Me 

New Hair

I got it cut and my hairdresser always likes to straighten it, but I am still curly these days...

Carless - Diary of an Idealist # 4

Saturday, Sept 17 - Temper tantrum due to missing a bus cuz I didn't know it was my bus, carrying heavy bags from shopping, waiting half an hour for the next one, raining, late at night. Thoughts: this is the stupidest idea ever. I would have been home an hour ago if I'd had my car. ::: Plus, the bus makes me feel like vomiting.

Wednesday, Sept 21 - Kim takes a bus home from meeting a friend downtown, bus driver gives poor advice about which bus to catch, and then fails to stop at the stop I rang for, leaves me in a dark sketchy neighbourhood to walk all the way home with no other buses available. Kim has a massive temper tantrum due to the fact that she only TOOK the damn bus because there is a girl-murderer on the loose in Ottawa and she thought it would be more responsible to take the bus than to walk home. Plan foiled, temper explodes. Kent takes the brunt. Kim apologizes for yelling at him even while she is yelling at him, apologizes again afterwards and buys him a lavish present the next day.

Thursday, Sept 22 - Kim attends "The Economics of Greener Living" - a talk by an amazing environmental engineer who lives a very nice life - on low energy consumption. He has a 3500 sq foot home with all the usual toys of upper-middle-classhood (wide screen tv, dvd players, stereos, washerdryer, dishwasher, you know, the usual) plus a hot tub and other toys. He has engineered his home to be so energy efficient that were he drawing from the power grid (which he is not) his hydro bill for his entire house and barn with animals, would be around $20 per month. Fascinating. He showed how much more cost efficient and what an amazing return on investment it is to choose energy efficient options than regular ones - it was so interesting! Kim left feeling very inspired and self-righteous for not having a car.
(William Kemp - Smart Power: An Urban Guide to Renewable Energy and Efficiency)
http://www.fedpubs.com/subject/enviro/smart_power.htm

Monday, Sept 26 - First use of car-share VrtuCar. Fun! Cute little Toyota Echo, drives great, there when we need it! We all know that Kim is addicted to novelty and wonder when the novelty will wear off.

Wednesday, Sept 28 - Got groceries and fresh fruit. Feeling awfully good about not owning a car as George Bush issues a warning to Americans to stay home b/c cost of fuel too high. I saw it for $1.39/L at the closest gas station to me yesterday. Kim wears her "Cycling - 0 cents per litre" RodeThreads ( http://www.rodethreads.com ) jersey for the first time today, even though unfortunately her bikes are in pieces at the shop currently. Oh well, walking is 0 cents too.

Thursday, Sept 29 - Took the bus to work instead of walking due to rain. Some guy showed me the needle scars on his arm from cocaine supposedly. Told me that someone had offered him crack just a few minutes ago if he would lend him his bike... But he said no cuz he quit doing crack so long ago. Lots of learning at the bus stop today... Every day is an adventure! Just think what I was missing by driving my car.

Check out my old blog...

Check out my old blog - lots of photos, ride reports, and car-less diaries...

http://www.free-spirit.blog.ca

Click Here to read it...

Where's KD???

He's here:

http://www.interbike.com/ib/interbike/index.jsp

He's basking in InterBike 2005... in Las Vegas!! Pretty bikes, summer weather, pretty girls, and the city of lights - or is the city that never sleeps - ?... Lucky kid! I'm totally invited next year...

So, it's Kim and Coal batch'in it (as in bachelor-ing...) We're throwing wild parties and eating ice-cream for dinner (wait - that's what we always do! Minus the parties...) I had a hot date with Caitlin yesterday... we went to the Cannes Ad Festival at the Bytowne and then for fancy pretty drinks at the Chateau Laurier lounge... many a tuxedoed eyebrow raised as we walked in, Caitlin looking stunning with her lime green hoody and orange hair and me elegantly attired in my puffy MEC vest, pigtails, and hiking shoes, but we were on our best behaviour. Caitlin only danced on a table once and I hardly spit ANY sunflower seeds on the floor...

Shelagh Rogers in Ottawa - Kim is in love....

