Childrens do learn...

U.S. "Education President" George Bush, in looking for continuance of his No Child Left Behind legislation ensured the American people that "Childrens do learn."

I'm so happy to hear that but perhaps it was little Georgie Bush who got left behind?

Why is is that every time I see that man on TV I'm reminded of the dead character in the movie Weekend at Bernie's?

Religious school funding

I admit, I attended Catholic schools right up until high school. When we lived in New York, my mom paid tuition but when we moved to Ontario mom had the choice of sending us to the public school or the Catholic school as both were funded by tax dollars.

This funding of Catholic schools and creation of a separate school system dates back to the 1800s yet Ontario is the only province in Canada which still funds Catholic schools. In November 1999, the United Nations Human Rights Committee found Canada in violation of the equality provisions of that Covenant by virtue of Ontario's discriminatory school system. So in this upcoming election the Tories say they will fund "faith-based" schools.

See, I've got a problem with that. I don't believe the education I got was any better than my playmates who attended public school. Apart from the catechism classes, we all learned our alphabet, how to count to 10, tie our shoes and break the graham crackers on the line. I don't believe we need more than one publicly funded school system.

Of course I think that parents should be able to choose what type of education their children will receive so if they want their kids to get "religious instruction" with their ABC's, then send them to a private school - not one publicly funded. I'm for giving parents who wish to send their kids to a "faith-based" school some sort of tax credit to help off-set the additional cost.

What's sort of hypocritical about the Catholic schools these days is that you don't necessarily have to be Catholic to attend one. If the numbers of Catholic children enrolled in these separate schools declines to a point where keeping the school open is in question, they will allow non-Catholics to attend in order to boost their enrollment numbers up to the level to qualify for government funding. I have friends who teach in the separate school system and tell me that in some schools the non-Catholics outnumber the Catholics. So tell me, what's the point in having and paying for two different school boards? In my mind religion has no place within a publicly funded education system.

What's up Doc?

Time for catching up...

My shoulder surgery went well. I wish they had sent me for this arthroscopic surgery a year ago. I'm going to physiotherapy three times a week and doing very well. Thank you all for your well wishes, notes and flowers. The more concerning problem has been my back.

My GP initially thought I had a pinched nerve but since the numbness in my legs has not resolved and I've experienced some numbness in my face and tongue, he's sending me to see a neurologist in a couple of weeks. Then I'll go for an MRI and see if anything beyond old age is to blame.

Along with the physiotherapy for my shoulder I've been getting physio for my back. This requires that in between visits I do "homework". I've got a set of dumb bells to work out my shoulder and a set of exercises I do for my back. I can do most of these exercises from my bed and as I move from one exercise to another I have to switch from lying on my back to lying on my stomach.

If you are a woman and over 40, here's a scary thing to try:
Take your bra off. Get on all fours. Look down at your breasts. When I did this two words immediately leaped into my head - plastic surgery!

Moving right along...

I'm back to school. My son and I are taking night school courses at the local college. We're in our second semester of the CCNA program, working towards our Cisco certification. So two nights a week I get to have supper with my son, daughter-in-law and visit with my grand daughters, Natalie and Eve. By the way, I've added more photos of them to my Flickr page and you can see them by accessing the Flickr badge to the right --->

I just can't say how much I am enjoying being back at school. I absolutely love lab nights. Every Thursday night we have labs where we get to play with the equipment. I'm a real gizmo fiend and love anything with buttons, wires and stuff. Give me some computer components and a manual and a problem to solve and I'm in my glory. Right now we're learning how to configure routers so we use a command line interface to do that. Some people are intimidated by this but this brings me right back to my DOS and early linux days.

This class looks like it's going to be even more fun that last semester's class. Forgive me but as a mom I have to brag a bit about my son. He was the only student in the class to get 100% on the mid-term exam. I didn't do as well. I got 99%. It's a challenging course as there is so much to remember. The concepts are easy to grasp but it's the shear memorization of little bits and pieces that is daunting. That's why I like the labs so much. Since I understand the concepts, applying them practically is easy and fun.

On the automotive front I've had a problem with my car now. I have a 2002 Chrysler Sebring and since it is a newer car than Lise's and in better shape (yeah, after recently spending 800 bucks on it), I like her to take my car when she has to work in Chatham which is an hour away. This past Wednesday she took my car and got about 10 minutes away when the car started to over heat. She had to call her clown partner to pick her up so they could continue to work.

