More election stuff

Well, I tried to find out stuff about the candidates online....

First, the Counselor Candidates...

Trudy Turner's site, http://www.trudyturner.ca/ shows that she's definitely aware of what's going on in the ward. If you click on the issues link, you will see a list of issues. This isn't something she came up with on her own - most of these were in the Neighbourhoods Alive! document for St. Matthews and (darn, I've forgotten the other neighbourhood - sorry!). Of course Trudy was involved in the creation of that document, so it's not surprising to see similarities...

Don Salter has an interesting site - http://www.donsalter.com/ I found the chat area the most interesting - Don, you are much more articulate on a blog than in a debate (remember John A Steen?) Heed your wife, man - NO JOKES.

Harvey Smith (incumbant) has a site - http://www.harveysmith.com/index.htm - that had a lot of great links - except that there is no mention of the election at all. It's like it's business as usual and he expects to win. I emailed Harvey about this, as i wanted to compare his answers at the debate at John A Steen to what was in his platform. The answer came from his campaign manager:

Hi,
Sorry that we are not totally up to date in the technology department but
we have been more old school in the campaign and prefer the face to face kind of
canvass. Nevertheless, if there are any questions that you may have we would be
glad to answer them.
Harry Paine
Campaign Manager

Needless to say, I wasn't impressed. I don't want to email my questions to anybody - I want to compare platforms.

Now to school trustees...

The only website I can find for anyone is Cindy Gilroy-Price. http://www.cindygilroy-price.ca/ She impressed me at the debate I went to last week. Her site has only a few links though.

There are mentions of each of the other candidates - I can find them at work and in various other groups, but no mention of thier platforms. Unless you go and talk to them, you have NO idea what they stand for.

I toyed with posting my notes from the two forums I went to... maybe I will...

Coughing.. And coughing... And coughing...

and coughing.

I caught something last week that has just ravaged my throat. Today I can't sing, so I listened to the words of the songs and sang them in my head at church today. I find that refreshing in church, actually. Makes me THINK about the words of the songs, instead of just singing the words out in harmony, which can sometimes happen. (that's another post entirely.)

No fever or sinus problems - just a really sore throat and a headache for the Advil to take care of. I'm not going to work tomorrow - can you imagine a worse thing for a music teacher to have than a sore throat? I wouldn't make it through the day.

TTYL

Chris.

Election forums

Went to two election forums this past week - one for Councilor of Daniel McKintyre, and the other for the School Division ward (WSD1 Ward 2 - my employer!)

The first was really well attended. The community centre was packed out, which gave the room a great buzz. The reason was that Red River College had made the forum a required assignment for thier journalism students, and the students were all there to listen to the candidates, but also to get interviews from the residents who attended the forum. I got interviewed three times, and I turned 2 people down because I really didn't want to do a lot of talking about something that I was there to listen to. How do you express an opinion about three people whom you have never heard talk before?

Actually, I shouldn't say that - I had heard Harvey and Trudy at the Neighbourhoods Alive! meeting the previous week. Didn't get much of the chance to talk to them about thier election platform, though. Don Salter was a new person to me, and I didn't know much about him.

The students actually seemed to outnumber the residents - which was really too bad, as it meant not a lot of people were interested. There were some really good questions - maybe once I get my notes organized, I can make some comments about what was said.

As to the school Division forum - it was a lot less people, had NO media coverage of any type (CBC was at the counselor forum), and was, in my mind, more interesting than the counselor forum. The smaller number of people was disappointing, but also meant that a lot of our questions got answered. The format was better - the questions were vetted by the moderator, and read out by him.

Personally, I feel that the School Division race is going to be an interesting one, although a difficult one to follow. Since the forum, I've been watching the news for articles about the trustees positions - nothing. Another disappointment was that many candidates for trustee don't have an online presence - not even a blog to just chat into.

Maybe I just expect everyone to be online now. I know that's not the case, but it's easy to forget.

later.

Neighbourhoods Alive!

Well, I've had time to reflect on the meeting I went to last week Thursday about this initiative from the provincial government. The program has been extended to the area that I currently (and will in the future) live in. Nice to know that the province is considering putting some $$ into areas of the province that need some improvements. Makes you wonder where the city and feds are .....

The meeting was really informative - a powerpoint presentation that supported the talk (instead of distracting from it) and a chance to talk with and network with area residents and business owners. Of course, the biggest thing was Crime... Being in the West End has been an eyeopener for me as far as what people are like. The other items we talked about were physical environment, Parks and Recreation, Housing and Community Involvement.

