Better mood, lighter colour, exciting news but can't share it just yet.

Hey all,
Sorry to tease you with that title. Some new and exciting developments have happened in my life this week. At this point all I can really say is I had some incredible stress and major decisions thrown on me all within the span of 3 days that any decision would have impacted me greatly for the rest of mine and my Wife's life. We made it through and I made what I (and she) consider to be the best choice as dramatic as it may be. Regardless due to this decision and new life it will most undoubtedly create my overall mood and sense of well being has dramatically increased and I have decided to change the colour of my blog from black to blue. Shocking isn't it.

Don't worry I won't tease you all for long, I will announce the dramatic change and decision I made soon, however as it involves a certain aspect of my life and other people have not been made privy to this information I will be withholding its release for at least another month or so. So remind me to bring it up in a month.

Maybe its just because its Friday and I'm geared up for having a good solid weekend off with my lady love (hasn't happened in a while) that I'm in such a good mood but I AM. Its been awhile and it feels great. Being the pessimist I am I highly doubt it'll last long and I'm sure I'll fade to black soon, but lets all enjoy it while its around hmm?

You'll be all happy to know that thanks to the gentle prodding from my Wife I have started to be more active and go out for daily walks. Its not very far but I keep a brisk pace thanks to my faithful hound Maggie who reminds me to do this right after supper. It doesn't sound like much but I have been surprised how doing this for the past four nights has really done wonders for boosting my overall energy levels. Also served as a reality check of how out of shape I really am. Isn't she a sweetie? I'll be the first one to admit (and for those who know me well you can concur) that I have a short temper. Although she gets on my nerves and I have lost my temper with her Maggie has helped me become more patient in general and when I'm feeling blue cheers me up in ways only a dog can. Thanks Maggie in case I don't say it more often and I'll see you later on that walk.

Anyway I really don't have much more to say at this time. Days are getting longer, weather getting warmer and everything is looking up. Who can complain with that? Lets just hope that all this goodness lasts long enough to get some real use out of it. Until next time,

CIAO FOR NOW!!!
LeShad

P.S. That new development will be coming soon I promise.

Am I old fashioned or is this majorly disrespectful.

My taste in music can hardly be classed as main-stream. The latest poppy flavours from the likes of 15 year old boys with bowl cuts or strippers turn music divas are far from my idea of good music. Rather I listen to music I consider to be well "good". Music like all art is subjective, but for me I want to listen to music that I know the artist actually put feeling, emotion and time into. Not something that an army of composers, producers and music technicians tweek, alter, write and "auto tune" the crap out of until it meets all of the "omg! this songs is soo awesome" criteria.

I hardly expect people to enjoy my music as most of it entails heavy guitar rifts, heavy bass, lots of drums to make well heavy metal. There is alot of crap metal out there just like any other genre but I'd like to think the stuff I listen to is good and most importantly expresses one's emotions. Even if their emotions are negative. My reasoning is if I listen to negative hateful and angry music it makes my life feel better by comparison. You should try it it works! You'll probably feel really angry and sad or whatever during the song but after you'll feel better. I dare you all to listen to "Slipknot's" song "Snuff" and tell me it didn't make your heart ache and weep from despair.

Anyway I'm getting off topic. At work my office leaves the latest hit sensation stations on for background noise and although I find myself tapping my foot to a song or two the fact is I feel its the same generic crap that inhabits most radio stations. However if the point of music is to generate an emotional response then a new song has done just that, and I'm NOT at all happy about it.

The song in question is "Oh...Canada" by "Classified". Yes that's right in case you haven't heard the song before pretty much a hip-hop, rap or whatever they are considered, group has "sampled/covered" the national anthem. I can't begin to describe how sick that makes me feel. Make all the jokes you want by when growing up I was in Scouting. I can assure I never has any inappropriate experiences with a scout leader, just many years of making friends, learning useful life skills and values, and having fun camping. One value Scouts taught me is national pride. Pride to the effect of how to properly raise, lower and fold a flag. Knowing that if the flag ever touches the ground it should be burned out of respect, knowing no other flag on home soil should be higher on the pole than the nation's flag, and most importantly that our anthem is a symbol of our nation's reputation and it is to be sung with pride while standing at attention. One thing it should never be is remixed, sampled, or profited from by any private person or entity. Its a song belonging to every Canadian, alive or dead.

