Just be you not someone else!

I have been taking the bus and metro system to go to work for a bit more than a week now. What I keep seeing daily are youngsters acting as if they were someone else. I live in Montreal so you will have many kids like that! Kids in my city especially white kids think they are black or Spanish...I mean what a lack of self-conscious. I can understand that we all have to find our way in this world to find out who we are, but acting like others is just plain dumb.

So i went to the gym today and yet again....bunch of kids acting like black people. The talking, movements and everything you can think of. I am not being racist here it is just the fact that it annoys the hell out of me! The number of times that I had to put up with those kinds of attitudes...too many to count and to remember for that matter.

Kids these days don't really know much about anything. All they think about is the next game that is coming out, sex and themselves. What has happened to the good values that we once were proud of? We need to teach our children values that will stick with them for all their lives. I know that my wife and I will have good family values that will reflect our way of live and thoughts about it. Just my two-cents of the day!

Get in shape now!

Hello everyone! I wanted to discuss exercise and how most people lack it in their daily lives. I recently started to go back to the gym because I had a back injury before. It was so very hard to start training again as I had lost all the strenght and endurance that I had before. I used to able to lift at least 30 pounds more than I can today. Well, it is all part of the process of getting fit and losing some of that fat that just is not supposed to be there.

Everyone should start doing daily exercise as people are getting incredibly fat! I just need to go outside of my house and there you go 10 fat people walk by. We live in a world of comfort food and not preparing any food at home for ourselves. Every single one of you that is reading this should get out of their chair and sign up at a gym! Not only will you get fit and lose that excess fat, you will also get to meet new people every day that. It will give you a chance to socialize with others instead of doing it by the internet. Have to get in better shape for my wife, he he.

There getting audacious now!

Hello everyone! I haven't been posting for several days now...I have been busy starting a new job and I want to make a good impression since these are my first few days on the job. I guess everyone has seen what has been happening recently in Mumbai. I just can't believe how audacious terrorists are getting now! They are reporting that 125 people were killed with the bomb blast and I am assuming that it also counted the people they shot in the Taj hotel as well. As I write this, commando units have "engaged" the perimeter. Actually the stand off is over now as they went in last night to rescue anyone trapped inside. They did have stiff resistance from the gunmen but were eventually subdued by well trained Indian commando units. The terrorists planned this for a long time and was thought out because they had specific places where they entranched in. They were and everyone knows that they were targeting foreigners; especially those with American or British passports. There was also an incident during night time when CNN's Sara Sidner was shoved with her camera who was even tipped over!

Things are getting crazy around the world...for the past two weeks they were also talking about Somalian pirates stealing an Oil tanker destined for the U.S. I find it incredible that we have modern pirates in our seas! It doesn't really concern me what happens around that country because their governments are so corrupt that it's almost encouraged to screw over anyone that you can to get ahead. What does worry me is that my father in law is working in South Africa on a boat. He is an engineer and really good man to be around with. I know that he is careful and would not jeopardize his life because his family comes first.

The world is getting crazy isn't it?

Grey Cup fever baby!!

GREY CUP THIS SUNDAY!!!! I have tickets and they are real good seats as well. I am yet still to decide who I will invite to the game this Sunday because I don't know that many people who like Football at all actually.

It will be the Montreal Alouettes against Calgary's home team Stampeders. Over the years, the Alouettes have been working hard to regain the Grey cup for its home team. In 2002, they won the cup and Montreal went into a fury of happiness. I also remember that there was lots of trouble from our fans and the opposing teams outside the stadium. There was somewhat a riot outside...I know that it does not make much sense to have a riot over a sport, but what can you do about that when people are too happy or have no common sense.

I hope that this year will be a different scenario from our fans and I hope that our home team will win the Grey cup as they have been working hard to be there this Sunday.

Did you know that Canadian football teams are not payed as well as our southern neighbours! I remember that some of the Alouettes players came to my high school...some 10 years. A student asked how much they were paid and they told us not much. Actually, they make about $45000-50000 per year. Now if you compare that to an American team...were talking about at least a 2 million dollar difference for each player. I know for a fact that they play more for the love of the sport than for money. I guess some players are hoping to get foot into the NFL, but that is just helpful wishing and a dream.

Lets see who will win: the Alouettes or the Stampeders!

China / Taiwan -- Language

After being to China and Taiwan, I just wanted to elaborate how different both countries are. I will do some comparisons with their languages (dialects) as I know that most people cannot tell the difference between a Chinese and a Taiwanese person. You guys have no idea how many times I heard people say, "are you Chinese?" to someone and they would blur back "I am not Chinese I am Taiwanese"...or vice versa!

