length very soon but for now check out the video to see the happy ending for yourself J

TwistedlyCanadian

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnxHTBfySfk&hl=en

I am so happy that C.A.L. is together today.  We went to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Here’s how it went down:

We got there obscenely early and there were already crowds there.  All the cops have New Yorker accents.  C. stopped counting balloons (that parents paid for and) kids let go at 127.  And kids really do say the darndest things:

“Hi Indians!  I’m learning about you in Social Studies!”

“Ooh look, jump rope!  You know the Chinese are really good at jump-rope” (looking up at L., a Chinese student).

“I’m Canadian”

“Is that Santa Dude?” (Dad’s response: “What, are you from CALIFORNIA or something?”)

The parade was fantastic–worth the early morning with groggy friends in tow on the subway and fighting to maintain our spot near the front.  And the cold.  Boy it was cold that early in the morning, the coldest I am willing to tolerate without complaining every 30 seconds.  Any colder than that and people will quickly get tired of me.

And now we’re listening to beautiful Santana music in Spanish.  Santana, by the way, is from the same neighborhood that I spent most of my childhood in (in CAL).  And English songs turned into Spanish–Demi Lovato is so much prettyier-sounding in Spanish, it turns out.

Sigh, this has been a great break so far, the best I could have ever asked for, considering life and all.  The past few days have been great.

Tomorrow’s Black Friday and it’s going to be another absurdly early morning and another epic day worthy of its own blog entry (trust me, there will be one–if I don’t pass out for a good 23 hours to recuperate from all this epicness).

And now on to warmed-up chocolate cake and clean-up.  What a day, what a day.

Snowshoe tracks in Algonquin Park near Algonquin Log Cabin Lodge

As promised in last week’s post, we’ve got some great ideas for New Year’s Eve this week: a family New Year’s Eve in Niagara Falls, elegant dining north of Toronto and in our nation’s capital and an Algonquin Park wilderness adventure complete with a log cabin lodge stay.

The Americana Conference Resort & Spa in Niagara Falls has “Family Spectacular” – non-stop New Year’s Eve fun for the whole family. It’s a big hit every year with an all-you-can-eat buffet and lots of entertainment like The Smudge Fundaes and the Zero Gravity Circus. More info here.

Water bucket and wave pool at the Americana in Niagara Falls

The Americana also has one- and two-night packages with the new Rink at the Brink. You can now skate a stone’s throw from Niagara Falls. The one-night package includes tickets to the Rink at the Brink, passes to Americana’s Waves Indoor Waterpark as well as your accommodation. Two night packages are the same except they’ve added a $50 meal voucher for the in-house restaurant and Waves snack bar.

Check out Tourism Niagara for more news on Rink at the Brink and other things to do in the Niagara region.

Holiday decorations at the Millcroft Inn and Spa

In the Caledon Hills, 45 minutes northwest of Toronto, the Millcroft Inn and Spa will ring in the new year with its “New Year’s Eve Gala Getaway”. You get two nights at the inn, a welcome reception on December 30th and then a three-course dinner from their a la carte menu. On December 31st there’s a Country Continental Breakfast Buffet, an Al fresco Lunch (on the Pinnacle or wedding garden, weather permitting).  The New Year’s Eve Gala Dinner has live entertainment with the Brenda Lewis Jazz Band, festive party favours and a champagne toast at midnight. January 1st starts with a light breakfast buffet. But if you sleep in, you can catch the New Year’s Day Brunch a little later.

Gratuities on food and beverages are included. This package starts at $299 CAD per person, per night (plus taxes, based on double occupancy and a two night stay, subject to availability). Valid December 30-31, 2009.

To get in touch with the Millcroft, call them at 1-800-383-3976 or check them out on the web. Also see the post we did on them last August and some comments about their food from last week.

Brookstreet’s four-diamond Perspectives Restaurant

The elegant Brookstreet Hotel might be the way to go in Ottawa. They have a seven course New Year’s Eve dinner planned. The food at Brookstreet is exceptional (CAA four-diamond rating for both hotel and restaurant) and the place has a real contemporary feel. You can get late night seating times for dinner priced at $149.95 per person and, if you decide t0 make a night of it, they’ll throw in a room for $99/double occupancy. Taxes and gratuities are extra. Personally, I have my eye on the 850 square foot Master Suite with Jacuzzi and balcony, but I haven’t called for a price on that yet. There are a lot of package options at this time of year, so check out the website for details and pricing.

