Writing is my artistic expression. My keyboard is my brush. Words are my medium. My blog is my canvas. And committing to writing daily makes me feel like an artist.
‘Never again should anyone be amazed at how Jim Jones got his followers to drink poison.’
I’m not a fan of naming killers on my blog, I think they get too much attention by name, and that glorification permits others to seek the attention. But we are living through an era where millions of people are polarized, and I’d say misguided. They blindly follow a leader whom can do no wrong in their eyes. And this is utterly and completely dividing a once powerful nation.
Worse yet, the media passively permits it. It allows blatant lies to be shared as news. I can’t decide if it’s simply complacency or if it is equally the fault of ignorance. Complacency from some for sure, from the ones that willfully spew the propaganda and rhetoric. Ignorance perhaps from others wherein there is a belief that the viewer sees the lie, and can discern truth from lies themselves… but many can not.
So the painful truth is that the poison is fed to the masses, and too many are drinking it.
After an argument with a loved one doesn’t end well, you re-live the argument with alternate endings.
After an angry exchange at a traffic light, you yell a profanity while sitting alone in your car. No one heard you, but you are now two lights away and still thinking about the incident. Replaying the anger, and the things you’d like to say to the other driver’s face, as if it mattered now as much as when the exchange actually happened.
After a witty exchange with a coworker, you think up other funny quips that you could have said. Nothing you will actually say later, just things that would have been great to say in the moment.
How many lives do we live in our minds, which never transpose to reality? Re-imagined scenarios, re-lived moments, re-invented futures. None of which will ever come to pass. Never lived in the real world… yet very real in our minds.
I am getting sick and tired of social media ads these days. They are following a recipe designed to make you less knowledgeable, more stressed, and frankly dumber. Here are the two main formulas, or should I say ingredients, in these tasteless ads:
Either:
“Don’t eat these 3 items that are killing you.” Followed by a list that includes seed oils, or certain nuts, or another common item in your kitchen. Before plugging a product, or casually naming a name brand item while suggesting alternatives.
Or:
“Doctors hate me.” Followed by an exercise program or diet that has made the person ultra fit without ‘traditional’ medicines and practices. What,you need is our callisthenics program, Tai Chi, ‘Just 9 minutes a day’, or the Butt Blaster 3000.
It’s ‘Avoid this – it’s killing you!’ And then a product plug. Or it’s ’Transform your body, it’s easier than you think… if you buy into what I’m selling.’
And none of these are 30 seconds long. They are all longer format where they attempt to suck you in, feeling invested in the video for a minute or two before the secret to a better or healthier you is revealed.
But there is no real science behind what is claimed. Or worse yet, there are some factual aspects that are proven but irrelevant. “Did you know that ingredient XYZ in product ABC causes cancer?’ You didn’t, so you watch the video. But what isn’t shared is that the dangerous amount of that item would be 10,000 times the dose you would get from eating product ABC… and it only ever showed a link to cancer when that massive dose was fed to mice for continuous days or weeks.
These ads scare you with ‘facts’ that aren’t actually scary, or make promises that a program or product will change your life with a sample size of one person who is telling you how ‘This worked for me and it will work for you too’.
Fear and false promises are being sold on a grand scale and this formula is just showing up more and more. I guess from the amount of ads like this that I’ve seen, the formula is working.
(I’m sure everyone who tries Tia Chi looks like this at 62! 🤦♂️)
November 12th 1985 was a cold, overcast day in Toronto. I was taking the bus home from school during my Grade 13 year. For those who do not know, Ontario had a Grade 13 for anyone planning to go on to university.
I had to take two busses home and my transfer happened a half block away from North York General Hospital. My grandfather was at that hospital after a minor heart attack and I thought maybe I’d go see him before going home. Then I got to the corner and decided that I’d just go home, I had just visited a couple days before.
I went to the bus stop and waited about 8-10 minutes for the bus before seeing it approach the traffic lights behind me. I remember at that very moment changing my mind, thinking ‘I’m right here, I should visit him’. So I walked back to the street corner as the bus approached and passed, and I made the turn to go visit Papa T.
When I got to his hospital room I could hear him having an argument with my Granny about some minor thing. He was shaving, sitting upright in his bed with an electric razor, my granny holding a small mirror for him. We had a nice visit and I felt great walking back to the bus stop afterwards.
The next morning I was at the school for a 7am swim practice and about half way through I felt awful. I couldn’t describe the feeling then but dread would be the term I’d use looking back now. I actually stopped my set and got out of the pool. What made me feel worse was that a couple other kids stopped and joined me on the bench. I was team captain and this was a bad example I was setting, but I just couldn’t get myself back into the pool.
