Jeffrey Aho

I’ve begun the process of tying up loose ends (you heard that right…people who have outstanding debts with me… ) I’m giving myself a week to make as much progress as possible and have set July 10th as my goal. This came as a conclusion while lying in bed being bored while I was in the hospital. (For those who don’t know, I was in the hospital for 8 days receiving treatment for a prolonged illness)

Part of this process is getting a variety of topics off my list that I’ve been meaning to mention, but have neglected. Some are comments on news, some are mini rants, some are just topics that have been on my mind. I’ll warn you that this is going to be eclectic, as tying up loose ends can be, but no one is forcing you to read them. Lets start with a few pet peeve rants:

Local News Papers: Wow. They are horrible. While in the hospital I only could read news papers for my news (instead of the internet) and I don’t believe I’ll ever buy a Record again due to fluff stories. Same with the Chronicle Journal. Give me my Globe over a local paper any day.

Standing Ovations: I went to the Stratford Festival and saw Oklahoma, and while it was good, it was definitely not standing ovation material. Unfortunately it’s a common trend for performances I go to. Has society just lost its ability to judge truly great performances and standing ovations are the new standard of applause? What do you do when there is an exceptional performance? I hope to go see King Lear at the Festival, and it better be really good if people give it a standing ovation…or…I’m complain on my low traffic blog.

Engineering Technology: If you have a diploma in Engineering Technology, you are not an Engineer. You are an Engineering Technician or Technologist. Simple as that. Take some pride in your education and profession and stop pretending to be something you aren’t.

Okay, lets hit a few things really quick: Bob Barker has left the Price is Right , Richard Stallman is coming to campus , The Loonie reached a 31 year high , Unemployment reached a 33 year low , Waterloo was named “Most Intelligent Community” , Omar Khadr won a legal ruling , Comuzzi joins the Tories …Really that’s enough said on those topics. If you want to know more about my views on any, just ask.

Some interesting things were brought up this week in the news, the abolishment of the penny and a national do-not-call list. I support both, the first because it is fiscally the right thing to do, and the second in my view allows for individuals to choose solicitations or not. Oh, and apparently the government is looking into how easy it is to harm a lot of people using dirty bombs.

Topics that relate to me…I put myself on the waiting list for a Peace Tower Canadian flag, estimated arrival time, 2025. As well, a BC Supreme Court ruling struck down the part of the Indian Act that says Native Status can only be passed through the male line. It will be appealed, but in the end it may mean that I will have full Native Status…like my Mother, Grandmother, aunts, uncles, and three of my cousins have.

I still haven’t made up my mind on the referendum in the fall on electoral reform, specifically, Mixed Member Proportional Representation. I’m leaning towards not supporting it. I believe some type of electoral reform is needed, it’s just that MMPR puts more power in political parties by the lists as opposed to something like STV, which is about actual candidates. Parties play a role in weeding out poor candidates as nomination meetings, but MMPR to me seems to open it up for parties to elect members who would otherwise not be electable. It’s not very democratic from what I see. Either way, my decision is not final, and I’ll continue reading about the topic.

Now for a topic that’s been on my list for a long time. Take a look at this comparison of two different channel groups for Star Choice programming. Notice anything interesting? They are both the exact same price. I’m thrilled that Star Choice caters to the homonegative TV viewing crowd.

Currently Listening to: Powerthirst
Random Wikipedia Article: Salvia divinorum

This will be a normal annoying blog…because I’m in pain.

I had an emergency dental exam yesterday because my tooth ache just got unbearable. It’s been sore for 3 weeks but I’ve been busy and don’t have a dentist here, so I just didn’t go. So I was finally fed up and googled Windsor dentists. There just so happened to be one down the road from my work and they had two dentists (so I thought it would be easier to get in quick). I was right, and they offered an appointment 1 hour later. So I went there and quickly got in, got x-rays and talked to the dentist, and he believes it was a little mistake with a filling I had 5 weeks ago. He took out his drill and relieved some pressure (note: no anesthetic…which is not very pleasant for someone complaining of searing tooth pain). Either way, it seems to have helped because it already feels better. I have a follow up appointment next week.