The Algonquin Log Cabin

In my opinion, this next New Year’s Eve getaway is a quintessential Canadian winter experience. The place is Algonquin Log Cabin near Algonquin Park. Nothing beats a jump in the snow fresh out of its wood-fired sauna! But hey, that’s just my opinion. If you want black dresses and high-heels on New Year’s Eve, you may prefer the Brookstreet or the Millcroft.

“Snowshoeing, Torch Lit Skating and Backcountry Skiing” runs over New Year’s from December 31, 2009 to January 2, 2010 at Algonquin Log Cabin. This spectacular split log lodge with its huge fieldstone fireplace is set in the Canadian wilderness. In winter, this is a land of frozen lakes, waist-deep snow, the howl of the wolf and lots of crisp clear air.

Accommodation is double occupancy with shared indoor washrooms, as well as a sauna and shower cabin. Group size is limited to 12 guests and two guides who prepare all the meals. After an invigorating day on the trail, it’s the perfect place to hang out. This New Year’s Eve getaway is priced at $475 per person. Add-on activities include ice fishing and dogsledding. Return transportation from Toronto is available for $175 per person. See the website for further details.

Yeah, so last week had a few surprises in store. Young ones  I went out three nights, with three different men, all in their twenties. Ok, re-reading that I realize it sounds really bad, but that’s not how it was, at all!

Only true for one of them...

The week kicked off with the Toby Keith concert to which I went with my friend, and fellow blogger, Hairy who is all of 25 years old. I already knew Hairy, or I would’ve been surprised by how sweet and funny he managed to be in spite of his flu like symptoms

Thursday night I met up with Raz (an oldie in this crowd) for coffee (yes, just coffee), and he convinced me that yes, I should go for (more) coffee with a guy who’d asked me out, and to whom I’d reluctantly said yes. I came so close to cancelling, but in retrospect I’m glad I didn’t. As it turned out, we had coffee and it was the best damn coffee I’ve had in a long while (yes, that’s a kick in the groin to you Mr. Pilot). He was 27.

And then on Saturday night I went out with my new, and most wonderful, friend and fellow blogger Andrew! Canadian Andrew to be precise. He’s Canadian (duh!), and we have so much to talk about and laugh at! It’s so nice to have a Canada connection here at home; someone who understands and appreciates jokes about Quebec, can quote BnL songs, who knows Ukrainian food – even how to make it!, and who’s just as darned great as they all are! Thank you for moving here Andrew (though of course, that just goes to show how crazy you are)! We drank far too much wine, but had a great time. Oh, and he’s 26.

So yeah – there’s my week in the life of a 20-something! Swear to God, it was never this much fun actually being 20-something – what’s up with that?!

The heads of major corporations, especially crown agencies, has been under fire lately for the large salaries they receive each year. We can add the head of IHA to that list as the Kelowna Capital News reveals how much he makes.

But do these folks actually make too much? Wouldn’t the stress of heading large organizations like BC Ferries and IHA justify their paycheques? What do you think?

Top salaries grow at IH while minimum at $8 for 8 years

How much would you pay a person to run a $1.6-billion operation that employs 18,000 people and looks after the health care needs of 760,000 others?

That’s what Interior Health has to figure out as it gets ready to hand the keys of the kingdom to Rob Halpenny in six weeks time.

Halpenny, the current senior medical director at IHA, has been named the interim CEO of Interior Health, taking over from the outgoing Murray Ramsden on Jan 1. And, while Halpenny already makes good coin with a base salary of $280,971 a year, based on what Ramsden now makes—$365,985 a year but with benefits and other compensation just under $400,000 —Halpenny’s likely in for a big raise.

That kind of money will put him in some high-level tax-bracket company. But more on that later.

While other health authority CEOs in B.C. make similar amounts, the guy they ultimately answer to, Premier Gordon Campbell, makes only half that. Despite voting himself a hefty 50 per cent raise a few years ago, Campbell gets $186,000 per year to do his job. But that would keep him out of the top tier at IH. Included in the 35 pages detailing those making over $75,000 at IH, 223 make more than $100,000 and seven more than $200,000.

While money for health care is often cited as a reason for cutting costs in other areas of government spending, the pay of health authority CEOs in B.C. is now more akin to what is paid to national leaders. Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes $301,000 to oversee the day-to-day running of Canada, while U.S. President Barack Obama gets $400,000 US to do same south of the border. And, unlike health authority CEOs, they face a mandatory job performance review by millions of people every four years, no matter what type of job they’re doing.

But health authority executives are not alone when it comes to making big money. While the salaries may not be quite as high, Kelowna pays its city manager $250,000 a year, the school district pays its superintendent of schools $176,000, the man in charge of UBC Okanagan gets $267,000 and the president of Okanagan College gets $162,000.

