What Are You Saving Your Money For?

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Dave From GP

two-hotdogs-grilling Funny story on the news the other day. Woman goes to a Walmart somewhere in Alberta. Buys lobster pate. Goes home and eats it. Gets sick. Looks at can to find the lobster expired a few months prior. Gets mad at Walmart. Goes to radio station. We get all up in arms about big corporations.

Here’s my problem with this story. What would possess a person to buy something like lobster at a place such as Walmart? In fact why does anyone buy any sort of food item at Walmart? One reason: It is cheap. Can you blame corporations for giving us what we want? Maybe instead of looking at the price we should be looking at the expiration labels!

Go to the Farmer’s Market and compare. A bag of carrots there costs twice as much as it does at Superstore. They are somewhat dirty, a little crooked, but boy do they taste good! The ones at Superstore are nice bright orange, clean, and straight enough to fit in a plastic bag. Make sure you peel them though.

Now I’m not saying that there is not a place for cheap food. Low income families of course need it. Maybe you are having a big party and feeding hundreds. However, I (like a majority of people I know) make a pretty good wage at the jobs we do in Grande Prairie. Our wages are very good in comparison to someone pouring coffee at Mcdonald’s. So why do so many of us line up in Costco on a Saturday trying to save a few bucks on steak propping up a big company from the US? Blackman’s butchers in Grande Prairie sells a pretty good steak. Maybe it costs a little more but most people when asked where they bought that steak will proudly declare: “Blackman’s” or “At the Farmer’s Market” as opposed to “Walmart, you know you can get 3 steaks for five dollars?” Really? Yeah, I can tell.

Ever notice how much time we spend looking for a good deal? Cheap TV’s, cheap cars, cheap houses….cheap food. Usually we are looking to save a few bucks on things so we have a little more to spare for the important things. All cheap things come with a price: jobs going offshore being one of the main ones. The disappearance of family farms being another example.

So the question is, if what we put in our mouths is not important enough for us to spend good money on, what the hell are we saving our money for?

Image from http://www.public-domain-image.com

24 Hour Survival Exercise

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Dave From GP

I decided to go out for a night using only the stuff I carry in my survival pack whenever I’m out and about hunting day hiking or with the Junior Forest Wardens. I decided to video it since that seems to be what everyone else does. Learned a few things along the way. I think it is important to not only be prepared but to give your gear a few field trials to see what works and what doesn’t.

In this case I learned that my shelter was not really built to purpose. Also tried out a few techniques.

I did a more detailed write up at my other blog as well.

All The Airports Are Indeed A Stage!

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Dave From GP

And we are merely players.

Watching CNN at lunch time and saw that because of the budget cuts in the States, the FAA was going to have to lay off a hundred and some odd air traffic controllers in small and medium airports across the US. It got me thinking that every time government wants to do something they like to hit airports first. When 9/11 happened the biggest change came with the security at airports. Millions of delayed passengers, long lineups, the TSA. Passport requirements. It was a big stage that governments around the world could showcase the appearance of doing something in front of a captive audience.

But why not? As I said, what better place to give an impression? If you want to fly you have to travel through an airport. Their hands are on your clothing, going through your bags. They check your documents and X-ray you. All the time you are herded through these mazes of retractable barriers. Now they can delay flights because there are less air traffic controllers and they can say it’s because of those pesky budget cuts they were forced into.

Airports have a general cloud of gloom over them. When I went to Dallas most of them looked like refugee camps with people huddled under jackets on the floor desperately trying to claim a spot near one of the few electrical outlets so they could keep their mobile devices charged. Air hostesses broke down and cried as they were hassled by ornery travelers. Smokers became outraged because they were denied the opportunity to escape the departure lounge to indulge their habit. (On a side note I really think airports should have smoking sections in them again. Is it really fair to deny a cigarette to an addict because delays in their flight have taken way longer than necessary? Keeps them happy and makes the rest of us not have to cringe uncomfortably as they take their nic fits.)

My recent trip to Whitehorse on the Greyhound was awesome in comparison! The driver was friendly. You can show up 5 minutes before the bus leaves the terminal. They don’t care if you get up and walk around the aisles even if they are driving through town. When the bus broke down they had another one to us in 2 hours. You could get off and on as you pleased as long as you weren’t late. You can buy a bottle of water at Superstore and take it with you.

Maybe I’ll stop travelling by air. That’ll show ‘em.

Shovel Your Sidewalk!