I have a strong sensation that "Classified" were asked to do that song (abomination) for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic games for some national pride generating. However this is unacceptable and overall its a terrible song (do we need another one? that I believe song they played after anyone won a metal was bad enough). A national anthem shouldn't need to be modernized or amped up to appeal to youth, if the young people of today (look at me sounding so old) can't appreciate their nation enough to learn and love the current national anthem they maybe they should go to a country where they don't have the same rights and freedoms we do like in most of the African nations? Or even move to the United States were they don't even have our health care system? ( I know as of late US did pass the Health care bill but it still isn't even close to what we have here). National anthems are to be timeless, the only reason why ours is so "new" is because we adopted it when we became a nation in our own right and left the British Dominion.

Now I know this "Classified" song is all pro-Canadian and doesn't say anything bad or anti-patriotic but what its doing is making a mockery of the true anthem and there fore should be (like a fallen flag) burned out of respect. If one good thing comes from this PIECE OF CRAP song I would hope it'd be a new found respect for our nation and help usher in a new era of patriotism and national pride that up until the 2010 Vancouver Olympics was highly lacking in our society. Sing it loud and sing it proud or else don't call yourself a Canadian.

Ciao for now.

Today's aggrevation.

Ok quick little rant for today. On my drive to work this morning (yes I do work). I saw a man walking his dog along a very busy street (parkway for those of you in 'peg city) without its leash on. Now the dog seemed to be older (not very active) and fairly well trained but I have a huge problem with this.

For starters its illegal. Your dog may be the patron saint of dogs everywhere and listen to every word that comes out of your mouth like its the Gospel, but I got news for you. Recent studies show that an adult dog that is very well trained has about the equal intelligence of a four year old human child. So I pose this question to man walking his dog off his leash. Would you take your four year old on a walk beside a very busy street during rush hour without the child equivalent of a leash? (i.e. a safety harness with tether, stroller or holding your hand?) I would hope for the sake of all humanity the answer to that would be no. So with that established dogs are still capable of doing unprecedented and unpredictable things. For example good ol' rex is walking down this street and sees a goose, deer or rabbit and decides to chase it. Chase leads into the street and boom dog is hit. I'm a lover of animals (especially dogs) so for me that is tragedy enough, but to look at it in a legal matter now you have several hundreds of dollars in potential car damage from the ensuing car accident(s) that may result, not forgetting potential human injuries or fatalities. So as a result of this I would strongly believe that this alone is the foremost reason for leash laws. Not necessarily for the protection of rex, but for the populous as a whole.

Secondly, for the consideration of other dog owners. My own personal canine companion (Maggie) is still fairly young and although she is well behaved for the most part, she lacks some discipline on a leash., which is something I am currently working with her to overcome. So for another example there is a neighbour who resides near my home that I sometimes walk by when taking Maggie out. He has a very friendly black lab who likes to watch his owner work in the garage, and the owner doesn't leash him. So when we walk by Maggie gets all excited and this lab comes charging over to her to say hello and pulls every which way to get me to walk her over to greet him. Well I'm usually on the opposite side of the street from the lab's home so the dog (with no fear I might add) runs across the street to say hello, barking his fool head off, mean while I am the one left to make sure the lab isn't hit by any oncoming cars. Then after I let them visit for a bit I try to take Maggie home. While the lab follows us, then several minutes later the owner wonders where his dog is and calls him back!! I'm sorry but even to have your dog unleashed on your property when they have full access to a busy street is negligent and could lead to the dog being injured or any of the other outcomes I mentioned above. And now your adding the possibility of my dog jumping after the lab and possibly getting hit by a car. This has happened to me twice, and although I doubt he reads my blog, I am putting him on notice one more incident of this and I will be speaking to him. If it continues after that I will be reporting him to police or to the Winnipeg Humane Society. I hate to do that because in those situations the dog is usually the one that suffers, but at the same time I'm not going to let something happen to my Maggie, (she's had a hard enough life as it is). Also this same dog has run across this street to greet others while I'm driving by causing me to have to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting him. If I were to accidentally hit him not only am I going to feel awful for hurting (or worse) a dog, but also I'll have damage on my vehicle that I'll have to pay for/deal with which isn't fair either.

