V: Value

 
V: Value
Does human life have value anymore? After my recent travels and also watching news about  the  the phone hacking  scandal; I think not.

 What else can I say about air travel that hasn't already been said? Does anyone remember the comic Alan King? He had an entire routine about how awful air travel is and things have only gotten worse. You have to practically be an Olympic athlete to survive it.

I know we need airport security, but those body scanners are dehumanizing. Doesn't seem to matter how much security we have when any bozo can hack your cell phone and even delete your messages.

Enough said about all that, because it's too depressing to think that we no longer have any privacy or any dignity.

On a lighter note: I'm plugging a website for my friend Sourav,  who lives in Mumbai. It's called Skyward Future Artists. If you like art you will enjoy this site.


We are having a crazy heatwave, 38C out there. For the last three days I haven't been any further than my garden and even then only for a few minutes. I can't handle this oppressive weather. Yeah, last week I was visiting friends who live in the dessert and it was incredibly hot; but they live the typical American lifestyle.  The go  from the air conditioned house, to the car, and then to the cool indoor destination, with only short periods outside,so I was fine. Back home it's a different story. I don't have a car, I detest cabs, and public transportation in my city really sucks. I'm staying in my nice cool house and am amazed how much better I feel with the air conditioning on. Haven't had a hot spell in weeks. It's lovely to feel almost normal.

Most of my vacation pictures didn't turn out . I'm waiting for my friends to send me a few shots.  Meanwhile, here's one of my favourite restaurants in Las Cruces, N.M., me at the pool cooling off, and some art.

 

U: UN

U:UN

And I don't mean the United Nations. No, I was looking up a word in the dictionary; the old school, book kind, when I came a cross the the entry for : un.  A very useful prefix, that can be used to change the meaning of so many words: unkind, undead, unbelievable, undeniable, unlike,unreal, etc. etc.

Perfect because I'm feeling very un.  First, the phone call from the neurologist's office, telling me they can't interpret the results of my thyroid biopsy, so they are referring me to an endocrinologist. That I don't get. Either the thing is malignant or benign. Has to come out, or be treat with drugs.  Another delay, another nuisance.

Then I got the bill for my share of the tree removal: $1045.!!! At first my neighbour and me were hopeful that that was the total for both of us, but Nope!!    AND does the neighbour who's tree caused all the damage give a hoot!! Nope. AND no point in putting in an insurance claim since I have a $500 deductible and they threaten to raise my rates if I do. Don't you just love insurance companies!

Canadians, this is the kind of crap we will have to go through with insurance companies if  we decide to go with private health care; so  think about it before you start ragging on about what a mess our system is. We have a pretty good system; even if the doctors can be real twits sometimes.They are just as big of twits in the U.S.


I've been reading some MS blogs, which I haven't done for awhile.  So many people having real challenges.
 So many people who believed the drugs would help, yet sadly they progress; just like me. Doesn't seem to matter what we do, MS keeps marching to it's own pace.

  My challenge right now is with my walking. I can still walk pretty good, but I've had to give up climbing the stairs at the harbour, and walking uphill yesterday,  was  really slow and difficult. My right leg is the one causing me problems, but the left one ain't so hot either. I guess that's because I'm compensating for the right leg, which stresses the left.  I can see that in the near future I may have to sell my house, because the stairs are getting hard to manage. 

The Canada Day weekend was pleasant. The first real summer weather and the first weekend for  air conditioning. I have a love/hate relationship with my air conditioner. I feel so much better when it is on but I hate the ever increasing expense of electricity.  For me the culprit in my MS struggles is the heat, so I really need this air and I hate that reality.

Here's a few photos  from this weekend. It was Scottish day at Dundurn Castle, and I just happened to be going by when the bag pipers were practicing. We were being sill at the garden and the ants were having a good time too. The Elvis is from my trip to the Falls last week. For $2.00 he will do a dance and give you a guitar necklace.

CCSVI Clinical Trials

 A break from my alphabet posts because of an important announcement. The Federal government is going ahead with funding for CCSVI clinical trials. Read about it here http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1016906--ottawa-to-fund-trials-of-controversial-ms-treatment?bn=1

Yay!!! It's a step in the right direction.

T: Trails

Another rainy day here.  Ever since the tree incident I'm nervous during a thunderstorm, as the tree that is now only half a tree, is very threatening. A city inspector is supposed to drop by to have a look at it and it will be cut down if it is deemed to be unsafe. I think it is and so does my neighbour. She has more to worry about than me since her house is tiny and has the most exposure to this half  tree. You would have to see it to realize what a huge thing it is and far too big for the tiny property it's on. If I don't hear anything by next week, I guess I'll have to start nagging my city Councillor

I'm waiting for the results of my  thyroid biopsy. I should know the good/bad news by the end of the week.

