What are you voting in the next election?

You know, governing a country is no easy task, especially a large and diverse country like Canada or the US, there are regional issues, health care, immigration, the economy, etc….

I maybe over simplifying things, but good governance is like riding a bike. When you get on a bike, you start by pushing the pedal on the right side, and you make a forward right ward movement. If you dont follow with an immediate left push, you will stop/fall. Same if you push left first, if you dont follow with a right, you will stop/fall. But with consecutive right, left, right, left, you balance and move forward. Governance is no difference, if the country does not balance by voting in left leaning followed by right leaning, followed by left, followed by right, the country will stall and fail. Name me a system that ever worked by having one way governance?

Democracy at the end of the day is  not  maintained by committed left or right leaning voters, democracy is maintained by independents who let the governance pendulum swing. Are you a committed voter?

In Ontario, that Jerk Dawlton McGunity introduced the HST, snuck it in the conservatives claim, when we win the next election we will… well they are not sure, there are different options. Reduce it by 1 or 2%, reduce income tax by a couple of %,  reduce user fees. When they decide, conservatives will rejoice and beat the drum of a new dawn, a day when taxes are lower. Problem is this, Ontario is almost bankrupt, so much in debt, and guess what, government needs the money to run the oh so many flawed and pet projects. Health care broken, Power supply broken, trade broken, you name it, its broken. Haveing a 1% cut in HST (The possible conservative plan) is compareable to a 600 pound man who just ate a whole chicken, 3 racks of ribs with all the fixings, but washed it down with a “diet” coke.

No need to debate weather government needs to provide these services, assuming they do, the question is are they doing a good job at it, the answer is NO. So do we continue this cycle or does anyone have courage to fix things?

Absent any true leadership we are only left with one choice, vote conservative in the next Ontario election, followed by liberal, followed by conservative.

But suppose a leader emerges with a true and honest plan to fix things, will they get elected? If you are a committed voter will you switch your vote? Will you put your ideology aside an be willing to take a true look at what is broken and fix it? Do you always vote left or right? Ask your self is this good for your country?

I say NEVER..

Canada’s health care system, a magnificent failure in human care.

Lets do this in chronological order

8 years ago: Had a physical done, nothing special came of it
7 years ago: Family doctor moved to the other end of town, a 1 hour drive when there is no traffic
7 years ago: Attempted to get new doctor and not allowed by Canada’s health care system – If you have a doctor, you cant get another, there is a doctor shortage
7 – 1 year ago: Been going to a walk-in clinic when ever I needed to see the Doc, every time I am asked, who is your family doctor, I say, its doctor XYZ, and my file at the doc is updated
1 year ago: I tore my achilles tendon, had surgery, followed up with surgeon, did not see my family doctor, no need to go across the universe when I am dealing with the surgeon direct
2 month ago: Needed to get a test done, called walk-in clinic, got appointment, went, waited a few hours, saw doc for 5 minutes, super rushed, no time to talk, did test, and waited 2 weeks for the results. Was told I was lucky to get them that fast, good news (no issues).
2 weeks ago: Decided to finally go see my Doc for a general check up.
2 Weeks ago: Called for appointment, and Doc said. You have not been here in our office for more than 5 years, you are no longer our patient
2 weeks ago: I asked where are my files? We don’t have any files for you. What happened to all the health records I have been send you for 8 years now? We reject them, we have no history on you. 8 years, poof, gone…..
2 weeks ago: Attempted to get a new family doctor.
2 weeks ago: Finding new doctor, no possible, there are no doctors available

So here I am, no medical history, no doctor, must go on a waiting list….. In the mean time, go to a clinic or emergency room.

1 week ago: We got a cat, our neighbor’s dog found her, and our neighbor asked if we wanted her, yes was the answer, we got a cat, called her Stella

1 week ago: Called a vet ( A private service in Canada), appointment was set up for the same day

1 week ago: Stella got a doctor who gave her a FULL 1 hour checkup, shots, full test, results in for all the work by the second day.

1 week ago: Stella got an online user id/password where we can go online and check her test results, track her history, and in case we decide to go to a different vet, move her profile and not a single piece of data is lost.

