Chris’ Blog

After years of toil, I have beaten my father-in-law at Trivial Pursuit. It’s true that he was tired from a large turkey dinner and I was hopped up on caffeine and sugar, but that should not take away from my moment of triumph. Although I am strong on the science and history questions, he outperforms at sports and pop culture. He knows things about the National Energy Program and who the flautist is for Jethro Tull.

A milestone in the life of Chris.

I like that word, flautist.

This weekend, the service at our church was about poverty. It was very powerful and got me to re-examine what I do and think about poverty. Christine and I expect to make some changes in the new year. I find it very easy to forget about the six billion or so people that have a lower quality of life than I do and to resist an attitude of entitlement that I believe is prevalent in our society.

Although I found none of the statistics presented surprising (I’m not sure what is worse: knowing the statistics and doing nothing or being ignorant of what is going on in our world) I did find out that there is an online petition at http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/ asking for the government to increase efforts to meet the United Nations Millennium Declaration to spare no effort to eliminate extreme poverty in the world. It’s somewhat more of a guest book than a formal petition, but I signed it anyway.

Yesterday, Christine and I attended a craft fair. There was supposed to be a guy who makes amplifiers (guitar?) out of old household appliances: toasters, coffee makers, televisions, etc.. Needless to say I was pretty excited to go; I planned on buying at least ten different amplifiers. It turned out that he pulled out of the fair at the last minute, so it was mostly a bust.

After browsing umpteen tables of jewellery made out of buttons, printed circuit boards, and old clothes I was relieved to come to a table with some guy determined to solve the issue of the day. I asked him what he was all about and he said that he wanted to see proportional representation introduced for Alberta. He was about to start up into his speech, but before he could say anything more I asked him if he had a petition. He looked a little disappointed (no one else was talking to him) but said that he did, so I signed it and told him good luck.

Christine came by and signed also, again only allowing him a few words and picked up a brochure. I don’t pick up brochures. It has a website for those who are interested: http://www.fairvote.ca. Although the website has no information about the Alberta petition. I wonder if he brought the wrong brochures?

by Michael Adams

This book was a Christmas gift from my wife as a book I would like to read. It turns out she was right. In “Fire and Ice” Michael Adams compares values held within and between Canadians and Americans and maps out where those values are headed.

See my full review here.

★★★★☆