For first class I had a spare block and so did my friend Kassim, who had a car. I had never done anything like this before but I looked at my buddy and said, “Kassim, I feel awful, can you drive me home?”
He didn’t. He convinced me to stay. It was Grad Photo Day and we both had appointments for our photos before lunch. “Stay until lunch”, he said, “Get your grad photo and if you still feel like this at lunch I’ll take you home.”
He convinced me to stay, despite how awful I felt. I couldn’t understand the feeling I was experiencing because I didn’t feel sick, and so missing photos didn’t make sense.
I made it to lunch and went to the cafeteria. I remember pulling my lunch out of the brown paper bag it was in as I sat down. I was saying to Kassim and a couple other friends we sat with, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I just feel like shit.”
Then I sat down, looked up and locked eyes with my sister peering across the cafeteria. This was unusual to say the least because she went to a different high school. We locked eyes, then with no explanation I simply said, “It’s my grandfather.” Then packed my lunch back into the bag, got up and walked out with my sister.
This made no sense to my friends, but they had met my sister so knew I was going home. I don’t remember my sister saying anything to me. I don’t think I signed out. We got into my uncle’s car and drove straight to the hospital.
I wish I didn’t go. I wish my last memory of Papa T was of him shaving and talking about what he was going to do after getting out of the hospital, not him on life support with his eyes taped shut because he was leaving them open, unblinking. But I got to say good bye to his body after he was already gone.
I went home and wrote this poem. I haven’t seen it in over 25 years, but my sister is helping my mom declutter before moving, she found it, and sent me a picture of it.
Never let access to accessories be a barrier to using technology. On a shelf in my office I have a small plastic set of drawers with every kind of adapter a teacher or student would need. I also have an extra 3ft and 15ft HDMI cable. I’ve got chargers for laptops and phones. I’ve got a few different dongles. And for my online teachers, I’ve got extra laptops pens, which make marking easier. Your mouse broke? I’ve got you covered.
In all honesty, the overall cost of these items is not exorbitant. Sure, there are a couple small items I’ve purchased that haven’t been used, but most of what I’ve purchased has needed to be replenished at some point. The difference is, that I’ve pre-ordered them and there is zero delay from the time a teacher or student needs an accessory to the time I’m able to provide a replacement, instead of there being a delay of access while I purchase the replacement.
To me this is a low bar, providing access to accessories is an easy hurdle to jump when you’ve already got the accessories waiting when they are needed.
I spent the day fishing with a buddy. It started out misty and looked like it might rain. It did rain, a light drizzle for all of five minutes, then it actually got sweltering hot.
I caught a big chinook that was well past its prime and a smaller pink salmon. It’s always great to catch fish on a fishing trip, even if they are not keepers.
Today I was reminded of what a wonderful part of the world we live in. Gorgeous fall weather, beautiful scenery, salmon on their final run, eagles, and even a seal who was fishing just like we were.
An old adage says, ‘A bad day of fishing is still better than a good day at work’. Is there an adage for a good day fishing? That’s the adage I need.
15 years ago yesterday I started my second blog, this one called Daily-Ink. The plan was to write my ideas down on paper, in a leather bound book, and then photograph the page and upload it to the blog. I admitted in my first post that I held no promises because my previous attempt at taking a photo a day for a year failed. And sure enough, this idea didn’t last long.
It was September 28th, 2010, I was living in China at the time and starting my second school year there as principal of a foreign national pre-K to Grade 9 school. I did a few posts in my intended format then ended up using the blog when I wanted to share experiences and ideas that didn’t fit onto my Pair-a-Dimes for Your Thoughts blog, with the byline: Reflections on Education, Technology and Learning. I used Daily-Ink to track some articles I found interesting, comments I made on other blogs, to participate in a MOOC, and to record some travel experiences.
It was almost 9 years later, July 6th, 2019 that I decided I was actually going to write daily. I said on that day,
“I’m not getting younger and more than ever, NOW is the best time to start.
I tried over a decade ago, now I’m going to do it – a short daily blog.”
And here I am, 2,276 days later, still writing daily. So, whatever it was that you were planning to do but didn’t get around to it… it’s not too late. It’s not too late to write a book, to get in shape, to pursue a different career, or take up a new hobby. The years missed matter less and less once you actually get started.
I know that ‘Avoid injury’ is not a great mantra because it’s a negative… a thing to steer clear of, rather than to head towards… but ‘staying safe’, or ‘being smart’ don’t get the same message across. So, ‘avoid injury’ is the thing I’m going to focus on in the gym, and in general, as I continue my healthy living journey.