These folks all have tough jobs. Their work days are long, the responsibility immense and the pressure to spend the public’s money judiciously would make most of us turn and run.

But in a province where the minimum wage has stayed frozen at $8 for the last eight years, where cuts to social programs were happening long before the current economic crisis ballooned B.C.’s deficit to $2.8 billion and we are told to do more with less, a symbolic place to start cutting could be here.

After all, the median wage in the Central Okanagan is still only $39,000 a year.

The Wailin’ Jennys are an acclaimed folk band from Canada. What originally drew me to them was The Wailin’ Jennys are a Canadian folk music trio originating in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in 2002 when a local music shop brought together three solo acts for a performance, having changed a group member twice, they currently consist of soprano Ruth Moody, mezzo Nicky Mehta, and alto Heather Masse, although all band members are adept at various instruments as well.

This band really are something special.

It’s four o’clock in the morning.

I woke up about half an hour ago and couldn’t go back to sleep. The TV was already on so I laid in bed and listened to a standup comic talk about how great it was to be back in Canada after living in Los Angeles for the last five years.

But they all say that, it’s called playing to the crowd.

I got up and I turned on the coffee pot, and I wandered around the house and did a couple little things while the wonderful morning smell of the fresh brew permeated the upstairs.

The coffee maker usually comes on automatically at six-fifteen, which is usually fifteen minutes before the first head lifts a pillow, but this morning I couldn’t wait.

When it was finished, I poured a cup, mixed it with a little sugar and cream, grabbed my laptop and came out to the garage where I have a makeshift writing area.

I couldn’t sleep.

Even my faithful black lab Suzy is still sound asleep in our room by my lovely wife Darlene’s side of the bed.

It’s too early for Suzy.

It’s Thanksgiving day … for the Americans.

Here in Canada it’s just Thursday.

In a few moments I will go inside the house, wake up the girls and start the morning getting us all ready for days at school and work. And I will go into the office and take care of the normal tasks that I take care of everyday.

I might peek online to see how the Green Bay vs Detroit game is going.

When I come home tonight, we will gather at the table and have dinner and talk about our day, but it won’t be Turkey, and there likely won’t be any pumpkin pie. I think we have some left over lemon sponge cake my lovely wife made the nights before.

But it clearly isn’t my holiday anymore.

My brother Paul and my nephew Ben drove over to Pensacola earlier this week to pick my Mom up and take her back to Baton Rouge for their holiday weekend. I understand Leigh Anne has baked a counter full of pies of all great southern varieties like Pecan and Pumpkin and Apple and even a Hershey-bar chocolate pie. They will watch football and play games and enjoy each other’s company with Leigh Anne’s parents across the road at their plantation like estate.

I miss them.

And I miss Thanksgiving.

As a kid growing up in Georgia, this was one of my favorite holidays. It was a four day weekend, and it meant the start of the holiday season.

It was never cold in Georgia this time of year – it just wasn’t hot out anymore. It was just right.

I have my thick white woolen sweater on as I sit in the garage. The dim energy efficient light bulb just starting to warm up to a level that allows me to see.

The house would smell great all day, and through the neighborhood, the kids that didn’t have to go visit somebody would gather for a game of pickup football or basketball somewhere. Football games were on a couple of the five TV stations we could pick up off the air, but we weren’t sitting in the house watching a game. Why watch when you could play.

Sometime that day, Dad would gather up the tennis racquets and the huge basket of practice balls, and my brother Paul and I would go down to the tennis courts at Plantation Woods Swim and Racquet club and we would practice drills for a couple of hours. Dad would be at the net and I behind him at the baseline while Paul would be across the net at the other baseline returning the ball hard and deep to me to start the rally.

I can still smell it – the pine needles brown and brushed off the court surface – mixed with fallen leaves to give that sweet musty smell of fall.

We would spend hours down at the court like that, and it would usually end with a two set match between Paul and I while Dad sat on the court side watching, examining Paul’s game while having a smoke and talking with the other members who had gathered to watch.

It was good tennis too.

Long rallies with one of trying to take the net first. If I got there first, Paul would pass me or lob me. If Paul got there first, he would volley back my pass attempts until he got one he could put away on me.

I very rarely won.

Tennis was big back then. Now it sounds odd to hear somebody talk about their love for tennis, but in the day … it was big.

Especially in Atlanta.

But we were always active. We rarely just sat around the house.

