Strange News Stories

Listening to the 7:00 news. Barry Burns says that Canada is lagging
behind other nations when it comes to cellphone use, a fact which makes
me feel a lot better about the fact that I'm considering dropping my
cellphone entirely after my contract runs out. The wording of the report
almost suggests befuddlement over the fact that fewer Canadians have
cellphones than Americans. The answer is clear enough to anyone who has
had cause to compare the prices in the two countries: Canadian cellphone
plans suck compared to their US counterparts. It really is as simple as
that. Try to find a cellphone plan that offers nationwide calling and
nationwide roaming and charges you a monthly fee of less than hundreds
of dollars. I love this country, but the fact is that our cell providers
are shooting themselves in the foot at every turn.

A Word to the Wise

If you book Handi-Transit (pr ParaTransit, or Dial-A-Ride, or whatever
they call it for you) on a weekly basis for things such as work, and you
find yourself thinking, "I have until tomorrow to book, I'll do it
later", don't kid yourself. Do it now. Do it yesterday! Do it the day
before yesterday, just don't wait until the last minute, especially if
there exists the danger of sleeping through that last minute. It was
that kind of thinking that necessitated a $20 cab trip thir morning.
I've heard of some people who can phone their employer and say, "I'm
having trnasportation problems today, so I can't make it into work," and
their employer will say, "Okay, I understqand, we'll see you tomorrow."
I don't have such an employer, I've never had such an employer, I don't
envision a day when I ever will have such an employer. Now please,
someone, write me a message or send me a comment that will just
completely make my day!

A Challenge

I think that encouragement is something that most of us could use more
of. When I think of this, I think of the golden rule: Do unto others as
you would have them do unto you. I want to be encouraged? Fine. Can I
control that? No. Are there others out there who want to be encouraged?
Of course. Can I control whether or not I encourage them? Sure I can.

So I challenge everyone who reads this to pick someone, anyone, whom
they don't normally compliment or encourage. Better yet, everyone, take
two people. Write to them, or pick up the phone, and just tell these two
people how they're making a positive difference. Give these two people
the sort of message that you yourself would like to get. This isn't a
chain, I didn't get this from anyone. There's no bad luck promised for
anyone who doesn't do it, there's no good luck promised for anyone who
does; you're not somehow a worse person if you choose not to, none of
that crap, I just think it would be cool if we found a couple of people
to encourage and just did so. I'll be doing it, I hope you all do as
well.