I won’t be updating this as often as I had in previous years, I will probably update it a couple of times a month depending upon the snow activity.  I was finding it a lot of effort for minor changes, I had received requests for detailed analysis of the data but it’s only a compilation from the Environment Canada weather information available to anyone.

It’s looking like we might get back to normal snowfall by January, we need the moisture don’t need the shovelling.

Navy SEAL hero Jon Tumilson was killed in Afghanistan. His loyalty to his country was reflected in his dog’s loyalty to him. His Labrador retriever Hawkeye moved the nation when he lay down next to Tumilson’s coffin to bid farewell. The video of Hawkeye’s final tribute to his fallen friend has logged almost 7 million YouTube hits.

This is a very stressful time of year for many people.  It’s supposed to be about family but it seems that many people have to go it alone.  Someone has done someone wrong and it can’t be forgiven nor forgotten, let’s carry on with the “war”.  Sometimes, it’s just time to let it go.  It amazes me that some people remember every little event (make that a transgression) and bring it up as an example whenever such an opportunity presents itself.  In my life, it seems to be the women that have this trait.  When I am reminded of something I did wrong I try to remember what I did and often I draw a blank.  What’s a guy to do?

I found out this morning that one of my favorite radio personalities passed away at the young age of 52.  Kevin Nelson had contracted a virus on vacation over a year ago, he had to leave the airwaves due to ill-health earlier this year.  He succumbed this morning.  He was the son of “Jungle Jay Nelson”, a well-known radio personality who had died in 1994 at the age of 57.  You never know when it will be over for you or a loved one.

I know of another woman whose daughter recently had a new baby but she’s not allowed to be a part of this childs life.  It seems that the woman made a decision that the daughter disagreed with and now she’s being cut out of this daughter’s life.  Forget that the woman took care of the daughter in recent years with the birth of the first grandchild and provided a place for them to live.  The disapproved action was a one timer that is now over and not likely to be repeated but it seems not to matter to the daughter, the mother has erred or sinned in her eyes and cannot be forgiven.  Time to ask yourself, “what if something happens to any of us?”, will it weigh heavily on their hearts for what they didn’t do?

Another woman I know is full of hatred and anger.  Imagine living your life with a lens of anger, everything you see or do is tainted by your bias.  Nothing brings joy nor happiness, she is miserable and judges everything and everybody as being unworthy or worthless.  A good dose of amnesia would be a blessing in this case.  It has to be eating away at her every minute of her life.  She hates men, basically all men for their perceived transgressions.

I find it interesting that there are different rules for a wife’s family and a husband’s family.  It is usually the husband’s family that gets short shrift.  That “family” component isn’t as important as her “family”.  Two sets of rules and two sets of behaviours.  I see this behaviour in a number of people who I know.

It is not uncommon, in my view, that sometimes the anger can’t be traced back to its origin.  It’s not that it wasn’t justified at the time, it may be a perception and not fully understood by the party who has offended.  The one who is angry has often failed to communicate the problem.  The estranged one is at a loss as to “why” but has to learn to just accept what it happening.  Sometimes it’s just best to let it go, reconciliation is not an option.

As I said we get too soon old and too late smart.  As we age, we know that our time here on this earth is dwindling and if someone doesn’t want you in their life we just have to accept it and move on and live our lives.  Banging your head against a wall is a painful experience but stop banging and the pain subsides.

Merry Christmas and may you have a good family celebration.

We’ve gone too far in our “Multicultural Mosaic” to the point that soon we will lose our cultural and religious identity because it is offensive to others.  In the United States they have the melting pot which pushes immigrants to become an American with American beliefs and values.  That’s the rules going in and you know it when you become an American Citizen.  That isn’t the model that we need in Canada but our current model threatens to turn Canada into something our forefathers never intended nor a country that we won’t recognize, we’ll become less tolerant of others because they offend us.  We need to move the “Mosaic” bar towards a requirement that immigrants understand what Canada is, they need to be able to live as a Canadian while still being able to celebrate their religion and culture in tandem to that of Canada.

Recently, the city of Gatineau produced a guide for new immigrants with a set of values such as don’t offer bribes, on a page titled “Children are our most precious good,” the guide says that no-nos include “excessive punishments, corporal and sexual abuse, confinement, neglect, forced labour, humiliation, willful malnutrition,” among other things.  I believe that it is a useful guide one that would be appreciated should we go to another country with a different culture than Canada’s.