The best part was watching different resident getting together, figuring out what we can do to make our neighbourhood a better place for everyone. With this being an election year for city and school trustees, it was even more important - two of the candidates for our city ward were at the meeting, and it was a chance to pick their brains too.

Well, gotta go - there's a forum tonight on the city election that I want to go to. More later.... maybe.

http://www.gov.mb.ca/ia/programs/neighbourhoods/

Link to the program site.

Bikers in Winnipeg

no not the motorized ones - at least not gas powered.

I cycle to work. Have for 3 years now, ever since I purchased a bike from a friend of mine. Over the past year, though, I have noticed a larger number of bikes on the road. More and more people, it seems, are choosing to cycle. Unfortunately, many of these new cyclists are not realizing that to cycle in the city for commuting purposes is NOT the same as riding in the park on a Sunday afternoon.

Some points to remember:
1. You are sharing the road with cars - ie. death traps. I've been hit by a car, and trust me, YOU WILL LOSE IF YOU TAKE ON A CAR! It doesn't matter if you have the right of way, or if you are crossing at a corner legally. ASSUME THEY DON'T SEE YOU!
2. You are a motorized vehicle, as far as the laws of the road are concerned. YES you have to stop at red lights and stop signs. YES, you have to signal! YES, you have to stay in your lane.
3. Helmets may clash with your fashion, but wear it anyways. I was wearing a helmet when I was hit by the car, and it was the only thing that saved my head. I wear one now all the time.
4. STAY OFF THE SIDEWALK! That's meant for pedestrians and cyclists who are on bikes of a certain size. If you are an adult, use the road!
5. YOU MUST RIDE ON THE RIGHT! Riding on the left hand side only puts you in danger of being hit by a car - see #1 above - YOU WILL LOSE!
6. If you decide to ignore these 5 simple points, don't get mad at the car that hit you because you decided to go on the sidewalk and go through a red light. Even pedestrians know better than to go in front of a car when they have a red hand facing them. What makes you think you can ignore the rules of the road?

Finally - If you decide to ride your bike, don't daydream, don't use you phone, and for God's sake don't listen to the radio. You need every sense you have to pay attention out there. You are counting on the cars making way for you - and you will be wrong.

Why am I writing this? Well, I saw a cyclist today go through a red light while on the sidewalk, and get bumped by a van. Who did he blame? the van's driver. Who was in the wrong?

In my books, the cyclist. Unfortunately, he didn't agree with me. I got a tongue lashing.

It got me thinking, though.

It's cyclists like that, who blatantly disregard the rules of the road, who put themselves at risk and then blame others, who are to blame for the drivers who give me the finger, who cut me off, and who bad-mouth cyclists when they see them.

If cyclists like him become the norm in Winnipeg, I'm not surprized at the bad press we will get.

prayer update

For those of you who do so....

Baby Sasha is undergoing various operations over the next while. Can't give details (don't know them all - but God does). Please add your prayers to our for her safety and for her parents.

Thanks.

Baby's here!

no, not for us.... my sister gave birth around 10:45pm Sept 24 - 4 pounds, 6 ounces, baby girl. Great job, sis.

Video about adoption.

Found this on another blogger's website - very interesting. Credit to "Brad the Dad". Thanks.

Reading Recovery

Well, I just finished my third official class in Reading Recovery today. What a lot of work! I'm really enjoying the class and the content - it's interesting to read the conclusions that Marie Clay has come to about how children acquire language. Being a music teacher, I am seeing a lot of parallels between her studies and studies I have read about how children acquire musical knowledge and skills.

Unfortunately, that's about all I can write about it - as there is quite a bit of copyright involved, and I might cross a "copyright line" if I put any of the connections or any of my thoughts, impressions or reactions to the content of the course in this blog. I was disappointed to find out today that I have to handwrite all of my Reading Recovery data - typing the forms into a word processor also crosses the "copyright line". I feel sorry for my instructor who has to try to read my chicken scratch!

Currently Reading

Currently in the middle of this book by Nasrin Alavi - It's a collection of blog entries from Iranians of the under 35 year olds - my generation and younger. It's wild to read how disillusioned they are with the revolution and what their attitudes are about the dress codes, as well as love, and life in general. The book also talks about the history of Iran. For example, did you know that Iran had the first democratic government in the Arab world in the 1950's? Too bad the CIA and the US government at the time took it down and put the Shah in power instead. The more I read this, the more I watch the current president of Iran, as he continues to say that Iran will develop nuclear energy, and think that he can't be speaking for the people who are quoted in this book.