Canada is the only country that treats cats and dogs better than humans. The fact that I can not get health care and my cat can is a big failure in human care. Sad for a country that claims to be the beacon of Human rights in this world. I know social nut jobs say we need a single payer system, but please justify why my cat can get health care on demand but not me?

Canada also happens to be the only country, where you can not purchase a legally available service with your own money. Money that you legally earned, paid taxed on, and saved. In Canada you can buy pot with your money, you can do/buy a lot of illegal/under the table things with your money. You can waste it all at the casino, you can spend $500000 on a car if you want, you can do it all, except the one thing that is the most important to you, your family, and your existence, look after your health.

Canada, in the words of twitter. #fail #doublefail, #triplefail

Save, it’s the most patriotic act.

I am writing this post after reading another blog post called
Is Frugal Living Bad For America? http://www.plantingdollars.com/rants/is-frugal-living-bad-for-america/

I will start by saying and I think you will agree with me, that sometimes you must make an uncomfortable short term decision that yeilds good long term results. This week as we celebrate the 4th of July, and in Canada (Canada Day).  I say, Save, it’s important.

Savings are THE MOST PATRIOTIC thing you can do for your country and here is why.

1) Saving = liquidity = money your bank can lend =  investment. By not using income to buy junk, that money enters the reserve, and is used by banks over and over again to lend to a small business (The real job creator), to buy fixed capital, such as factories and machinery, creating good paying jobs, in your own backyard.

2) If you don’t save, liquidity happens by borrowing, so if a country say USA, does not have enough liquidity, then it must borrow from either its people or other people. If your people are spent, then you borrow from other people, for example China. There is nothing wrong with borrowing from China but I ask, what is more patriotic, money independence or money dependence?

3) Saving means lower interest rates. Lower interest rates means, more investment, more small business, more jobs, more income for people, lower taxes or more income for government, more independence, means more savings, and that means you start a healthy cycle over and over again.

Save, invest, create jobs, earn money, save, repeat…..

So you can be Patriotic in the short term and spend, or you can do yourself and the country some real good and Save.

I think its time to save, don’t you?

Saving money at the pump is not a savings plan

Today is Canada day, and in Ontario, Canada’s most inhabited province, consumers woke up to celebrate the countries birthday and the HST, a tax that means everything in life is now on the hit list. Including gas…

Last night I was on my way home and as I passed by gas stations, I could not help notice, LINE UPS of cars at the pump.  I did not connect the dots till later, these people where lined up, possible for 15 minutes to get their last fill of gas before the evil HST hit.

The average car will take 40 liters of gas if it rolls in on empty. At $1 a liter, your 15 minutes of pain will save you a grand total of $3.2. So come to think of it, on an hourly basis that is $12.8/hour not bad, but….

What bugs me the most about this gas thing is, the gas price watchers, they really bug me. That is all they talk about, the price went up, the price went up, they watch the gas price like its the stock market, they go to gas price watch websites. They go to across the street, make an illegal U-Turn to get a savings of 0.1 penny per liter (4 cents on the fill up)… Its a game against the big bad gas companies….

I am all for saving money, saving money is about the most important thing you do for yourself and actually for the economy in general. You have to save, are you listening, YOU HAVE TO SAVE. BUT I am willing to bet some money, that these very people that chase penny’s at the pump go to the Starbucks next to the gas station and get themselves a nice, latte for $5, then go out for lunch everyday and pay $10 etc….

Save money by chasing gas prices is not a savings plan, you need a savings plan for sure. If you decide that your savings plan is one penny a liter, time to rethink your strategy. At least brew your own coffee, make a meal at home, or even better, ride your bike to work, saves you a gym membership and GAS MONEY….

Do you favor a gas station because its a fraction of a penny cheaper than the one next door? Time to fess up!

What are some good, real, practical money management tips out there?

The worst thing I ever ate – Bobby Flay screwed me.

There is a show on Food Network called, the “The Best Thing I ever ate” in one episode, Chef Bobby Flay went on and on about the restaurant Florida called Joe’s where they had, according to Chef Flay, the best stone crab claws ever.