Initially, we weren't sure if the problem was the thermostat or something more serious but when Lise had the chance to look at it later we discovered that it was the water intake housing that was pooched. It was easy to replace, just 4 bolts and 3 hoses but it was a dealership item so that cost another $156 for the part. Amazing what they can charge for a hunk of plastic with 4 brass bushings, two silicone gaskets and a sensor.

While I was at the dealership I took the opportunity to ask them about the intermittent flashing oil light I've been experiencing. About eight months ago I freaked out when I came to idle at an intersection and the oil light started flashing. When your car's oil light comes on, that's never a good thing and usually means you don't have long to pull over somewhere and call CAA.

I took my car to Lise's boyfriend Mark who tested the engine compression (it was fine for which I was relieved because I really didn't want to have to shell out for an engine rebuild) and changed the oil sensor for me and all was well. That is, until about six weeks ago when the light started flickering again. It was weird because the light only flickered when the engine was hot and idling at about 500 - 600 rpm. Once the engine revs got above this, the light went out.

So while at the dealership picking up the housing I asked to speak with a service advisor about the oil light problem. They told me it was a simple fix (something to do with running a wire from the oil sensor to the engine block) and that they had the same problem with the Intrepids. They said a service bulletin had been issued for that problem with the Intrepids so they knew how to fix that bug. When I first had the problem I called the dealership to ask if any service bulletins had been issued for my car with that problem they said there wasn't one. Now they say one was issued for the Intrepid. That's dumb because both the Intrepid and my model of Sebring have the same 2.7 liter engine.

Sometimes I think I should have apprenticed as a mechanic instead of becoming a welder-fitter. Back then it was unusual to see a woman in a trade and I had a very hard time finding work. Still though I don't regret learning a trade or later learning to drive a semi as the experience has made me less intimidated about taking things apart and putting them back together. When I was in middle school I wanted to take shop but they made the girls take home economics. I thought that was dumb. I already knew how to cook and stuff, what I didn't know was how to fix things. I thought that the boys should take home ec and the girls shop so that each would know enough to take care of things themselves.

I have more studying to do for my driver's licence. I let my AZ licence go and downgraded to a DZ licence. So I can't drive a semi but I can drive a dump truck. It's license renewal time and I have to write an exam to keep my DZ status. I've been putting off doing this because I doubt I'll ever drive commercially again but Annie at the local licence bureau is encouraging me to keep my DZ status and take the test. I suppose it's easier to keep my DZ than earn it all over again should I ever want it back. So I'll be studying for that exam over the next couple of weeks.

Anyway, that's what's been going on here at the Lakeside Lair. Hope you all have a pleasant weekend.

Favourite cartoons

Whirl, whirl twist and twirl. Jump around like a flying squirrel. It's Saturday morning and time for a cartoon. This cross-dressing rabbit was one of my favourites growing up. Bugs is my hero! (grin) Enjoy.

Hillbilly Hare

What was the big deal?

Sure, our numbers may be growing but out of a population of 33 million there are only a little more that 7,000 married same-sex couples in Canada. So what's the big deal? Did the sky fall or something?

According to Statistics Canada's latest census results, gays and lesbians are marrying more than straight people are. The number of common law, single parent and same-sex couples are surpassing the "traditional family" here in Canada. Stats Canada says that more straight folks are choosing to "shack up" rather than get married. Hmm, makes you wonder who holds the moral ground here eh?

Referendum Ontario

October 10th is election day in my province and I'm happy to see that we're having a referendum on electoral reform. I've written about this before (Electoral Dysfunction) and proportional representation is something I wished for Canada so I'm glad that it's finally going to make it to a ballot in one of the provinces.

The Citizens' Assembly for Electoral Reform has a video explaining how they came up with their recommendation for this referendum. It's only 7 minutes long and worth the time to view.

Ottawa's Byward Market

While I was away in Ottawa Lise and I went for lunch at the Byward Market. You could spend a whole afternoon there visiting all the vendors and looking at all the things there. Here are some pictures I took.

Post Op...

Gee, did somebody get the number of the bus that hit me? I feel pretty lousy today so I plan to stay in bed, take pain meds and veg out with the TV. Tomorrow I start physiotherapy and I'm so glad that I didn't arrange it for today and had the presence of mind to give myself one day to just recover.

The operation went well and for the most part uneventful except for that when I was in recovery I had a few irregular heartbeats and started having chest pain. So they didn't release me when we anticipated they would but kept me longer to run some tests.