The section on punctuality says it’s best to show up to appointments on time or even a few minutes early. Under freedom of expression, the guide tells immigrants that journalists in Canada have the right to openly criticize their government. Religion, it says, is a private affair and religious indoctrination is “often not well perceived.”

There is a hue and cry being raised by the immigration industry how it treats immigrants as paternalistic.  I think it offers good practical advice on what Canada is about and I applaud the guide.  It will be a useful tool for someone who has never experienced the freedoms and way of life that we have here in Canada.

For example, at the current rates of growth, Islam will become one of the dominant groups in Canada is the near future.  The radical components of Islam are offended by the Canadian way of life and will move to curtail it and model on the countries and cultures that they left when they came to Canada.

Those who profess no religion are also moving to make everything neutral and non-specific.  Christmas is an inflammatory word and should be replaced with simple a simple non descriptive term “Holiday”.  Christmas has both religious and pre-christian roots.  Many religious holidays or celebrations have their roots in the pagan practices before Christ.

Quebec works hard at protecting French and the French culture and the rest of Canada should be doing the same to protect Canada and the Canadian culture.

The latest uproar is the government requiring anyone taking the oath of citizenship to remove anything covering their face.  A vocal minority is saying this is discrimination against women.  I am sorry but this is a great nation and we accommodate many freedoms but we should be free to demand certain restriction be honoured in order for new arrivals to meet minimal security requirements.  Where most of these people came from don’t honour our customs nor freedoms.

If we continue on the “experiment” of full multiculturalism we will lose what is good about this country and become less free and accepting with that change.

I live at a corner intersection with a 3 way stop.  It is normal for about 25% of the drivers to not even perform a rolling stop, but to only slow enough to take the corners.  Another 50% do rolling stops in varying degrees.

I went to the store this week which is about 3 km from my house and I counted 4 cars that ran stop signs without even slowing down.

I guess in today’s world, a stop sign is only a suggestion.

There is an ongoing discussion about bicycle safety in our city, several bikers have been killed or injured in the past couple of weeks.   To some extent the drivers of the cars bear the brunt of the responsibility for the accident but it amazes me that people riding bicycles ignore traffic signals and signs like it doesn’t apply to them.  The percentage of bikers that travel and obey the stop signs around my neighbourhood is about 5%, the 95% fly through them ignoring pedestrians and vehicle alike.  I like to walk my dog but when the bikers take to the sidewalks and ignore the painted bike lanes, I get a bit pissed off, especially when they are upset that I dared to be in their way and impede there progress.

Traffic signs are there to help keep us safe, the ones disregarding these signs help occassionally by removing themselves from the gene pool of humanity.

I was ordained as a Dudeist Priest December 20, 2006.

Dudeism is a belief system that teaches us that the universe wants us to take it easy. Getting all worked up over nothing goes profoundly against the laws of nature, psychology, sociology, bowling and several tropical countries. It’s about finding ways to maintain peace of mind in a world with too many ins-and-outs and strands to keep in your head. And it’s about finding ways to keep your heart light when the bastards are trying to get you down. It’s basically Taoism meets The Big Lebowski, plus a big scoop of Humanism and a sprinkling of Buddhism.

Dudeism’s central tenet may well be summarized as knowing that “you are the dude!” and Dudeism properly practiced is a pathway to help you discover your inner-dude, the dude within. That dude-in-waiting in you needs to come to the forefront of your life so that when someone (“a carpet pisser”) tries to give you a hard time or knock you down you can be like”That’s just like, uh, your opinion, man.”

That may seem easy enough but it is one of the hardest lessons in life to learn. Although everything great in our world was founded by true dudes (both male and female), who were practicing Dudeists, whether they knew it or not, many people in our day and age are not dudes at all. Let’s face it, our world is facing a real dude shortage crisis.

Sometimes when they “piss on our carpets” we tend to take it very personally and get upset and uptight and act totally undudely ourselves. We can end up hiding our own true dude nature when we confront all the non-dudes out there. Even for devout Dudeists it can be hard to be a dude! But, as one great dude once said “Dude unto others, as you would have them dude unto you.” This must be the mantra of every follower of Dudeism. No matter what happens, remember, just be the dude.