Shelagh Rogers speaking in Ottawa to Save the CBC!
http://www.shelagh.ca

Anthony Germaine, host of "The House" (smartest, funniest man ever besides Brent Bambury)

It was an evening of heaven for CBC fans (of whom I am the MOST devoted) as CBC personalities like Shelagh Rogers (Sounds LIke Canada), Anthony Germaine (The House and Ottawa Morning and I love him), and Luba Goy (Air Farce), and artists such as The Mighty Popo, Ember Swift, and Jennifer Noxon (OCISO!)spent the night on the stage in Ottawa in a rally to save the CBC.

CPA Wheelchair Relay

What a fun way to spend a Saturday morning at the crack of dawn! For the second year Team Phat Moose wheeled around the track to raise money for the Canadian Paraplegic Association who supports people with spinal cord injuries. http://www.cpaont.org

Our mountain biking community entered something like six or seven teams (25 percent of all the teams there!) and raised money for this great cause.

Team Capital Freeride ( http://www.capitalfreeride.com ) won the whole shebang on the B-Side! Yay!

My shoulders still hurt.

Here are some of the pictures!

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kdmacken/album?.dir=/3033&.src=ph

My Response to a Widely Circulated Email Forward

Dear Mr. Editorializer;

My goodness this “editorial” is full of food for thought. I am so delighted to hear you views, sir, they really made me think! Thank goodness the ‘right to leave’ exists! That way you can still escape this witches brew, this tempest of multiculturalism before it is too late!

I liked the beginning – it really made me think about our predicament! If it only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch, then us white Canadian-born people were spoiled long ago, and continue to be spoiled every single day. Too bad for us.

With Canada’s natural-born population growth rate of 0.39 percent (StatsCan announced today in the Globe and Mail), I wonder who you think is going to pay your pension and healthcare, I wonder who will drive any economic growth in Canada without immigrants. Our growth rate is nearing negative, and in only five years (2011) the Conference Board of Canada reports that immigrants will fuel ALL economic growth, since Canadian-born people are not producing enough population growth to sustain economic growth (translation - Recession). Immigrants will also be the ones whose taxes will keep those CPP cheques coming to you when you retire, since again, we are not having enough kids to pay for it, and the taxes paid by ALL honest hard-working people, including those not born here, will be what pays for your medicare and your pension, sir. But I’m sure you have a plan.

I wonder, what changes and adaptations have you really been asked to make? Besides not saying Merry Christmas, that is. I am sure that has been QUITE an adjustment for you!! Have there really been any? I can't think of any. And by the way, I would bet a year's pay that NO ONE who does not celebrate Christmas would ever be offended if you wished them a Merry Christmas. In fact, they will most likely wish you one first!!! or wish you a merry christmas right back when you wish them one. And they won't even find you that rude when you don't wish them a Happy Hannukah, Happy Eid, or Happy Diwali during their celebration times.

And another thing that made me think. You talk about how Canada speaks English and French - not Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Are you bragging about this? Immigrants most likely will NEVER look down on you for only speaking one language, even though Canada and the US are extremely “unique” (to put it politely) in the world in the fact that many of our citizens (myself included) speak only one language. No, they will probably instead do their very best to learn your language, and even work to speak it with no accent so that YOU will not look down on THEM (even though English may be their second, third, or even fourth language!) And while the rest of the world (especially Europeans, as you will know if you travel) laugh at us for speaking only English (and French – except for those of us who wonder why in hell we should have to learn French when they only speak it in one province!!!), immigrants to Canada will likely never make you feel bad for it – they will most likely apologize for not speaking English as well as they would like to.

Oh wait, I thought of a change that some people are bold enough to ask for - they think it would be nice if we taught our kids about important people who made great contributions in the world who weren't/aren't white. I don't think this is too much to ask if we want our kids to be properly educated and not look like fools to the rest of the world, unless you think that anyone who has ever done anything important has been white.

I wonder - in what ways have you, personally, Mr. Editorial man, bent over backwards to not offend someone? Was it when you had to stop using the 'N' word? Was it when you had to stop calling them r@%heads and ch%@ks? Yes, I can see how that must have really caused you hardship. I wonder how much energy you have actually spent, as you say, worrying about offending people. That would suggest that you have a modicum of humanity, which you have failed to portray in this fascinating editorial.

