Canada ---> What have you got to sell?

Though much of the emphasis of concern over the recession is pinned on the US, it is Canada that will be in a deep hole after this economic disaster. 

Remember a few months ago when the Canadian dollar was at par with US? Well, we had it going for us. Alberta's oil production was fueling our country, and Canada depended on itself to produce. Now there is a recession in the US. No one wants the oil in alberta. Gas prices are as much as a pack of trident. The cost to extract the oil from the sand in alberta is above the roof, and in no way are they profiting with the prices so low. It is amazing that in a few months we can go from a major oil exporter to a country that lacks major exports.

GO GREEN: What happens when the dependance for oil is gone? it's happening as we speak. Hybrid and electric will take over very soon. 

Let's throw away the oil sector of our economy. What does Canada have to export? Maple Syrup. Honestly though, it is very troublesome. Yes, there is Hydro Electricity, but that isn't enough.

We don't hear about how bad the economy is in Canada, frankly, it is not as bad as in the US right now. But with our government being a mess, and there being a lack of a major exported good, it's going to get shaky. 

Load the Maple Syrup onto the trains!

The Legitimacy of our Professional sports

We are finally being be treated to fair professional sports leagues (Except Baseball), where dynasties are built based upon superb management rather than money or location.

It's something that bugs me when i think about dynasties in the 70's and 80's...not so much in basketball or football, but very much so in Hockey and in Baseball. The salary cap was established in 1994 for football and in 1992 for basketball, so right there all teams could only spend up to a certain allocated price limit, so this was not so bad. The problem with baseball is infuriating though and it truly is ridiculous that the same problem remains today.

Baseball:
Besides the steroid issue in Baseball, which is absolutely embarrassing for a "professional" league, Baseball has very clearly lost most of its ground to the NFL in every way possible.The once true and dominant sport of America is overshadowed by the spectacle and the drama on Sunday's, and the massive audiences of the Superbowl. I was never a fan of the MLB, and from my perspective, i have no reason to ever be one. With no salary cap limit for any team, it is a given, year in and year out that the Yankees and redsox will lead the bid for the best free agents. Yes, there is generally a new World series champion every year, which isn't the problem, the problem is with teams like Washington, and Pittsburgh, who may very well never have a roster that matches that of an uper echelon team. This is not the case in leagues that are governed by the salary cap. And consequently, teams do not become great from great management, but rather how far they reech into their wallets. The New England Patriots drafted Tom Brady in the 6th Round in the draft, and brought in a mastermind of a coach in Bill Bellichik, the two of them at the helms of their dynasty. The Yankees on the other hand this off season brought in A.J Burnett because no other team was willing to pay him 13.5 million dollars a year. As a result of the utter stupidity of not having a salary cap, these baseball players are getting paid like they discovered a way to teleport. Baseball will never catch up to the NFL, but until the sport establishes a salary cap and therefore has a league which wins based on skill and management, I can never lay my eyes on it.

Hockey:
We can finally say today, that in Hockey the great teams are built based on acquisitions and great management based moves (aka. Detroit Red Wings).. There are still some major issues with the league today and they stem from major problems in the past. I love the Montreal Canadiens. They are my home team, and hands down my favorite hockey team. But when people ask, why cant we be the same as we were in the 70's, 80's? There's a somewhat simple answer. A statistic recorded in 1987 showed that 81.67% of the NHL were Canadian born players, 59% of those from Quebec. So not only is there a problem that this insignificant province in a fairly insignificant country that is Canada is dominating this professional Hockey league. The problem is that Montreal was the obvious team to play for. Yes there were great signings and draft moves by the Canadiens, but it was virtually a team of all star quebecers vs the rest of the league. Is it fair to have the Canadiens up there with the Celtics as the second most winningest team in the history of professional sports? I wont answer that, i just know that in a more respectable, even league, like the NHL is today, it's taken the Canadiens 16 years and counting since their last Stanley cup. And like the NBA and the NFL, it's the Management moves that make all the difference.

I'm gone

For one week I will be in a location where they have never heard of something called electricity. I'll be back next weekend, hopefully not as a caveman.

"Shotgun": The most overused word on the planet

I hear the word shotgun every single day. When i go to school, when i go to my friends house, ANYWHERE i go i hear the word, and i hate it. It summarizes the type of people many of us have become on this planet (including me). We shotgun things to make it easier on ourselves, sort of guaranteeing ourselves of something in most cases. We do this to avoid conflict and get what we want or like. The word shotgun is a direct result of how our society functions today. For instance, i will focus on technology; Isn't the reason for creating new technologies and gadgets to make our lives easier?

A couple months ago i was introduced to the future of remote controls. I was shown a remote that can turn on every god damn thing in your house. Could you imagine if you had to turn on the DVD player AND the TV! how ridiculous would that be! Or how about this? Remember when humans used to make fires with sticks and stones and they burned WOOD? We'll now all we have to do is flip a switch and we get the instant satisfaction of a nice warm cozy fire burning through tanks of gasoline. Oh wait, the new fire places don't have switches, that's too difficult, they come with 55 different remotes to scatter all over the house so that you never have to move an inch to enjoy you freshly burnt gas.

The fact is, it doesn't seem as though we were supposed to have all these gadgets and technologies that make our lives so easy, it just doesn't feel right. And i know that as long as we advance our technologies we will create things that will make our lives easier. By 2015, you wont ever have to get out of your chair at the office, they will all be hydrogen powered (Could Happen). So when i hear the word shotgun, i refer to all the laziness that we are. I avoid the word, although it does slip out sometimes, it's important that i consciously don't say it.

Because i despise the word, I am going to make a promise to myself, as a New Years resolution to not say the word shotgun for the entire year of 2009. If i say it then i am just breaking my own promise which sucks. BUT i will still use my universalized remote to turn on anything i want in my house, just because I've already fallen into the trap of laziness that is society and technology.