On top of all of this, as much as I may not agree with them, some people are very nervous around dogs for various reasons. And as well trained as your dogs are they may approach said people on a walk to greet them, sniff them or whatever. As citizens of this city/province/country they have the right to feel safe and that trumps your desire to not leash poochie. So smarten up.

A warning in general to these people and anyone else who partakes in these behaviours. We are lucky in this neighbourhood of having an off leash dog park right in the vicinity of both of these incidents. Keep this up and it'll lead to complaints. With too many complaints the city (who owns the park and is temporarily letting us use it as a dog park) will take it away for public safety concerns. So keep being ignorant and put everyone at risk just because your too lazy to leash your dog or are trying to prove a point about how well trained your dog is and that is what will happen. You want to walk them without a leash take them to the park and keep it there.

That's all for today.

St.Patrick's day.

So it's St. Patrick's day. Yeah. I stand out like a sore thumb today as I'm not wearing green. Why? Well I forgot. Is it a big deal? I don't think so. So I appreciate people not getting after me with constant questions and scoldings for the lack of vert on my clothing. I'm proud of my Irish heritage, one of my Grandmother's parents were born on the Emerald Isle, and I like to drink Guiness with the best of them. You want to show me someone not celebrating St.Paddy's day show me those people who drink regular "beer" with green food dye. I'm sorry but Coors Light with green food dye is not Irish. Drinking MGD, Kokanee, or any other beer not from Ireland is not Irish. Guiness that's where its at. "Oh but Les its so dark, and thick and hard to drink and" shut up! As a friend of mine has said Guiness is the beer of Ireland, its corporate logo (the Harp) is a symbol of the country. Ya I know Molson Canadian has a maple leaf on it and that's a symbol of Canada but its not trademarked. The harp is. So until I see you down a pint of Guiness don't say I'm not celebrating St.Patrick's day cause I am more than you are my friend. Well except maybe not including those of you who are actually full Irish and living in Ireland then you have me beat.

Now purists well get after me about how drinking beer isn't the only thing about Ireland and it has a full and rich heritage and gave the world many great gifts spanning from music, to dance, to U2, to Colin Farrell. But beer drinking is something they are more well known for. Well that and leprechauns. But I'm not about to go and kidnap me a little person am I? (Or am I?) So beer it is.

You might think that I'm being very narrow-minded. Well shut up I don't care what you think. No that's a lie I do care (comments please). But as narrow minded as I might be, I don't feel its necessary to throw on a green shirt go to work and say I'm in the Irish spirit because of this one day. That's a cop out that 90% of the population does to celebrate. I on the other hand am going to drink myself a few beers, think of the fine Irish cooking that my Grandmother used to make, think of all the things Ireland has given to society and reflect on this while spending the evening with a friend who lived there for most of his life. Listening to his stories that I've heard many times before as he is well cursed with the gift of the gab that is a staple in Irish culture and a bi-product of kissing the blarney stone (which I'm 90% sure he has). So does this make up for me not wearing a green shirt? HELL YES IT DOES!!! So to end off to the neigh-sayers who well say neigh to me I have one thing for you Póg mo thóin, Pionta Guinness, le do thoil and Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!

Happy St. Patrick's day.

P.S. Sorry that was more of a rant than anything else. But dammit my rants are my signature pieces. As misinformed they might be they are at their core, entertaining. That's really all I have for now.