It's funny to think that immigrants are not adapting. Anyone who has left their country of birth and moved to Canada has probably done more adapting in their first week in Canada than anyone who has never moved away from their country of birth will ever do in their entire lifetime. They adapt, all right! If you packed up your family and moved to Bombay, India, how long do you think it would be before you stopped speaking English altogether and spoke only Hindi? Even to your children? How long would it be before when you saw another white person at your kids' school you would not go over and talk to them or befriend them and reminisce about Canada and talk about the funny things that Indian people do and how difficult it is to adjust sometimes? How long do you think it would take you to figure out how their "system" works and to understand it? How long do you think it would be before you stopped celebrating Christmas and only celebrated Diwali with your fellow Indians? How long do you think it would be before you stopped cooking steak, potatoes, tuna casserole, and turkey, mashed potatoes, and dressing, and only served Butter Chicken Masala and Fish Korma with Naan, or Mutton Biryani and Dosas? How long until you stopped craving Kraft Dinner or apple pie, or stopped seeking out grocery stores that sold the peanut butter that you grew up with? How long before you would see a Canadian restaurant and you would pass it by, because you have fully adapted to life in India and are a true Indian now. How long until you called yourself an Indian?? How long until you got a tear in your eye when the Indian national anthem played? I wonder if any of us would adapt to our new countries as quickly, graciously, and as fully as most immigrants do.

I must have missed the debate when the politically correct crowd, of which I am one, complained that Canadian patriotism was offending anyone. My friends who chose Canada as their home are just as patriotic, if not more so, than me. They feel that Canada is a great country. Do you get a tear in your eye every time the national anthem is played? Do you know all the words? Do you sing it aloud each time it’s played, or do you shuffle and mumble, and wait patiently for it to finish? Do you get a tear in your eye when you watch the Mounties’ musical ride? My boss does. He was born somewhere else.

You ask when “they” will do something about your rights. I was actually unaware that my rights and privileges as the white majority in Canada were threatened. I still turn on the news and see that almost all of the leaders who are making decisions about me and for me, whether it’s the CEO of a corporation, or politicians, the Prime Minister, the Premier, and cabinet ministers, etc look just like me (white), and were brought up in the same religion as me (Christian). Most of the teachers, and definitely the principal, at my kids’ school also look like me and were brought up like me. When I go to buy a greeting card, the person on the front has the same skin color as me. I can bet that my greeting cards for my Christian holidays and celebrations will be plentiful and easy to find. When I walk into a room, I can bet that most of the time I will not be in the minority in skin color or religion. If you are feeling oppressed, if you are feeling that your rights are being stepped on, maybe you could form some sort of white people’s support group – there are so many of us, everywhere we look! I bet that you will find someone who needs to talk about our horrific white oppression, the way that you need to.

And another thing – about terrorism! Ever since that Oklahoma City bombing and Timothy McVeigh, I just can’t trust Christian white men. Every time I see one, I cross the street or get off that bus! I’m sure there are plenty of nice, respectable, hardworking Christian white men here, but you just can never be sure! Why risk it, that’s how I feel. Nothing against white Christian men, I’m sure most of them are lovely and harmless, but I need to protect my kids. I always look at them and see if they look suspicious. And the praying! Why do they have to all get together in those little buildings on Sundays – what do they talk about in there? They could be planning the next Oklahoma city bombing, or IRA attack! Their preachers talk about how Christianity is the way and others are going to hell! The nerve. You just don’t know what they’re going to do next. And besides, white men beat their wives. Don’t you know that almost all of the women in domestic violence shelters are white?!?! What does that tell you! White men are dangerous. What about that white guy who killed that nice couple in New Brunswick last summer, and then just walked across the border into the US without even being stopped! My goodness – we need to crack down on those borders, and limit the movement of white men across it. Our security depends on it.

Oh, another thing that you really made me think about is the fact that our entire society still functions around the Christian calendar (as you mentioned, winter break still comes at Christmas time!) That should serve to ease your fears, not inflame them. Lucky for you, you still don’t have to take time off of work and use your vacation or sick days to celebrate the most important religious day of your year as many Canadians (born here even!) do. You are given your dates for free! Lucky you. Even still, I bet my lunch money that no one has ever complained to you about you getting the days off for free.