Last week, when I was in Chicago, we went for dinner at Joe’s restaurant, Yes they do have a Chicago location, and I was looking forward to trying their crab claws. I had that for the appetizer, and it was ok. I think I had my expectations set so high because of the show. If you are in Chicago and do go to Joe’s they will make sure they will tell you a big story about their steaks. The cow ate this, the meat cut this way, aged for 28 days, blah blah blah…. We where in a large group and wouldn’t you know it. Everyone ordered the steak, each steak was priced at $40+. All but except for one person. I ordered the deep fried chicken for a grand total of $13. I did not order steak for simple reasons, I don’t really like it, don’t think much of it from a culinary point of view, especially in the US.

A plate came with 4 pieces of giant chicken. This is all for me, I asked? Oh yes sir, we don’t do things small here.

Joe's Deep Fried Chicken

That is true, they don’t do things small at Joe’s. The steaks came in a Mini (8 ounce format) a 16 ounce and a 24 ounce format. The steaks came on a plate and just like my chicken, came with nothing, giant lumps on meat on a plate.

The chicken was bland to be honest, soaking in oil. probably the worst thing I ever ate. Bobby Flay set me up for disappointment, that is the bottom line. Bobby Flay, you owe me a proper meal, you hear? Some said, Samer, you are crazy, you are at a steak house and you order chicken? My answer is simple. If you are a good restaurant, then every meal has to be good. If you cant cook it, take it off the menu. Frankly I rather eat bland chicken than steak any day.

3 days in Chicago, and 3 days with dinner at a steak house. What is the fascination with steak houses? Especially the US style steak houses? What is so special about a lump of meat on a plate? There is no culinary skill to it, anyone can cook it, even cave man figured out the medium rare with nothing on the plate. Thousands of years on culinary advancement and we are stuck on a plate with a 2 pound lump of meat!

US Style steak houses really top off my under appreciation of steak. If I am paying $50 for a lump of meat will it kill you to put a free potato in a plate, come on…. You have to order sides. Each side, enough feed a family and every steak house has the same sides, so sad. Its like Steak and Side communism. My US friends are all fascinated with one more meal item that is, well, not so great to eat, creamed spinach. 3 days, 3 steak houses, 3 orders of creamed spinach.

Don’t get it. Do you like steak? Why?

How to unlock the Swarm Badge – Foursquare

I have to admit this badge took some time to unlock. It actually is a fairly simple badge to unlock. In principal it could be one of your first badges to unclock and can be unlocked along with the Newbie badge

To unlock this badge, you simply have to be checked in at a location with 50 other people. When

Swarm Badge

you do you get the message “50+ people are also checked-in here – it’s a foursquare flashmob!”

For me it happened last week when I was in Chicago for Internet Retailer. IR, is a yearly conference for those who are involved in online shopping.

When I got the badge, it got me thinking why on earth did it take so long to actually unlock it, I mean I should have been able to unlock it earlier, but it turns out, I have not been in a swarm.

So what are some swarm suggestion?

Here is some I can think of

Hockey, Football, baseball game

Movies

Theater or some performing arts event

A shopping mall

What other ideas do you have for a swarm? where did you unlock yours?

Bought Running Shoes – Nike vs Asics vs Saucony

Apparently I overpronate, hence my knee pain that almost got me side lined for my 10K run, I wrote about it in a previous post called Dealing with a set back

Running shoe buying aint a simple task.

I asked the guy at the shoes store which one was the best, no such thing, every one has a preference. Which one has more support? well no such thing. Which one has the most cushion? no such thing. You gotta try them all and see. ALL? There are like 30 shoes, gonna be here all day. The good news, apparently according to the guy at the shoes store, once you find a pair, you will be loyal forever, so this is only painful once.

I tried a few brands, like an Asics Gel, Saucony and Nike Air Zoom, all feel the same, I can’t tell. The more I tried, the more they all felt the same. After at least 10 shoes I bought the Asics, Why?

It looked good, and was on sale.

Are you picky about your running shoe? which ones do you buy?

Pretending to play chef for a good cause

I am no chef, as a matter of fact, I am quite annoyed when some one says they are a chef and all they do is heat pre-made food at the local Red Lobster. Not only does it take years of practice and training to become one, it also take creativity to deserve the title. Worse yet, with all the TV shows about cooking it seems like chef-ing it up is a fashionable thing to do, and anyone who operates a hot dog stand is now called a chef.