Quick little blurb.I have readers!!

Hey peeps. I don't have alot of time to post but I'd like to say I FINALLY GOT COMMENTS AND A FOLLOWER thanks to my cousin in law Jacqui and my good ol' pal Sarah. Thanks guys. I guess I shouldn't be shocked as I didn't really advertise my blog until yesterday (my last post) when I decided to be a little bold. Neigh a little daring and post a link of my blog on my twitter/facebook. Hopefully more people will come (hears a whisper *if you blog it they will read*). So thanks you two, your my official first audience (other than the Mrs as she hears my real life blog). But thanks all the same. I hope my ramblings will bring a little bit of cheer, jeer and maybe some tears. And no Sarah you weren't too mushy I appreciate the thought. Peace to you all and I'll be back again soon with even more.
Ciao for now (thought I forgot didn't you).

Long time, Oscar getting it right and trying not to fail.

Hello,
Its me. I know its been a long time, so I give you my apologies. Why have I been gone so long? No reason really, kinda forgot I was doing this. Well back on track now so here we go.

So the Oscars were on last night. You saw by my last post that I wasn't particularly fond of Avatar. Especially not in the best picture category. Now I can't saw I went out and saw all 10 best picture nominees, however I saw Avatar, District 9 and the Hurt Locker. Out of those three I definitely think the right movie won. Hurt Locker did something unconventional with the "war genre" and that was made it real. Real as in we got to (as the audience) get a taste of what its like in Iraq without the glorious flag waving and freedom junk that gets shoved down your throat. Also the style of filming where the cast didn't know where all the cameras where gave it that extra real edge. Bravo to the film, crew and Kathryn Bigelow for being the first female director to win the Oscar. I'm still going to go out and attempt to watch all the other best picture nominees like my wife and I do every year, but I have a feeling my opinion of who won won't change.
I don't think it should of won but I feel that Star Trek was snubbed as a nominee. Now I am a self-proclaimed nerd, and if I haven't proclaimed it here then I'M A NERD!!! But regardless Star Trek was well acted, shot, written and most importantly was enjoyable to watch. I'm such tons of people on the "innanets" will be crying fowl with me but the one saving grace is at least we can't say it was snubbed because it was a Sci-Fi film. As you saw District 9 and Avatar were both nominated so kudos overall to the Sci-Fi genre. My opinion is it was probably due to the fact it was a "reboot" of a franchise that prevented the Academy from nominating it. Sure it wasn't original content but what Abrams did is take a broken leg and mended it. He introduced a whole new audience to the Star Trek franchise and rejuvenated it for (fingers crossed) another forty years. What a lot of people today who say star trek is only for nerds back in the day when the original series first premiered lots of people from different walks of life watched it and loved it on different levels. Unfortunately Star Trek went through a phase where they only catered to the die-hard fans. This phase is what I think killed the original "canon" as any change they attempted to make was brought on by boos and hisses from the nerd public at large (no joke at their expense meant there). So Abrams was approached to kick start it, and he took a bold step by redoing it right at the beginning, taking it back to a place where anyone from any walk of life can get into it, enjoy it all the while making it a great film. So I wave my finger at you Academy for snubbing a fine film that shouldn't of won best picture, but at least should of been considered.

As you saw above by my title I had three topics in mind. First and second have been covered so now the "trying not to fail". Well as you saw in previous posts a new year's resolution for me was to get into shape, exercise more and generally feel better about myself. Well I kinda fell off the wagon. I know you all are disappointed in me. Don't worry I am in myself as well. I could go down the excuse road again, but really nothings changed. But its still in the back of my mind. This past weekend I at least took my dog out for a few walks and once to the dog park which involves lots of walking. Its a small start but its got to count right? Plus I go on the treadmill and do some weight lifting. My problem is frequency, i.e. there is none and I don't keep to it. But its a work in progress and I haven't thrown in the towel yet. Cheer me on people. Until next time.