When the weather was bad, we had a pool table on one side of the two car garage, and a ping pong table on the other side. The pool table was a cheapie one my Dad got one day at a bargain price somewhere. It was never perfectly level – so you had to play the slant of the surface. And the cue sticks were from K-Mart, but still we had some good games on that old tin framed table with wood veneer pasted on it.

I have a really nice pool table now down in the family room by the fire place with a nice marble set of lights shining down on it just right. It’s almost perfectly level. I play down there a lot by myself, trying to run the table break after break. My lovely wife Darlene’s back won’t let her bend over the table anymore to take a shot anymore – which is too bad because she was quite good and when we first moved into this house we had some great games. Now I am teaching my little girls to play, and they love it.

The ping pong table in our garage when we were kids was used more like a mini-tennis court by Paul and I. We would start the point as normal close up to the table, moving each other back another step with each shot as we started to drive the ball harder and harder – sweeping the paddle like a big tennis racket playing cross-court and slapped down the line when we have the other guy far enough to one of the corners.

Every point in every game we ever played in any of these venues always was critical and played with the utmost attention and dedication and effort and desire to win the point.

And then, at dinner time, we all got a little cleaned up, sometimes even dressing for the Turkey feast.

Thanksgiving day.

Now as I look back, I am so thankful that I have those memories. That I had my little brother Paul to battle against – my in-house biggest rival who slept in the room next to me – who tried as hard as he could to beat me – who was trying my best to beat him. The countless close matches with big moments and big points and great plays to win them.

Man I miss that.

And I miss the American Thanksgiving Day that allowed us so many of those moments.

My Canadian friends might be a little offended to me as I sit here and wax my version of poetic about the American Thanksgiving. They might even consider telling me that if I miss it so much, I should move back to the southern forty-eight states. And that’s not the type of response I am trying to evoke.

It’s just that when it comes to Thanksgiving Day, and the four day weekend, and the events that surround this holiday, the Americans do it better than our Canadian Sunday that comes with a day off on Monday version.

I think that’s fair to say.

And I am jealous.

Because I miss American Thanksgiving very much.

In the fall of 1954 Hurricane Hazel hit Toronto with such a force that killed 81 people and injuring many more.

Ray and Mary Townes who were recently married have that typical Canadian life – he being a police officer and Mary a nurse that anyone would want to have and see from the outside as one that is destined to succeed.  Ray is not only young but being hailed as a hero on that fateful night that the hurricane hit, he has a lot to live up to.  Mary, a young nurse working at St. Joseph’s has that persona of a Florence Nightingale working the night shift in her own way.

50 years later, Ray is on his deathbed from emphysema just by chance reading the paper one morning  Ray has made the papers once again;  with the same picture that had haunted him then as it does now.  Mary is still irked to this day about their life so long ago, just waiting patiently until Ray breathes his last breath; what she thought they once had as you will see is a total fabrication, or at least it is in her eyes and she will have nothing of it.  She also knows more than she is letting onto;  Ray, who is telling the whole story throughout this work of fiction that had me engrossed to the point of stalking the characters in a way that you are allowed to when reading a book.

The story itself jumps from present-day to those fateful days when Hurricane Hazel hit, with all of the force it intended.  Ray seems to think that coming clean after all of these years will absolve him of the things that he hadn’t had the guts to reveal to his loving wife Mary.  He fully intended to, but when things got right down to it, he chickened out.

Mary finding the notebook in-between his bed wasn’t exactly the cleverest place to hide his journal for anyone not to find it, but when Mary goes back, she can’t find it with all of the secrets her husband kept from her.

Like I had stated earlier, I was literally stalking this novel – it didn’t matter if I was reading it, or it was sitting on my table eyeing me from where it sat, the story along with all of the characters were on my mind like a woman possessed wanting to know if Ray and Mary would reconcile before Ray took his last breath, or would the animosity of all the heartbreak and sadness of things already done would still fester like a wound would that hasn’t been tended to.

I wasn’t disappointed in the least.

ECW Press

Okay, so you want to see Sarah Palin? You want to ask her a question without getting roughed (rouged?) up by security? The loading dock of your local book store seems the best bet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy0Nar34VII

So Ms. Palin and her Infinite Wisdom book tour got caught by the Canadian comedy show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. In a similar spirit to the Daily Show With Jon Stewart, they are a news spoof.

The results at this Going Rogue book signing are both hysterical and sad. No questions could be asked at the signing. The 22 Minutes reporter managed to grab her attention on the way to her bus. Nothing like a spontaneous comment!

So keep the spirit you Canadian Conservatives!! Keep working to dismantle our socialized medicine!! Why? Because profits need to be made! Ahhh, logic! Let’s ask our dear Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper if he agrees! Somewhere in the bowels of his mind, I can’t help but think that he does.