I’ve been on a health kick since the start of 2019. Back then, I was the heaviest I’ve ever been, about 6-8 pounds heavier than I am now, and my belly was where I wore most of my excess. I dropped just over 25 pounds in less than 2 years, then I started putting some muscle on. I’ve put back on almost 20 pounds of muscle, at least half of which came in the last year and a half.
The biggest difference in the last year and a half has been my protein intake. I started having a protein shake for breakfast 4 years ago, but then instead of seeing that as enough, I started thinking of that as an insufficient base, which I supplemented daily. For example, adding a protein bar at work, and/or 2 hard boiled eggs as an extra boost in addition to my regular meals, and eating more protein at meal time.
This extra protein plus my efforts in the gym have really paid off. So much so that my wardrobe has needed an upgrade. I’ve still got quite a few things that used to fit me loosely, which now look like something I’m trying to show off in. The long sleeve sports shirt I’m in now used to fit over top of another shirt, now it’s tight on me without an undershirt.
My new goal has been to add 6-8 more pounds, reaching my all time high again, but with a totally transformed physique. Oddly enough, I think I’m at my ideal weight now, but I still have back issues and I’m always one stupid move away from a debilitating injury that will prevent me from working out for an extended period. So I work on strengthening my back, stretching, massages, and hot tubs to keep injury at bay. Because it is likely that some time in the next 10-15 years I could have an injury keep we away from the gym, and I could lose muscle then… never to get it back since it gets harder every year to add more muscle. I figure if I’m 6-10 pounds heavier in the next year, a bad injury scenario would set me back to this weight, rather than something less than ideal.
Thus my mantra, ‘avoid injury’. I like to lift heavy weights, but going too heavy could mean an injury. I like to play sports, but going too hard in a game like basketball could put me out of commission. I often have an ache in my back that makes me have to take it easy, pushing hard while my back hurts is a really bad idea that could leave me injured and out of the gym and off the treadmill for weeks or even months. Avoid injury.
This summer I was visiting a friend and we scootered to a pizza place for dinner. We had a couple beers with dinner and I told him we were going to Uber back. I don’t scooter much, we didn’t have helmets or any protective gear, and I wasn’t going to chance scootering home with my poor tolerance to alcohol these days. 10 years ago, there’s no way I would have made this decision, I would have scootered back to his place, but the wisdom of ‘avoid injury’ was on my mind.
The biggest issue with this mantra isn’t that it’s negative, it’s that it always has to be playing in my head: When I wake up feeling sore before a morning workout; when I go to do something as simple as tossing a ball or frisbee around; when I’m on a ladder; when I want to add weight to a set I’m doing in the gym…
The name of the game from this age on is staying healthy, staying strong, and keeping injuries at bay. Ultimately, avoiding injury is now a lifelong goal. I’m simply not going to bounce back from an injury like I did 20+ years ago, and so my mantra will keep me feeling as young as possible for as long as possible. Avoid injury!
I officially felt it today. The weather has turned and it has definitely affected me. I had a great morning, doing my Coquitlam Crunch, I came back and enjoyed a hot tub too. But I felt the gloom. It was a shadowless afternoon and I felt closed in.
Could it be from spending my first 10 years in Barbados? A place where there is almost always 12 hours of sun. A place where even the rainy season means a day mostly of sunshine and a series rain clouds passing over for 5 minutes to an hour before the sun shows up again… and where it will even be raining above while the sun still shines from beside the clouds?
It usually takes until late October or early November for me to feel clouded-in, but today I felt it. It seems my sunny disposition relies a bit on the sun, and I’m going to have to make an effort to brighten up inside my house and work to compensate for the lack of sun outside.
The idea of being in an echo chamber suggests that you are surrounded by people, media, and information sources that are constantly reinforcing your beliefs… without exposing you to opposing viewpoints unless arguing convincingly against those viewpoints.
I’ve discussed, a number of times, my concerns that we are living more and more in dichotomies, where sides or factions are so diametrically opposed, no one can hold a stance in the middle without being considered to be from the opposing viewpoints. You either live in an echo chamber or you live in an opposing echo chamber. Because the voices in the middle are ‘othered’ and so not part of any stance or view that can be snuck into an echo chamber. The voices of the middle don’t get to echo. And so the echo chamber narrows, keeping exposure to outside views securely away.
The echoes are getting louder and it’s getting easier to listen to them and nothing else… which ultimately leads to us spewing the same echoes we hear. So it’s up to us to seek diverse stances and viewpoints. It’s up to us to actively extend our searches for reliable information. And it’s up to us to question the reliability of our sources. It’s either that or voluntarily be just another voice echoed in a narrow echo chamber that seems to be getting further polarized and biased every day.
