Two Things I Have Learned ...

... in the Microsoft 2002 Flight Simulator.

You can't fly with flaps down.
Nope. No way. No how. No. Go.

And it's not a good thing to stress the aircraft. Seems to make it cranky. So in other words, don't get cocky and see if you can flip a Cessna completely over in a loop.

But on a brighter note, I've made two landings so far. As of tonight. Just not on any runways. It appears that I prefer farmers' fields. Must be the prairie girl in me.

I think I will wait awhile before I take on the Fighter Ace II program though.

What Does Inclusion Mean To You?

This man with autism, who was chosen to sing the national anthem, got a case ofthe giggles half way through.

Listen to what the crowd does to support him. Makes you wonder what the world would be like if we always helped, not hurt one another.

H/T to Punky D

Second Chances and Taking Turns

I'm experiencing one of those rare moments of feeling truly blessed. While being utterly exhausted. Okay, that last part is pretty well par for the course but the first is ... amazing.

Some of you might be a bit familiar with what we are going through with my mom right now. And it's been hard. Really, really hard. Still is, for that matter. But one of the things I have truly been lamenting is that I feel like I have been losing Mom while she is still here. Grieving her being gone while I still help take care of her.

But my brother came down for a visit a few weeks ago. He was only here one week (a little less actually) but the most miraculous thing happened. I don't quite know how, I don't understand the why, but for once I don't need to. Mom is so much better.

Not physically. In fact, I think that has been steadily getting worse. But mentally ... I have my mom back! That is so huge. It overwhelms me just to think about it, let alone type the words. I came home from work tonight (late as always when I work in the city) and stopped by mom's to pick up the containers I use to crush her pills. She had just got her hair done today and she looked so good. She looked like Mom. And, much more importantly, she was Mom.

We sat and talked for quite a while until the Kit Kat and her dad got home. And I shared with her how I was feeling. How wonderful it is to have her back. How much I had missed her. How tired I was am. That even though I knew next week was March Break and had been trying to figure out activities for the girls, I never realized until I was driving home tonight, that it is March Break! Last year, the five of us had spent a couple of nights at a hotel in Halifax over the Break. It was a real treat for the kids (swimming pool!) and we all had a nice time. And what bothered me wasn't that I hadn't made any plans to do anything special (we usually don't, in fact) but that life had been so insane that it had never even occurred to me to even think about whether we should do anything.

Mom has always loved to travel. I guess I have come by that wanderlust honestly. And about a year ago I had suggested to her that I would really like for her and I to take a trip together. Somewhere. Anywhere. But just the two of us. Which is something we have never done. She thought it was a great idea. But before we could even consider doing anything about it, things started to fall about. And given the results of Mom's trip to see my brother last year, I do believe that is the end of her traveling days. But I am grateful that the girls, her and I managed a road trip to Florida a few years ago. Let's just say that was quite an adventure. When I say road trip, I do mean road trip.

But having Mom back for now is so wonderful. I say 'for now' because I realize that I don't know for how long it will last. But I do know that right now, by some miracle or twist of fate, I have been given a second chance. So, tonight, I told Mom all this. And told her repeatedly how much she means to me. How much I need her and love her.

I also shared that most days I feel torn and pulled in a hundred different ways. Work. The kids. A husband. A house. Appointments. My passions. They're all important to me but I can only be doing so many things at the same time, right? And right now, in some ways, I just wish that the other parts of my life could just take care of themselves for a while. To give me a chance to have some time with Mom.

So I asked her what she would like to do. And influenced, no doubt, by what I had just said, she said that she thought a trip to Halifax for a few days would be nice. Physically, for mom, I know that will be much more of a challenge than it was last year. Logistically, life is always interesting, especially when you haven't planned things. But I won't, I simply cannot let myself be put in the position of knowing I was given that second chance that I prayed for and I still blew it. I have some time with Mom, the real mom. And I need to take advantage of it. So who knows, perhaps a small trip is in our future next week.

Oh yeah, the taking turns part? I use to find when the Blue Jay was small and spent a lot of time in hospital with seizures, that things took turns. When her seizures were bad, things were fine at school. But when her health was good, invariably I had issues to deal with. You guessed it, at school. So now that things are settling down a bit with Mom (at least for now), something else had to happen, right? The 'something else' this time happens to be the Kit Kat. Trust me, don't ask. But I just have one question ... when do I get my turn?