I forgot to mention before that Lyle called me from Victoria (where he’s doing Navy Training for the summer) on the long weekend. It was nice to hear from him. I didn’t even recognize his voice, partly because of the reception, and partly because no one ever calls me in Windsor so I assume automatically it’s just for my roommates. I didn’t even think people had my phone number here. (I know my grandparents always seem to phone the wrong city…that’s the problem with moving every 4 months…that and not having your dentist nearby.) I think Lyle only has 2 weeks more in Victoria as well.

I had an interesting weekend, with Council and all. I was pleased that my motion for the Feds to support a Positive Space initiative on campus and draft a formal policy passed. It was funny though that it’s discussion was 3 times longer than the budget. Oh…informative interjection…Student Unions are activist organizations. There is a reason why 10’s of thousands of dollars of student fees go to CASA and OUSA. It’s also activist on campus, representing student interests. Why the interjection? Because Sai Kit said during the debate on my motion that Feds should not be involved in political activism. [insert maniacal laughter here] I wonder what our Vice President Education would have said if he was there…

I have thought of an interesting topic which might warrant a law paper being written on it. It has to do with Employment Equity and self-identification. Put yourself in my situation; where I do not support Employment Equity on grounds that while its intentions are commendable, its methods are reverse-discriminatory. This poses a dilemma in which I may not wish to self identify on applications (such as for school or employment) because I know that that identification will be used to support Employment Equity actions, but I have been given the option to self identify and with the option given I should be allowed to. By using my self identification for the purpose of advancing employment equity at an organization it seems to me to prevent me from choosing the stance against employment equity.

I guess what needs to be investigated is if it is constitutional to allow self identification for use in Employment Equity initiatives without offering the option beside it to refuse (I guess it should be a question in the affirmative, authorizing use) the rights for the information being used for Employment Equity. If it is not, then it might require that thousands of companies change the options on their application forms. How I see it is if you are offering the option to identify (thus associating yourself with that group), you should be allowed to without supporting a cause (e.g. employment equity). The Charter ensures you the right of association (Section 2.(d)) while ensuring you the right to freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, etc. (Section 2.(b)).

In a totally unrelated direction, I take you to the matter of youth criminal prosecution. The Conservative government is seeking to lower the age of criminal responsibility for children from 12 to 10. A previous version of the article stated that “The Tories said anyone over 14 years of age should automatically face adult sentencing for serious violent or repeat offences.” (It seems to me to be very unjournalistic of the Globe and Mail to quietly remove this instead of just issuing a retraction of the phrase) It is also worth noting that the Conservative platform stated “Anyone 14 years or older who is charged with a serious violent or repeat offences is “automatically” subject to adult sentences” which is slightly different from the article’s original claim.

While I believe I agree with this (I have faith in minors abilities to make decisions, though many people do not), I am very upset over the hypocritical position of the Conservative government. This is because last month the Conservative government said that they want to raise the age of consent from 14 to 16. If you are going to acknowledge that a 14 year old has the mental capacity to be criminally responsible, should they not also be allowed to have sexual relationships? Heck, the government allows people as young as 12 to possess firearms! Yet they don’t have the capacity to make relationship decisions? The Conservative government should not be allowed to pick and choose what topics it can impose age restrictions on.

Along with that, why not allow the right to vote for people as young as 14? Around that time is when students (in Ontario at least) take a Civics course, and many are more informed than their adult counterparts. Maybe if students got the chance that early to get politically involved then they might be more likely to continue being involved as they get older. There is a lot of youth apathy since they are prevented from participating. It may be part of a solution to the large scale problem of low voter turnout. Well, I’m a little off topic from the original dentist story…I’ll blame it on the pain. And popped collars.

Currently Listening to: George Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue

Random Wikipedia Article: Book of Concord

3 weeks left.

As many of you know, this term has been very disappointing for me. I should not have returned to Nemak. But it’s almost done and no need to bore you over the details.