China uses Mandarin as their national language throughout their country. However, it is not the only dialect that they have! There are over 46 dialects of Chinese on the mainland and this obviously creates many situations where they don't even understand each other. This is the main reason why the communist government implemented Mandarin as their common language. This dialect is much simpler than it's old counter-part traditional Chinese. Even so, the many instances of confusion, misunderstanding, common verbal words are all messed up the more west you go in China. If we compare it to Taiwan, there are not many dialects. They do speak Mandarin but they use traditional characters in every day use. If you compare a traditional character with a simple one you can see the beauty of the traditional way of writing compared to the new. Well, they also Taiwanese, Hakka among other tribal dialects more from the northern part of Taiwan. The big difference in this case is that most Taiwanese understand each other in every way! Taiwanese and the other dialects have huge similarities that make it that much easier to understand. I studied Mandarin at my university and it is very hard to learn. However, I understood quite quickly that Mandarin is much simpler to learn in writing compared to the traditional way; unless you were born in Taiwan or the most southern parts of China.

How they speak to others is huge in my opinion. I can always clearly remember that Taiwanese or the people from there spoke very well and with clarity. I would always have a hard time understanding my Chinese teacher at school as his speech was too deep and used the throat much too often to express so many words. I should add that in China many of their words if you write in pinyin (common language) would end with "er". I cannot stress how annoying it was to hear it because it made it that much harder to understand the person. A friend of mine that was in my class was Taiwanese and when she spoke, it was crystal clear!

I'll try to write more but I am quite busy lately!

Affordable shopping

As the years pass by, our Christmas shopping list seems to be getting more and more expensive. If you want to save a lot of money and still enjoy buying those gifts for your loved ones then Kmart 25,000 quality gifts under $25 would be great for you. There is a wide array of goods that everyone would like to have even if they are at lower prices. I have growing cousins that would benefit from some new cloths that I would get such as a Basic Edition Boy's fleece Lined Full Zip sweater for those cold winters priced at $17.49. I know that my friend would benefit greatly from an Eventflo Position and Lock Plus Gate for only $24.99. His baby is always running around and planning for something to break. I know that wife loves to take a relaxing bubble bath at night to ease the stress of daily life away. I would absolutely buy her something for her to relax every night before bed time. The Body Image Sweet Luxury Slipper Gift would be a thoughtful gift and it's inexpensive also at $12.99. At price I'll be able to buy her something like a Soho Dual handle Cosmetic Travel Bag for $11.99. There are so many things that I could buy for everyone else and I can still stick to my budget, which is what everyone would like to do sometimes. Remember a lower price doesn't mean lower quality because the gifts you bought are from the heart!

Friday's interview

This past Friday, I had an interview for The insurance for the National Bank of Canada. There was no doubt in my mind that I was excited about this interview. I currently work for Metro and the only thing that I do is assemble boxes unto a pallet. You can imagine how boring that can be when I am an educated man with a university degree. However, in life you have to work to make money so I do what I have to do to get it.

So I went to the interview well dressed as one should be when meeting the people that want to potentially hire you! I am sick right now and I was still sick Friday as well. So you can imagine how bad I looked with puffy eyes, runny nose and coughing. I am a man so as women know, we are the biggest babies ever when we are sick. I arrived there 15 minutes before my interview started. I always arrive early as it gives me time to compose myself and to think of the questions they could ask me.

Time passed by and the woman that I was meeting came to get me. We introduced each other and I told her I was sick. She said, "Oh my goodness I don't want that. I have enough at home with my son and husband." We both laughed because the way she said it was utterly ridiculous. We went to the working area and I had to fill out some papers to declare I am not a criminal and I have no outstanding debts. These are precautionary measures usually made by big companies to insure they are not related to any crimes!

Afterwords, I went to the interviewing office where there was another man waiting. He was there to take extra notes as she was asking the questions. If it were only her, we would have been there for several hours. So she asked many questions relating to my working experience and then came the part that I do not like at all. Situational questions that you have to answer as best as possible. I felt confidant that day as I knew this job was for me and I wanted it. However, I never gave a hint of over-confidence because employers do not like that. The situation was if I had a store selling cellphones. A customer would come in (the guy would be the customer) and I would try to sell him a cellphone and whatever I could spare. I had to either sell a $19.99 or $79.99 phone. So asked my questions to see what kind of customer he was. He wanted something in case of emergencies. I tried to sell the $19.99 phone as it was affordable and could be used in emergencies. I made some things I went on but he wanted more. I offered him a second phone for $12.99 if he bought a blue tooth earpiece at $9.99. An instant sale and the interviewers were very satisfied of my way of selling the phones.

They asked me if I had some questions about the job and I did. I asked away and they answered. I hope they call me this Tuesday or Thursday as she said for an answer. I will cross my fingers and I hope you guys cross them too!