I also found it so thought-provoking that you say you don’t care how “they” did things in their country. Well, in that case you will miss out on political wisdom, economic wisdom, scientific wisdom, literary wisdom, medical wisdom, etc, etc. Although you could be right – maybe Canada does have ALL the answers to absolutely everything! I am sure you have never learned from another culture or country in your life either. You have never eaten pizza, spaghetti, chicken fried rice or ginger beef, you’ve never tried pita bread, tacos, enchiladas, schwarma, donair, chicken wraps, curry, cabbage rolls, peroghis, Greek salad, even rice! I could go on. I am sure that you have never benefited from the way “they” do things, for example democracy or capitalism, new medical techniques and discoveries, computer technology, manufacturing processes. You obviously have never worn clothing made outside of Canada, never driven a more reliable and long-lasting foreign vehicle, you obviously have never benefited or cared about how “they” extract the oil in the Middle East that powers your life. I am not sure who is going to provide the labour for your factories or the doctors for your towns, as you are not reproducing quickly enough to avert disastrous labour and skills shortages here in Canada. But I am sure that you will not want to know what skills “they” have when you are looking for a doctor to treat you in your old age, and I am sure that you will not want to know how “they” do things since we have moved most of our manufacturing and production out of North America. That is a good policy and I am sure you will be all the richer and smarter and healthier for it.

Your comments about God in the schools were very interesting. Unfortunately, the movement to remove God from the curriculum and our schools does not come from the immigrant community, it comes from Canadian-born thinkers. This movement has been in place for years. Why, the last time I said the Lord’s Prayer in school was Grade One – 1981, nearly 25 years ago. At that time, Canada had far fewer non-white people than they do today. I wonder how many of this editorialists children and grandchildren attend church on a regular basis, or at all. This trend has nothing to do with immigrants. In fact, there has recently been a rise in the number of Muslim families who are putting their children in Catholic schools because they like the religious values aspect of the religious school. Now that’s adapting! But don’t worry sir, the Catholic schools are not “watering down” their curriculum to accommodate non-Catholic children. God is part of the culture of many immigrant families as well – I would even venture to say that there are more religious immigrants than religious Canadian-born people these days. However most immigrants are not pushing their religions on you, the way you seem to be suggesting that we push yours on them. I for one feel that my children will be richer, smarter, more compassionate, and better people if I encourage them to learn about many religions, besides their own. If you go to a good public school in my city sometime in December or late November, you will likely see second graders making and eating potato latkes for Hanukkah, coloring pictures of lanterns for Eid, decorating their classrooms with lights for Diwali, and singing Christmas carols and reading Christmas stories. My seven year old ‘nephew’ can tell you all about Eid, Hanukkah, Diwali, Chinese New Year, Kwanzaa, and Christmas – how they are celebrated, why they are important. This is good education. I can send him over if you like. Oh, and by the way, he is Muslim himself. He made me the most beautiful Christmas card with paint and crayons. I felt terrible that I hadn’t thought to wish him a happy Eid or Ramadan when he was celebrating a few weeks earlier. (I still have his Valentine card on my wall too.) He seems like a much more enlightened, adapted, and educated human being to me than you do.

Also, if you go to the Christmas tree in the foyer of a high school here, you will see kids of all colors and faiths, some wearing head scarves, some wearing yamikas, some wearing crosses on gold chains around their necks, and others to whom Christmas means only Santa Claus, all decorating the Christmas tree together. To me, this is a true manifestation of God – harmony, understanding, learning from each other, getting along, living in peace – sounds like Christian values to me. I truly hope that my children are part of this lovely Canada – not your white, homogeneous, narrow-minded, exclusionary Canada. Again, this is the culture I am proud of and want to keep – not yours. I feel sorry for you sir, for all that you are missing out on. My life sounds like much more fun than yours.

Sincerely,
A. Big Complainer

Ambitions

Ambitions

by kdmacken @ 2005-09-22 - 05:57:02

Last night I dreamed that I cooked Cheerios from scratch.

and I dreamed that Cheerios are SOOOO healthy, that I was planning to eat them every single day for the rest of my life.

Ride Report - Sunday, September 18th, 2005

I haven't done a ride report for awhile. Last weekend I didn't ride cuz I was sick with a kidney infection. Feeling better now. The weekend before that was uneventful (thank goodness!)

This week - NOT uneventful. NOT painless. Damn.

Ok, so this was ride 16 of the 18 necessary to be allowed (by Kent) to get a full suspension (ie. front and back) bike. The deal was that I had to ride 18 times on a hard tail (suspension only in the front, not in the back) to get my skills up and prove my committment to downhilling before I was allowed to get a full squish. So, only 2 more to go. Since we'll be away Thanksgiving and I'll be away the weeknd before, I will probably JUST make exactly 18 rides this season before the lifts close. If I don't get them in, I know Caitlin and Sheila will HIKE up the hill with me to finish the required #. (love them girls...)