Truth, Justice and the Canadian Way Part I

Two follow on stories in this morning's newspaper.

The first has Prime Minister Harper determined to track down the source of the leak ... ahem, excuse me ... the second leak wherein US Presidential hopeful Barack Obama's economic advisor is said to have dismissed his boss's tough talk about renegotiating NAFTA as political posturing. I say the second leak because, as you might recall, that second leak involved the leaking of a government memo. The first leak , the original leak, however, was verbal ... and is credited with coming from the PMO's office. More particularly, Harper's chief of staff, Ian Brodie.

But it appears that Harper isn't so interested in tracking that one down, it's the second leak involving the government memo that has caused him to call in an "internal security team" and vow to use "every legal and every investigative technique necessary" to find the source. Not only that, but "based on what (investigators) find, and based on legal advice, we will take any action that is necessary to get to the bottom of the matter".

Strong language, that. However,

Government officials have said they will not seek out of the source of the original leak.

A little bit of hypocrisy there, perhaps? And the RCMP have not been called in, as requested demanded by the Opposition. Perhaps it is feared that that sort of investigation could result in the source of the first leak being outed as well?

Just to be clear, I am not particularly interested in taxpayer money being used to tracked down the source of either leak. Provided that we're fair ... if we're going to go after one, why aren't we going after both? Other than that, its just posturing, hypocrisy and silliness. Pathetic. In other words, politics as usual.

So did the leaks hurt Obama's campaign? Maybe a little. But we'll probably never know for sure. Hmm, I wonder if any US officials have ever made any comments during a Canadian election which might be thought to have a possible effect on the ultimate result?

At any rate, like I said before, I think the original comments were pretty pathetic, let alone the brouhaha which has resulted. But I was wondering something else too ... wasn't it also leaked that Hillary's camp had sent similar signals to Ottawa about her scapegoating of NAFTA? Whatever happened to the outrage over that "leak"?

Hey, folks, its winter in the Great White North. Has it come to this? Have we actually been forced to manufacture outrage just to get us through the winter blahs?

Update: Better late than never?

Update II: Good for the goose, good for the gander.

Truth, Justice and the Canadian Way, Part II

The second story contains the results of one of those long-awaited reports on taser use. This time in Nova Scotia. .

Apparently the amount of training "differs significantly among law enforcement agencies", with RCMP and corrections officers receiving 16 hours of training to become a Taser operator while municipal police officers and sheriff’s deputies get half that. Some enforcement agencies require a supervisor’s approval whenever possible before using the stun gun, while others are told to give notification "as soon as practical" afterward. Some guidelines say the only time a Taser should be fired more than once is when a subject continues to resist, while others don’t mention it. All enforcement agencies are told to issue a verbal warning before using the Taser, but only some are directed to give an arc demonstration before firing it.

So there you go, now you know. Anything surprising there? Not really, I can't say I expected consistency in either training or rules of engagement. However, as Justice Minister Cecil Clarke noted, "differences are hard to justify".

Incidentally, the report found that there was no "causal connection" between Taser use and last November's death of Howard Hyde, a 45-year old schizophrenic from Dartmouth who died about 30 hours after Halifax Regional Police subdued him with a Taser. Which doesn't much surprise me, either. Given that only a little digging will show that despite the number of people who have died after being shot with a Taser, it is very difficult to find more than one or two cases where the Taser itself is believed to have caused the death. Unfortunately, the media's favourite play seems to be to link the two events (being tasered and death) as being causal just because they both occurred.

And, as a final twist, the Halifax Police Department reports that their numbers show that there are more arrest injuries when tasers aren't used they when they are.

The Man of the House

If Only The Dead Could Speak ...

You know my feelings on the Tracey Latimer case. So why am I writing again?

Because in the last few days I have seen, for the first time, what is to me new information on the case. This despite having avidly followed just about every news story on Tracey and her father.

The first, which I read a few days ago, is from Michael Bach, Executive Vice-President Canadian Association for Community Living at York University.