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Dave From GP

This morning the talking point on CBC’s Edmonton AM was about having to shovel your sidewalk. In most Canadian cities I believe that it is a homeowner’s / business owner’s responsibility to keep their sidewalks clear of snow and ice. Some people on the show thought that the city should do it for them. Others think that it is a personal responsibility. Regardless of the opinion the fact is that in Grande Prairie, Alberta there is a bylaw that states this is to be done.

We are trapped in a classic case of government paralysis. If you talk to the city they will tell you that the bylaw is there but they do not actively go out and seek out these “rogue home owners”. That leaves the onus on the citizen to report their neighbor for being in non-compliance. I am betting that many of us, in wanting to keep good relationships with our neighbors are reluctant to take this step so we tend to let it go. Bylaws are made to give the illusion that the city is doing something. The perpetrators take advantage of the good neighbor and the city’s convenient bylaw program to leave his sidewalk a slippery mess.

Now here is a great solution! Get outside and shovel your sidewalk, go over and shovel your neighbor’s sidewalk once in a while. Get to know your neighbor. When we get to know our neighbors they may become our friends and maybe feel a bit like family. We don’t want to disappoint our family and they don’t want to disappoint us.

Take the initiative to do it yourself. Government is under pressure to cut back and keep taxes down and do you think that some city official really gives a crap that your neighbor has an icy sidewalk? They don’t. In fact they are probably the ones taking advantage of the impotent bylaw system they had a hand in putting in place.

Do it yourself.

Living Conservatively

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Dave From GP

A recent incident on Twitter prompted me to re-evaluate what my ideals are.

I had unknowingly retweeted a National Rifle Association post some 10 or 15 minutes before the tragedy in Connecticut occurred. It was some random post about how many “Likes” they had on Facebook which struck me at the time as amusing. I generally follow the NRA because they are so out there sometimes and I cannot believe some of the things they say in public with a straight face. I would at best think my attitudes toward gun ownership are more “pro-control”. I see nothing wrong with having a background check done or even registering your guns. So called assault rifles with high capacity magazines are constructed for only one purpose and that is for soldiers to lay down maximum fire on a similarly equipped foe. If you are justifying it for hunting, well I think what you probably need, rather than a high capacity magazine, is more time on the target range.

Anyway, back to my story: Being at work and out of touch with the news all day it was not until much later that I heard about the incident and discovered a comment in my Twitter feed referring to me as some sort of heartless idiot for promoting guns and the NRA amidst such a tragedy. I realized that I was suddenly grouped in with this US organization.

I have always thought of myself as a pretty tolerant, middle of the road guy. I’ve never taken a strong public stand on issues such as gun control or other social moral dilemmas. I am of the opinion that we should be free to make our choices. If we don’t like the choices of others we may disagree with them. We do not need our views forced down the throats of others and in return I do not want anyone’s views forced down mine. Because you choose to think a different way does not automatically make you right. I by no means believe I have all the answers. At the end of the day we should choose our ideals based on what that little voice inside our heads says. This I would think is a centrist view, maybe leading a little toward the left.

The left seems to be made up of quasi-intellectuals walking a moral high ground of their own making. They look down on non-progressives as though they are intellectually inferior rednecks. Liberals want to try advance their vision of society by asking the government to somehow legislate us into a Utopian society.

The right counteracts this in an often very loud belittling manner. They are for less government and more personal responsibility. If you do not agree with them they view you as weak. Many of the moral issues facing society can be solved through freedom of choice and common sense. It does seem odd that every right wing person with an opinion comes off as eccentric. Take for example interviews with Ted Nugent or Jesse Ventura. I am sure there are more friendly faces to conservatism out there but, if what the right has us believe, the left wing media will not allow this side to appear in public, at least not on the venues they control.

So. Since I was so easily called out by (I suppose) the self-righteous left as being on the far right because of a passing comment I thought to myself: “Hmm. Maybe I am not who I think I am.” In that vein I decided that I would explore the “dark side” and take a look at Conservatism.

In the following weeks I will post some of my thoughts on the matter.

Coffee Can Survival Kit

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Dave From GP

So I made this “survival can” based on one that is proposed by the Junior Forest Wardens. They said to use a Keen’s Mustard can but instead I decided to use a 326g coffee can. The key thing here though is to make sure the can is metal! It was actually hard to find metal coffee cans, it looks as though most have switched over to plastic. Luckily I put out a cry on Twitter and shortly after received a Tweet from @girlcarpenter that she had fourteen cans available that I could have. They even had the lids!