OK so. Today Kent and most everyone else was in Montreal for the bike show, so Sheila and I went together, and ShaneMac and Geordie rode with us too! Yay. They're fun.

Pain Factor - 9
Pains:
- Stomach/pelvis/ovaries - swollen, giant lump, scrapes, and incredibly sore to touch, or move. Similar to 3 weeks ago injury, only worse. Really.
- Goose egg on left forearm and armour tattooed into skin. and bruise and small scrape.
- HUGEMONGOUS scrape/cuts on right quadricep where either the death pedal or a death rock got me. The whole area (size of a dollar bill) is raised and puffy and swollen and is already starting to form a doozy of a bruise. Sexy. I'm told my Miss America career is over, cuz I can't win the swimsuit contest. Damn - I've been preparing my whole life for that!!!!!
- Lump and bruise on right shin.
- Miscellaneous bruises still popping up randomly

GOOD NEWS: I did Rock and/or Roll (formerly known as Joe Job)!!!!!! for the first time ever! I did it on Caitlin's Balfa. So happy!!!!!

(it is a steepish rock run/chute on the race course.)

The good news is that I did it the first time I tried it. The bad news is that on the second time I crashed. Spectacularly. But allahumdill'allah, I didn't get hurt. I just ended up upside down, head pointing down the run, with my pants snagged on a tree, effectively hanging me there stuck upside down. It was funny. Until the velcro started coming undone on my shorts and I almost lost them. Still funny. So, since I knew I could do it, I did it again. And I crashed again. Even more spectacularly. Sheila said it was the worst one she's ever seen. I think I freaked them out. I was in great pain. I called down weakly that I was ok so they wouldn't be freaked out. (Just to reduce the suspense for my mother who is surely having a fit, I am fine. but oooowwwwwwww.) Sheila, Shane and Geordie ran up and staked the run to warn people that there was a rider down and pulled my bike off. I barely dragged my sorry self off to the side and curled up, couldn't move from the pain. I couldn't even open my eyes. Sooooo painful. Finally when the pain allowed me to breathe I said some very bad words and then I think they felt better. I know I did. It still hurt so much I couldn't even open my eyes, just kept them clenched closed and tried to breathe. Sheila took my helmet off me and gave me her glove to put my head on. She is SOOO sweet, I love her. Anyways, eventually I sat up, and they brought down my bike, helmet and other random bits and pieces. After a bit of testing, I was able to walk down and then roll the bike down the fire road. (Don't worry Caity, the bikes fine!!!) So I think what happened is that it was a bit slippery (wet) and I locked my brakes up from nerves. That didn't allow me to steer, and so it took the bike down a bad line, which made me panic and slam on the brakes even more, which drove my pelvis into my seat (I was way behind the seat to manage the steep - good technique) and sent me over the bars (bad technique). I was very lucky again - Sheila thought I landed on my head, but I didn't. I hit a tree that was wrapped in a huge foam mat and Shane and Sheila said the noise was sickening. So, I will not complain, becuase I'm just so grateful that I walked away.

I now have a huge lump about even with my hip bone. It's not really my stomach - more my ovaries. Yeah. Ow. Kind of a pelvis/ovaries smash. All the bones and the soft tissue. Oh well, good thing i have two ovaries... hope I didn't gross you out.

Don't worry though, I'm SO tough.

The other runs of the day (before that) were lots of fun. I did the obstacles on National (the roll-down, A-Frame, and rollercoaster)on Sheila's Pitbull (my bike's in the shop). Oh yeah!!! And I did my first "Stripper Dismount" today!! I was falling off a rock (the first one on Q-Cup), so I grabbed a tree and hung on while my bike fell down the cliff (again Caity, the bikes fine!) (called a stripper dismount because you grab the "pole" and slide down - though with much less finesse than a lady of the night )

Oh yeah!!! There was more eventfulness. The leafers are out now (people who ride the chairlift to look at the fall colors). A lady fell off the chairlift today and had to be back-boarded off the hill and taken away by ambulance! Very sad. I hope she's OK. SOOOOO, you never know - if you're thinking that it's crazy for me to be riding, think about that. Injuries can happen anywhere anytime. And that lady, doing something seemingly benign, is in much worse shape than me tonight. Might as well live my life and do what I love. And count my blessings every single day.

Bruise - well deserved