On the other side of the coin, a real Canadian news show called Provincewide interviews Michael Moore (director of Sicko) this week at a Health trade show. In the ad, the host, Daiene Vernile pulls out her Ontario Health Card to show him and says ‘I’ve had 3 babies and 2 back surgeries and haven’t paid a cent’. He jokes back to her ‘What are you some kind of slacker? Some kind of moocher’? Very funny.

Of course the best Palin joke gets told by Tina Fey this week:

“They made a porn movie about Sarah Palin, and the same actress, Lisa Ann, played me in the porn version of 30 Rock. Weirdly, of the three of us, Lisa Ann knows the most about foreign policy.”
– Tina Fey, speaking at Ad Council gala

We know that our blog has had a lot of posts about the BC Paramedics lately, but we’re very interested in seeing how this all turns out.

Paramedics are asking colleagues from around the country not to come to work during the Olympics until the labour disputes are settled between the government CUPE:

BC paramedics warn ongoing labour dispute could impact service during Olympics

Ambulance workers in British Columbia are asking their colleagues across North America not to come work at the Olympics until their labour dispute with the province is resolved, a request the union says could jeopardize service levels at the big event.

“People obviously need to be worried about whether or not an ambulance is going to be there,” John Strohmaier, president of the Ambulance Paramedics of B.C., said Monday.

“It’s not our intention to put patients in the middle of this dispute … We are certainly going to try, to the best of our ability, to be there for patients when they need us. We are asking those same people to be there for us.”

The province’s 3,500 paramedics were forced back to work through legislation earlier this month, ending a seven-month-old job action. Paramedics worked at reduced levels during the strike, since ambulance services are designated an essential service in the province.

Despite the legislation, paramedics continue to pressure the government for a better deal.

On Monday, about 200 paramedics and supporters showed up to protest outside a speech by Health Minister Kevin Falcon and earlier this month more than 80 called in sick over two days, idling dozens of ambulances.

And Strohmaier said union members are reluctant to volunteer to work overtime as a result of the legislation, and are requesting other paramedics stay away in support.

“As long as this labour dispute exists in British Columbia they shouldn’t be thinking about coming to B.C. and volunteering during the Olympics either,” he said.

Strohmaier said the union is not only unhappy with the back-to-work legislation, but by the province’s appointment last week of a former deputy minister, Chris Trumpy, as head of a commission set up to try to resolve the labour dispute.

“It’s a pretty simple fix. Appoint an independent third party to conduct the review and this dispute is over,” Strohmaier said in an interview.

As head of the commission, Trumpy is charged with reviewing issues such as salary, staffing levels, workload and health and safety. The commission is expected to report back to government Jan. 15.

Labour minister Murray Coell said Trumpy has worked under both NDP and Liberal governments and is “very independent.”

Coell also said he thinks “cooler heads will prevail” and the labour dispute will be resolved before the Games.

The back-to-work legislation was passed weeks after the Olympics organizing committee, known as VANOC, wrote a letter to the government asking for a guarantee of paramedic services.

“Without full emergency services on site at the competition venues, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games may not proceed,” the committee’s medical services director, Dr. Mike Wilkinson, wrote in a memo dated Sept. 14.

Wilkinson has said they’ve lined up volunteer medical staff in case of a shortage during the event, but will rely on the expertise of the province’s ambulance system and its staff.

As part of its bid for the Games, the Vancouver organizing committee promised that every venue will have paramedics and ambulances on site at all times.

Strohmaier said there aren’t enough staff to handle the ambulance needs in B.C. on a regular day, let alone during the Games.

He said the province will need “several hundred” more paramedics and ambulances to handle the thousands of visitors coming during the Olympics. But Strohmaier said he isn’t aware of any plans to add staff during the Games.

Despite criticism from the paramedics’ union, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said the back-to-work legislation was not passed because of the pending Olympics.

“I know lots of paramedics, and I think the paramedics are professionals, they care about people, they want to provide the public with service,” Campbell told reporters after an Olympic event Monday.

“It was unfortunate for all of us that we had to legislate people back to work, but it was about the H1N1, it was the pressure that was on the system, we spent literally millions of dollars trying to find a resolution to this. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible.”

The ambulance workers, who are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees local 873, say they went on strike seeking better staffing levels that would result in faster ambulance response times, wage parity with other emergency responders and a multi-year contract.

They argue they’re being stretched to the limit by the ambulance service’s dependence on part-time workers, unpaid travel time and chronic overtime.

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