The idea of this kit is to put all the items together, put it in your pack and forget about it. I would actually tape up the lid and only go into it in a real emergency. It’s a little bulky I know and with some imagination it could be reduced further, however the idea is for the kids to have something in their packs! It also keeps everything organized instead of bouncing around freely in the pack. The coffee can becomes a pot for boiling water as well. Continue reading →

America

Posted on December 29, 2012 by Dave From GP

America
Loud and obnoxious, confident in your place
The elephant in the room that no one ignores
Your institutions are sacred
Sports, arts and politics
Cheers roar with equal enthusiasm in your churches and your football fields
Tear filled eyes turn to a flag perpetually carried on a strong breeze
Unswayed by the words of others you march ahead with your agenda and ideals
It’s the American Way
A spirit forged for over two hundred years
Those who come to you expect it to be this way and would accept nothing less
You do not fail to deliver on that promise

Your cities are etched in the world’s minds
From Fargo to New York
Even the most insignificant have become mythological
Their names are known to people of whom you are not aware exist Continue reading →

Branching Out

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Dave From GP

Just a quick post to let you know I have landed a bit of a blogging gig over at HQGrandePrairie. I named it This Ain’t Everest and it focuses mainly on outdoor related topics, something I have explored a number of times here. The idea is that you can enjoy the outdoors without going overboard. You can find the same beauty in nature close to home as you can driving for miles or spending lots of time and money. I post at least once a week, gives me a deadline and therefore some motivation to write!

I was having a bit of trouble deciding whether or not to change this blog up as it has morphed several times over the last couple of years. I originally started blogging about technology related things but have posted on a number of subjects since. I toyed with the idea of creating a new blog more specific to my hiking adventures etc but now I have HQGrandePrairie to at least partially fill that role. The other good thing about that blog is that I do not have to maintain the site, only submit the articles at least for the time being. Some topics I may want to write on may also be a bit more in depth so I still have davefromgp.ca to fall back on.

Anyway, hope you check out both sites. Leave me any comments on either or you can always find me on the Twitter!

Beyond the Edson Trail

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Dave From GP

A few weeks ago I posted a review of a local book called The Foulest of Murders. It relays the story of an unsolved mass murder that took place in the Grande Prairie area in 1918. At around the same time the song writer’s circle I attend decided on a theme for November that was to be based on the history of Grande Prairie. This story was of course fresh in my mind and I decided to use that as my inspiration. I also wanted to interlace it with the story of the homesteaders who came to the area in the early part of the twentieth century.

Their’s was by no means an easy life. The journey from the south could in itself take a great toll. Once they arrived here they were then faced with the arduous task of carving out a life from an unforgiving landscape. I think in the end that is what makes this story even more sad. Despite all their efforts and best intentions there was still no guarantee that their hard work would pay off. Be it the grueling journey north or the struggle to turn the prairie into something productive they faced hardship at every turn. That these men died because of greed and money only compounds the tragedy.

Beyond the Edson Trail

Two men name of Snyder who heard the homestead call
Travelled north of Edson through the mud and driving snow
Free land for the taking to which they could avail
On the place they called Grande Prairie, beyond the Edson Trail

When the journey ended that was when the work began
“You gotta break ten acres if you want to own the land”
To earn the patent on the claim won’t come without travail
On the place they called Grande Prairie, beyond the Edson Trail

For five long years they toiled to reap the promise of the land
The summer heat and winter cold, more than most could stand
Perhaps next year they’d succeed where others had only failed
On the place they called Grande Prairie, beyond the Edson Trail

But as they worked to make the soil breathe life into the seed
Word of easy money fuelled the recklessness and greed
Of weaker men who looked for ways in order to prevail
On the place they called Grande Prairie, beyond the Edson Trail

Angry voices carried on the still night air of June
The cabin set on fire and the bodies left to burn
Two lives that were extinguished beneath the moonlight pale
That shone upon Grande Prairie, beyond the Edson Trail

The foulest type of murder, it’s what the paper said
When the gunshots finished six men lying dead
Strong men came to work the land before the steel rail
On the place they called Grande Prairie, beyond the Edson Trail

The footprints through the clearing are dried up and long gone
The story now forgotten but the ghosts still linger on
Their voices cry for justice you can hear them on the gale
That blow across Grande Prairie and beyond the Edson Trail

Activate GP

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Dave From GP

Just posting here a link to the You Tube video for “Activate GP” the community building workshop I attended last week. You can see the back of my head!