I will give you a short review of Windsor, after living there for over 7 months. On a scale of 0-10 hazy pollution clouds (where 0 is current Beirut and 10 is Ottawa) it gets 3 hazy pollution clouds. There are not to many positive things I have to say about Windsor, so consider it to perform bad in all categories but the few I mention. Really the only redeeming detail I can think of is that it has a decent service industry. I must say that when I call a cab it comes usually within 5 minutes (and has the cheapest fare in any city I’ve been to). There are always ample ones waiting downtown or at the train station. It’s very convenient. As well, there are quite a few clubs and bars that have cheap cover and very cheap drinks. (as cheap as $1 mixed drinks some nights)

Windsor locals are very peculiar. I found out that they use the imperial Fahrenheit system for temperatures above 0 C and then switch to the metric Celsius for sub-zero temperatures. In fact when I say a temperature like 35 C they all look confused. On the topic of temperature, it’s absurdly hot and humid. Two days last week it was mid to high 30’s which with the humidex was 50 C. I’ve become a little climatized since moving down south, but these temperatures are way beyond my capacity to deal with. Many of those days I just took my mattress and just moved to the basement to get some relief.

I found something new about Thunder Bay. When people who have been to TBay talk about it after being away, I frequently hear mention of Persians (No…not Iranians), or the Hoito but I was ordering Chinese food a few weeks ago and I had a craving for Bon Bons (No…not candy) and apparently they are a TBay thing. Basically for those who don’t know, they are dry deep fried breaded spare ribs. There’s one place in TBay that Kas orders from when I go over and they have the best ones I can ever find. But they don’t have them down here. What they do have in Windsor is the best Hot and Sour soup ever at Wah Court. I may even miss that soup…but I certainly won’t miss Windsor.

I seem to be perpetually sick since I returned from TBay about a month ago. Maybe it’s the haze or the heat, or maybe I have an infection and need some antibiotics. (It might have to do with my body not dealing well with the air conditioning at work change to humid heat at home) Either way it’s been really irritating me. I went to a walk in clinic to try to get some tests for my kidneys (Oh yeah, doctors are monitoring my hypertension finally and were doing tests). Clinics and hospitals always depress me, but I can’t help wondering why each person is there. After the receptionist noted that my home is on a funny name for a street (Why do people think that Dog Lake Road is such a funny name? It’s the road to Dog Lake. What is wrong with a lake called Dog Lake? Surely it’s better than the pretentious Lake Superior…), I sat down for an hour and a half and watched people go by.

One of the first people I noticed was a couple probably in their 70’s. The husband looked in pretty bad condition and they were waiting for a on call doctor to come in. The nurse was explaining the delay to them. If I caught it right, the man had shingles and it was pretty severe. The wife sat there looking very devoted but concerned. Made me sad. Another was a woman in her late thirties/early 40’s sitting alone with a huge black eye and a expression that looked devoid of any hope. I hate to make judgements (well…maybe not) but it’s hard to draw anything but domestic abuse from the picture. Next a Muslim man came in with his wife and two daughters in their early teens. They sat down while he went to register. After waiting, the wife was called in, and after a few minutes she came out and called her two daughters in. It was an interesting series (from my observation) as I couldn’t see why the daughters (who to me seemed the real reason they went) didn’t go up themselves to start. Different culture I guess. It is interesting to speculate though.

I’ve been reading a lot more than I usually do, to pass the time, so I’ve been ording books off of Amazon. If you order $39 it’s free shipping and since I refuse to pay shipping, I aim for just over that mark. My last order I picked 4 books and I was around $2 short to fill in the order. So I tried to look for something cheap and saw a book, Spellbound, for $3, so I said what the hell. I had heard of a documentary on the US spelling bee called Spellbound and assumed it was the novelization of it. Well…I was wrong…it was a romance novel, which I refuse to read. Serves me right for not reading the description. I have to figure out where to remove it from the recommendation engine on Amazon because now I’m getting recommendations for junk. Sigh. I’m sure I can find someone who wants it. (Mike? heh…just kidding…shameless plug!)

Well, I think that’s enough for today. I’m off to Waterloo again on the weekend then a few weeks later back for Frosh Week (and maybe a few minor months of school).

Currently Listening to: Gone Forever – Three Days Grace

Random Wikipedia Article: Hoito