Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Namaste ~ William

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The day has come ; get out & vote Canada !

Well it’s come again, voting season. Which way will you go ? Will you vote for a party or will you vote for your best local candidate ?
The amount of people getting out to the polls has been dissmal in the last two decades. People seem to think that their single vote really can’t make a difference or that the choices are all too similar or they just can’t find the time… Thankfully elections Canada has been hard at work trying to make it easier to vote. Check out the website : http://www.elections.ca/home.aspx
Social websites have also helped a lot in bringing politics to the masses. Communication is a wonderful thing ; spreading the word about what is important to you. Jobs, the environment, healthcare , etc…
For myself , I tend to look more at what the parties and elected officials have done so far. Spin doctors in advertising can make anyone look good ( well , almost anyone hehe right Liberals ? )
There are always lots of promises made during election time but seeing who actually follows through on things can make a difference on who you support.
In my particular riding (Edmonton/Spruce Grove) there are 4 parties to choose from :

the Conservatives

the NDP

the Green Party

the Liberals
There are a few more parties out there. For a full list with contact info and websites :
http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=ele&dir=41ge/can&document=index&lang=e
If you want to see what other people are thinking do a little research. There are blogs and comments a plenty all over the web, and YES , there are plenty of great reasons to get out there and voice your opinion. Please remember that democracy is a gift that comes with a responsibility.
Without participation it just falls apart and we might as well just follow some dictator blindly …
No thanks !

Party websites:

Conservative : http://www.conservative.ca/
NDP : http://www.ndp.ca/home#enter
Liberal : http://www.liberal.ca/
Green Party : http://greenparty.ca/

Election info :

http://www.elections.ca/home.aspx

Still need a good reason to vote ; check out these amazing tweets !

https://twitter.com/jenbanksyeg/status/64878973116612608

Winnipeg Vote Mob. http://bit.ly/l43J41 #elxn41 #cdnpoli #votemob

— Rick Mercer (@rickmercer) May 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/katiewest/status/64875989959847937

Best wishes and thanks for voting ; Namaste – william

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Great News 3 , Bad News 1 ; hey, We are winning today !

In the News :

Michael Buble dominates 2010 Juno Awards Congrats !  🙂

I really love his music and he is such a nice person. I am glad to see him reaping the rewards after all his hard work .

One of my favorite Chefs has started a food revolution throughout the world trying to get people to think before they eat and make intelligent and fun choices. Be sure to check out his website and sign the petition ! Your body and your kids will love you for it 🙂

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution

My fiancee and I have decided to sell one of our cars and purchase a pickup truck. I am looking at doing some extra work on the weekends and the truck would be extremely handy. (She gets to keep the comfy air conditioned car) If you are looking for a fantastic family car check it out :

Car for Sale

One of the very first things I ever posted on the internet was this poster below on to a site I had at Stumbleupon. Growing up in the Oil patch of Northern Alberta was unique in that EVERYONE was from somewhere else. Only One friend was actually born and raised there. My high school class had kids from all over the Country and Globe. The U.K , Australia, Kenya, Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, Holland, India, China , just to name a few , as well as every Province in Canada. I absolutely loved learning about different cultures and thought it was so cool to be living in a place with such variety.

This is why it breaks my heart when fundamentalist groups do stupid acts which in turn just feed hate and racism. It’s something that should have ended many years ago but humanity is far too stubborn i guess.

The parade in Surrey with a float promoting known terrorists will no doubt cause quite a stir and will put a strain on the Sikh community in Canada. Instead of having a wonderful festival promoting their culture and building friendships some people just continue to destroy the bridges built by years of hard work.

Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color. Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense, and choosing your friends by their color is unthinkable

Parade turned political  : you can read about the event here :

Controversial float and comments over safety of politicians tarnished public event

I am glad the good out weighed the bad today and I hope that people will continue to learn and more forward rather than live in fear and chaos.

Best wishes ; smile and hug someone today !

~  Namaste  ~  William

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H1N1 priority list ???

The news here in Alberta and all over Canada lately has been the H1N1 vaccinations and how everything has been so disorganized. Every day news stories are popping up and it’s become an embarrassment to the Canadian Government. This is a prime example :

http://tinyurl.com/yc4ojss from the Edmonton Journal

My favorite is when the hockey team Calgary Flames made headlines for skipping lineups for the flu shots while emergency personnel such as firefighters are still waiting ???

http://tinyurl.com/yc4ojss from the Calgary Herald

Alberta Health Services has put together an excellent resource concerning the H1N1 virus and what to look out for as well as what you can do to help prevent the spread of it :

http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/658.asp

It’s too bad things were so unorganized but hopefully this flu bug will pass quickly. Where I work one of our recent safety meetings involved the flu and what we should look out for as well as try to do to avoid it. With a few hundred people working on our job site the flu bug has been making it’s rounds for the last few months, luckily nothing too serious so far. I’ve been trying to give my son good advice and he’s been really good at keeping his hands washed all the time and trying to minimize the dangers.

Best wishes to everyone out there , stay safe and have a good Autumn ~ Namaste ~ william

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