My legs are killing me and I'm walking very stiffly at times. Still I manage to get out on the trails walking. I'm a wreck afterwards but I don't care. I'm a wreck anyways, so may as well keep walking. If it means I spend the rest of the evening lying on the couch so be it.

The only other news is the federal government has introduced legislation to privatize the growing and sale of medical marijuana. Health Canada and regular folks like me will no longer be permitted to grow the stuff. I don't have a problem with that except once again; will the weed be of poor quality and expensive like the health Canada product is ?

There's no point in me even saying that marijuana should be legalized. Our prime minister has made it clear that no way will that ever happen while he is in office and he has a majority in parliament . An international panel has declared the war on drugs to be a total failure, and recommends marijuana be legalized, but do the politician listen ? No they and the enforcement community are stuck in  the 1950's ideology of " Reefer Madness".

For some reason a person has decided that the Sassafras trail, is the LSD trail, as you can see from the pictures below.Why anyone would get stoned and attempt to navigate this trail I think is very foolish. There are no lights, and if you veer off the trail even slightly there's tons of poison ivy. You could also easily fall down the embankment and end up in the harbour.  Otherwise it's very pretty and soul restoring to walk there.

S: Subculture

 On June 3rd I went to the "Treating Yourself Expo" in Toronto. Everything and anything, you need to know about medical marijuana. Not to long now until I get my license to legally smoke and grow my own weed. The only thing holding it up is the mail strike. In the meantime, if I get hassled I have a temporary card to legally smoke it, and the name of a good lawyer too. A young man in a wheelchair told me he was arrested even though he had his license on him. The charges were thrown out of court, but still he went through a year of stress. 

What an interesting show. The people at all the booths were so kind and had lots of useful information. The common theme  seemed to me to be about compassion, although it's amazing to see how companies are cashing in. All the things you need to start your own grow op, whether indoors or out; including a
self contained unit with lights, tables, fans, and security cameras starting at $80,000 and up, depending on how you want it customized.  They had a small unit for $1200 called the "Spinner" which holds about a dozen plants and only uses about $20 per month of electricity. If things go well, I'm considering buying one for myself. 

I tried this amazing marijuana pain relief cream. It wasn't for sale at the show but the had samples. I rubbed some on my neck which was so stiff and sore, I didn't think I would survive the trip on the bus to Toronto.
At first I thought it wasn't working; then after about half an hour Wow! It removed all the pain and stiffness.
I'll let you know the name of it as soon as I sort through all the information I picked up at the show and I have a ton of it.

Then I purchased a marijuana cookie; cranberry and white chocolate. During a break, I had a cup of tea and half of the cookie. Same thing as the cream; at first I didn't think it was doing anything and then Boom! Did I ever feel good and mellow. The cookies range in price from $8 to $10 each which is expensive, but you could easily break it up in pieces and still get a decent buzz.  What a nice relaxing trip home on the bus!!

So here we are with  this weed  subculture. It seems like everybody is doing it, yet the stuff is still illegal!

The only other news is that a tree fell on my house during a real nasty thunderstorm. The guys are outside right now cleaning up the mess.

R: Retirement

R:Retirement

Retirement is the big topic of conversation at work. Seems like every week another Baby Boomer says goodbye to the work place. I still need to decided whether to take early retirement or try and hang in there another 3 years. Seriously though, I don't think I can. I've had a serious decline in my health the past few months; the most recent thing being my legs, especially my right one. I can still walk good but I'm having some trouble going up and down stairs; going up is much worse. Ahhh! the only way I can cope is to take it one day at a time. The future is this scary place and I can't handle it.

Here's a few shots from another recent walk. Strange to find two street  memorials in the neighbourhood.  The cycle of life: creation, preservation, destruction.

 

Q: Questions

Q: Questions

OK  now I have some growths on my thyroid and am waiting for the biopsy results. So looks like it's going be another round of questions What? Why? What to do  about it? 

In the meantime I went to the Global Marijuana March, on May 7th in Toronto. Here's a few snaps of that day. You can see it's a large, diverse crowd. Will Weed be legalized in Canada?

No way, not with our current "We want to be just like America" Conservative government. People forget that the last few years we had a minority government; but now with a majority, the Conservatives will be able to push their much loved hobby horses: Increase in military spending, mandatory sentences for drug possession, free hand for big business to do as they please, dismantling of the healthcare system etc. etc.  Think it won't happen? Just give them a few months to settle in and then you'll see.  

Not that it matters much, according to these guys.