We think the real lesson from the Tracy Latimer case is not, as many suggest, that we need to renew the debate about mercy killing. Because this was not euthanasia or mercy killing - Tracy was not dying. Her pain could have been relieved with more effective pain management medication if her parents had allowed a feeding tube to be inserted. They refused, which is why the pain management was so ineffective and the stories circulate that she could only take Tylenol...

The second is found in today's edition of the Chronicle Herald:

Tracy was scheduled for surgery which, it was hoped, would alleviate some of the pain and discomfort afflicting her, and other procedures were being considered to help with Tracy’s condition. Tracy, who had spent several months in a respite home, returned to her father’s house shortly before her death because of the imminent surgery.

No, I had never before read or heard either that Tracey's pain could have been relieved with more effective pain management medication if her parents had allowed a feeding tube to be inserted. Or that the upcoming surgery was intended to relieve some of Tracey's pain.

Rather, this was what I understood:

One of the surgeries was to remove a quarter of Tracy’s femur because one of her hips had been dislocated for more than a year.Because of the anti-seizure medication she was on, the Latimer family was told the only pain relief she could have would be regular strength Tylenol.He said he and his wife were opposed to another surgery. "We saw it as mutilating a child who was already suffering."At the time of her death, Tracy weighed less than 40 pounds.

To me, those two little points are rather important. Crucial, even, in helping me formulate my opinion on the actions of Robert Latimer. So which is it? What is the real truth? Will we ever know? And why has it taken 15 years for me to discover these two little tidbits on Tracey's condition?

Colour Test

They say that on average it takes about five tries to get it right. But part way through the first time, I found a little trick that seemed to 'do the trick', so to speak.

So go see how you do. If you tell me yours, I'll tell you mine.

Just What The Doctor Ordered

Of course. It all makes perfect sense now.




H/T to FbL at The Flight Deck

Blowing Smoke or Breathing Fire?

Frankly, I think this would be rather amusing if it wasn't so pathetic. Apparently Canada has made it to the big leagues ... if you consider the Ohio primaries to be the big leagues, that is.

Earlier this week the CTV reported that a senior Obama staffer had quietly reassured Canadian diplomats that his talk of pulling out of NAFTA unless it’s renegotiated is just campaign rhetoric. CTV also says Sen. Hillary Clinton’s camp has sent similar signals to Ottawa about her scapegoating of NAFTA in hard-fought Ohio.

But apparently the candidates, they beg to differ.




The editors at the Chronicle Herald had this to say on the subject:

It would be surprising if either camp does fess up to blowing NAFTA smoke in Ohio. But that’s exactly what both are doing in the tired old stump game of pandering to those who wrongly blame trade deals for job losses in America.

So forget about manufacturing jobs moving to China, India and America’s own sunbelt states to satisfy the U.S. consumer’s love affair with ever-lower prices. Don’t remind Ohio voters that Canada and Mexico are the most important markets for U.S. exports. Never mind that Ohio has a trade surplus with Canada. Or that tossing an agreement which allows Ohio-made engines to move duty-free to Ontario-assembled cars would be bad for both countries.

It’s just so much easier to ignore these NAFTA benefits and dumb it down to a big, faceless, soundbite conspiracy.

We can’t honestly believe intelligent leaders like Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton imagine Ohio factories are moving to Canada despite an inflated loonie. Or that the greenback’s decline isn’t a U.S. opportunity to sell to Canada and Mexico.

They surely know the value of NAFTA’s guarantee of secure access to Canadian oil and gas. We doubt they prefer a Middle East monopoly at the pumps. Or want Mexico to revert to instability, slow growth and hostility to investment.

Too bad they can’t be honest about what America’s interests and who America’s friends are.

Personally, I never have been a huge fan of NAFTA but to the above, I must say Hear, Hear.

Nifty

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H/T to LawEddie.com

The Real You ... Check Six

This could be great fun. And might just make you think a bit.
The idea is to write your memoir in just six words. Although it strikes me that those six words may well be very different at different times in your life.

Mine? Right now, that's easy.
Too much, too fast, too late.




But my personal favourite: Found Love After Nine Months

So what do you think? Are you up for it?
What's yours?

H/T to Bob Kraft's P.I.S.S.D.

Cross-posted at The Flight Deck