For people in the US having Chapters is no big deal — you’re used to having that kind of nice shopping experience, but here in Canada it’s a bit different. For the most part, shopping in Canada sucks. The retailers treat you like crap and they don’t expect you to hang around their store. Chapters book store approaches things totally different.
I had my 37 birthday a couple of weeks ago and something struck me: I don’t feel old. I remember my Mother telling me years ago that you are only as old as you feel and I’m begining to believe she is right. It’s a shame it took me this long to listen to her on this one, but it’s okay to still learn new things.
When I was 15, 25 was old; when I hit 25, 30 was old. Now that I’m past both of those markers, I see 60 or 70 as being old. I think I’m in a pretty unique situation that not many people find themselves in — I love my job, my wife, my kids, my dog, my family is great and besides debt, everything is going really good for me.
Is there a time when I will be too old to enjoy any of those things? I really don’t think so. I remember when I was in my late 20s and some of my friends werre freaking out because they were having their 30th birthday. When I turned 30, it was no big deal to me.
As I approach 40, the thing that I think about the most is how I looked at 40 year olds when I was 20 — I thought they were ancient, on their last legs, ready to die at any minute. Yet, here I am, and I am nowhere near dead.
I think as long as I keep enjoying what I am doing and have my family behind me, I will always be young.
One year ago today, just after midnight, I was huddled in my bedroom with my wife, two kids and dog listening to the brutal winds of hurricane Juan ravage the Nova Scotia coastline. Meteorologists predicted a Category 1 or 2 Hurricane, but officials later confirmed that it was much worse, reaching Category 3 by the time it hit the coast.
Shortly after Juan began battering Halifax we lost power, leaving our only communication with the outside world a battery powered radio. We listened intently as CBC radio continuously updated us on the track of the storm and the damage it was causing. Much to our dismay, the brunt of the hurricane was set to hit Halifax — our house is on a hill facing the harbor.
A reporter from the CBC accompanied the military on a plane that flew into the hurricane — he reported back news that none of us wanted to hear. While the hurricane was supposed to be a Category 2, they expected it to hit Category three. My wife and I wondered how much worse it could get as we heard pieces of houses and debris fly into our house all night long.
When morning came we saw how lucky we were. While we were without power for a while, we made out better than some who were without power for almost a week. One of our neighbors had a tree fall on their house, hitting the brick chimney, sending it falling through the roof into the living room.
All-in-all, we made out pretty well. WE spent the day picking pieces of other people’s houses off of our roof and property, but that was minimal considering what others had to do. A hurricane is not something I want to experience again and I feel for the residents of Florida today.
Tomorrow the largest ocean liner in the world — the Queen Mary II — will dock in Halifax. It should be quite a site when the ship comes into the harbor, considering how big it is. Just last night, I was watching the Apprentice and the winning team got to eat dinner on the QMII. They said it was as tall as the Statue of Liberty and as long as four football fields.
Here are a few facts about the Queen Mary II:
And in case you might want to buy a little boat like this, the estimated cost: $800 million.
Last week I posted a piece about a group of teenagers that beat a man to death not far from our house in Bedford, Nova Scotia. It’s not difficult to pick out the types of teenagers that would do something like this, we all know what they look like … or do we?
I can’t express the shock my wife and I had last night as we watched the news. The police walked the four accused one-by-one into the courtroom — without exception they were well-dressed, clean-cut boys that you wouldn’t think twice about talking to in the street.
They had an interview with one of the boy’s fathers who professed his son’s innocence, saying there was some kind of a mistake. Trouble with that is they have video of the man being attacked supplied by surrounding business video surveillance. And when the police tracked them down, they ran into the woods to escape capture — would an innocent person do that?
One of the lawyers in the case said that the boys didn’t have a criminal record. What the hell does that matter? They killed a man! It doesn’t matter if they were drunk, stoned, sober or if the other guy started it, the fact is a man is dead and they did it. They could have stopped beating him to death at any time, which should have been easy since the man couldn’t have hit back.
Whatever the circumstances, if they have video of the boys doing it, they are guilty and should be sentenced harshly for their crime.
Does everyone think their community is safe or is everyone aware of the inherent dangers that surround them on a daily basis? I tend to think my community is safe, free from the dangers and violence that plague some places.
While on vacation this week my wife and I read the newspaper and saw one night there were three robberies, one that ended in the death of a 49 year old man. All three of these incidents happened within a couple of miles of our house. The perpetrators were all teenagers.
In the first case a 17-year-old girl was robbed by two teenage girls who kicked and beat her, but she escaped relatively unscathed. In The second robbery a 20-something man was robbed by the same two teenage girls, but this time they were accompanied by 10 teenage guys — this man also escaped without major injury.
Later that night, however, the third robbery victim also became a murder victim. The teenagers apparently not satisfied with simply robbing the man beat him to death as he exited a local pub. Police found him unconscious in the parking lot — he died the next day.
This is the type of stuff we read about happening all the time, but it’s not supposed to happen here. Our little corner of the world is growing up and I don’t think I like where we’re heading.
Because of the ridiculous laws, the teenagers cannot be named and will probably get no more than a slap on the wrist, leaving them free to do it all again.
I hate to see things like this happen, but I hate it more that we can’t do anything about it!
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