Lise was very concerned when things were taking longer than expected. She kept asking how I was and no one would tell her until she finally had to put her foot down and say, "That is my WIFE in there and I deserve to know how she is!"

Meanwhile I was stopping the nurses begging them to send someone to tell my WIFE how I was doing. After the third time, one nurse asked me if my wife's name was Lise and when I said yes she said that she would go personally to speak with her - and did so immediately.

Later Lise and I couldn't help but think that if Lise was a guy they would have assumed that s/he was my boyfriend/husband and we wouldn't have had to be so insistent. Shucks, and people wonder why same-sex marriage is so important.

Surgery today

Well today I'm having surgery on my shoulder. I've had a "frozen shoulder" for just over a year now and they found a couple of small cysts on my humerus so the doc's gonna go in with a scope and clean things out. I've got the week off work but will be spending my afternoons at physiotherapy getting my shoulder and my back worked on. It'll be nice to be able to sit without having my legs go numb. Funny how you hit a certain age and the wheels just sort of fall off the cart. With the way things have been going lately I've asked for a visit from the Rainbow Pastor. I'll be nice to visit over a cup of tea and discuss the meaning of life.

I've been awake for the last few hours wondering what the heck I'm gonna wear for this surgery. I imagine that my left arm will be all bandaged up so I'm not sure how I'll get a blouse on. I suppose I could bring an oversized t-shirt but I wonder if I'll be able to lift my arm enough to put the darned thing on. I suppose wearing a bra is out too. I've got an old sleeveless tank top around here somewhere so I suppose I'll just wear that and let the "girls" swing free. Sometimes vanity has to give way to practicality. (sigh)

The installation of my new roof starts today as well so I suppose you could say I'm getting two procedures done. (big grin) I'll be pretty groggy later today and if they take my wireless antenna down today to work on that part of the roof, I won't be blogging for a few days. So I'm checking in now to give you all a heads up that if you don't hear from me for the next couple of days, that's why.

When I'm back in typing form I have a lot of photos of Ottawa to share. I'd also like to tell you a bit of my mom's story. She's quite the woman. Lotsa stuff going on my my pointed little head, just got to find the time/energy to get it all out. So long for now...

Ewwww!

Ok, I know that you should balance your carbs with protein but this? Ewwww!

Was: Retail Therapy Now: When does it end???

So, Lise and I are in Ottawa and saw my mom this morning. We stayed and fed her lunch then left the hospital to go have lunch ourselves. We had planned to have lunch, stop in to the Governor General's place and maybe find a mall for some retail therapy. Then back to the hospital to feed mom her dinner.

Well, those plans flew out the window when, after lunch, as I pulled away from the restaurant, I heard this terrible grinding from my brakes. Not only was I hearing a nerve shattering grind, but I was having trouble stopping the car. That is not a good thing.

It's the Saturday afternoon of the Labour Day weekend, I'm in downtown Ottawa and I'm almost 800kms from home. What the heck do I do?

Since I couldn't reach him on the phone, I decided to try to hobble the car to my brother's place. I made it a few blocks then I remembered that I have CAA and was about to pull over when I saw a Midas muffler shop - and it was open. I'm thanking the heavens that it was open because just as I pulled into the lot, my brakes gave up the ghost.

They took my car in almost right away and checked it out. Bad news. The left front break pad broke right off, the rear brake slider thingys that squeezes the calipers had seized and the right front tie rod end was ready to fall off. There was no way that I was going to make it back home.

So right now I'm sitting in a coffeeshop waiting for the Midas guys to finish working on my car wondering how I'm gonna pay off the $800 they are charging me all thoughts of retail therapy vanished.

I hate to be a whiner but shucks, we've been having such a run of bad luck. First Lise gets her new contract at work and finds that she has to take yet another pay cut (oh the joys of working for non-profit charitable organizations), then Lise's big speeding ticket, then the roof, then mom's stroke, now the car. I sure hope this snowball looses its momentum soon.

True Crime

The very first true crime story I ever read was the story of Steven Truscott. I was 14 years old and was horrified to learn that he was the same as age me when he was found guilty of murdering 12 year old Lynn Harper and given the death penalty. Steven was the youngest person in Canada ever to be sentenced to the death penalty. I think at that time I read everything written about Steven and his case and to me it was evident that he didn't commit this crime. I was relieved to learn that his sentence was later commuted to life.

A few years ago I heard that he was taking steps to clear his name and I prayed that he would succeed. Well, just his week the appeals court did just that. While I am so happy that he has been vindicated, my one haunting thought is: who killed Lynn Harper?