But once a year, and only once a year, I do go out and pretend to chef it up, but that is only for a good cause. This year, the date is June 4th and I will play host to about 80 people in our back yard and make food for a good cause.

This year, there are 10 appetizers as follows:

Pallet Cleanser: Lemonchello
App1 Water Crest/Apple Soup
App2 BBQ Pork Ribs
App3 Brown Rice with Shroom
App4 Seaweed Edamame Toss
App5 Lamb phillo
App6 Ultimate Mix with Bacon and Green Tea vinaigrette
App7 Lobster Mouse
App8 Shrimp Tarts
App9 Beef Carpaccio
App10 Cured Trout  (not firm on it yet, it may be swapped out)

Once we are done with the apps, we will serve the main, keeping it simple this year, there are 3 items, a vegetarian cous cous,  paella and pork. Then we wrap up with dessert

Last year we raised almost 5K to cancer research, I hope to break that number this year. I have already raises 3K, so I am close

There are so many good causes in the world, the need is great. I tend to support 3 charities, one is the Cancer Relay for Life, one is The Christmas Exchange, and The United Way. In June I chef it up for cancer. You can support my cause by going to http://convio.cancer.ca/goto/sforzley

What cause do you support?

Dealing with a set back

I write this blog post with a bag of peas on my knee. I have trained for 4 month now to run the 10K race for the Ottawa Race weekend this coming Saturday. I had shared some of my experience so far in a couple of blog posts, I challenge you to wear a bib in public and Who said running 10K was easy?

On one of my training runs last week, I must have done something, because since that run, my knee is killing me, and I don’t think it is a good idea to run the race. I had trained so hard, so long, and to not be able to run is very disappointing.

How to deal with the set back, a couple of options. Accept it and move on or Run the race no matter what. I have in my infinite wisdom decided to run the race and risk totally busting my knee. I just cant imagine not running the race.

Is that a good idea? I don’t know, but I am doing it. Thoughts?

Canada’s Next Generation, Gen L. L for Losers

The beaver, oh the beaver the pride of Canada and a national symbol. It is supposed to exemplify what this is country is about. Hard work, perseverance, etc….

For people like me, not born in Canada, the images that come to mind when someone learns of Canada as an outsider are, a Mountie, a Lumber Jack, a Fisherman (including ice fisherman) etc…. Hard working, working against all odds. Damn it, its -40 degrees and still outside chopping down a tree

What is happening to this hard working nation is puzzling. It has now come to be acceptable that hard work, skill, achievement, are all wrong and must be punished. We see it in sports. It has to be fair they say, everyone gets a chance. Ok fine, that’s why there are different leagues and levels, if your kid is not ready for prime time, let them play in an entry league. It was bad enough that a school in Ottawa does not permit blocking in the game of basketball so that every one has a chance to score.

Give everyone a chance that is fine. But the latest edition is concerning. According to the league rules for Dragons soccer in Ottawa Canada, the Nations proud capital. You are not allowed to win and run up to score beyond 6 goals. That is fine, mercy rules have been in place in the past and are the right thing to do if the game is not close, why rub it in. However according to the rules:

Respect your opponent: do not run up the score. and then it gets better “To prevent running up the score, a five-goal differential is the maximum allowed. If at the end of a game there is more than a 5 goal difference in the score, the team that scored over 5 goals will have the results recorded as a loss when the game is recorded at the office.”

www.dragonsoccer.ca/handbook/2010%20Handbook%20ENG.pdf Read them for yourself.

WHAT? If you win by a lot you lose? WHAT? What does this say to our kids? Winning, being good is not only not welcome, its punishable? Don’t win kids, winning is bad, because if you win you are going to get punished? It says don’t work hard, don’t build skill. Just be average, actually forget average, all you have to be in life sun is pretty bad, because the worse you are, the more likely someone else will be punished for it, and you will just be ok.

Screw that, if that is what we are teaching kids now, Canada will not be competitive in the long run and we are going to breed a new generation. Forget Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Whatever. Canada’s next generation if this continues is Gen L. A bunch of losers

Bravo. Kumbaya.