Category Archives: Lifestyle

Lifestyle

Use ‘Em Or Lose ‘Em – Hospitality and Entertainment

I know, you’re saving up for a family vacation to see the The Great Barrier Reef down under and so all your fine dining dollars for the next while will be “order out” from KFC. The trouble with this is that good restaurants and entertainment venues are losing out on your disposable dollar and could simply shut down. We don’t care if bad ones shut down but the good establishments form part of our cultural landscape. You do want your home to be a place rich in cuisine, dance, theatre, and music.  These things bond us in the place where make our lives.

It’s bad enough that we have urban planners over developing office towers and outskirts. Worse yet, the automobile – as the ultimate entertainment center in and of itself as we spend an inordinate amount of time during the commute out to the ‘burbs.

Although the City of Calgary has made some poor development decisions in the context of facilitating cultural expression, there are still great places to go. Our city has the new Studio Bell which may be under utilized as a music centre in the context of a mandate. It has tasteful aesthetics and delectable acoustics. You must find cause to go down there. There’s been the upgrade to the King Eddy as well as the Telus Science center. Renovations /expansions will be starting on the Arts Commons as further evidence of arts support from governments, donors, patrons and sponsors. Millenium Park has been great for the kids and a new place called “Cobbs Adventure Park” is fairly new. 

My appeal to bars and restaurants is to find some reason for being other than the dining experience in order to keep people interested. Some empathy obviously goes out to the patron who has been hit by job loss, high taxes, government intransigence toward industry, and tight finances due to high mortgage balances. Sustainability in hospitality is going to require flexibility from governments on excise taxes and labor regulation in order to keep our communities vibrant.     

Lifestyle

Facebook Unfollow Stats

You all have facebook friends you don’t follow in order to keep your facebook stream positive, fresh, and in line with your objectives of use. It’s a good thing. I’ve just run the stats on the percentage of facebook friends that I’ve unfollowed and it’s small but relevant. Here are criteria I use in order to determine if I unfollow someone:

  1. Is the platform being primarily used for commercial promotion or is there a surreptitious agenda?
  2. Do people actually sincerely share about themselves? Is it personal?
  3. Are the numbers of posts excessive and sometimes overly trivial?
  4. Can I learn something through the feed which is interesting which I wouldn’t necessarily find elsewhere?
  5. Is vanity a theme?
  6. Is there a concentration toward political topics?
  7. Is the post original, a repost, or a re-circulated quote. If not original, is there context or has it been freshened with a personal addition?

Furthermore, people have the capacity for change and I’m still very interested in the lives of those few in which I’ve unfollowed of whom I may very well refollow. In fact, I’ve unfollowed one very good friend (LOL).

I suspect that most intuitively have similar criteria. Social media is evolving and frankly I’m fascinated by what I sometimes see. One friend here (you know who you are) was onto the social media bandwagon at its outset. In spite of facebook having security issues, people are resilient and continue to hang here which speaks to the power of the internet as a viable way of interpersonal connection.

Health, Lifestyle

Zombie State Accentuated in Canada October 17th

I’m highly suspect that the legalization of cannabis will become a net positive for Canada. In fact, I believe it will accentuate the zombie state. You see, already there are vast numbers of people in our society who have difficulty functioning at a high level because of a poor education system, a poor work ethic, poorly engrained values, an entitlement mentality, a daily hangover, and sleep deprivation.

In recent times, you don’t have to travel far to identify an indifferent customer service representative, a dispassionate reservation clerk, a vacant politician, a selfish tailgater, a stupefied crosswalk texter, or an ambivalent professional. Have these lower functioning souls been aberrated by mind altering substances, lesser cognitive acuity, or are they simply subjects of traits akin to the aforementioned? Could they be tempted away from ambition by the neural effects of cannabis ingestion? Could their ingestion of cannabis improve their productivity? I’m guessing you’re thinking, no.

You’ve seen the new urban train platforms with the big wide yellow bubble strips at the cusp of the train’s alley. You may think they’re there to aid the disabled, but perhaps they’re there in anticipation of the new cannabis legislation? Although I kid, not about the degree of smarts that your government awards you credit. Perhaps, your government would actually like to see you become more docile as a citizen through the cannabis habit so that you’ll become less abrasive in your opposition to their liberal agenda?

Your country, Canada, is a first world nation largely in part because of a value system which included the purity of a cerebral mind implemented in order to build and industrialize. In fact, the Canadian government prohibited alcohol when the seriousness of World War I became apparent. Times though have changed. A new industry has blossomed (pun obviously intended) and capitalists can now take pride in selling a product which has not historically been aligned with the freshness of mind synonymous with the capitalist ideal.

There will be those who will genuinely benefit from taking marijuana in order to alleviate symptoms of physiology. Unfortunately, there will be many who will wrongly look to it instead of within for answers pertinent to their homeostatic well being.

Lifestyle

Declutter At Your Peril?

There are particular recreational and general interest items which you need at the ready in order to stimulate the brain at home. Don’t let your spouse throw out that harmonica that you haven’t used since last year’s family reunion. That book with the marker at page 23 is still going to get read but maybe not tomorrow. How many of you think it would be nice to learn a language but there’s clearly no evidence of learning aids amidst that tidy end table by your TV chair? Someday, right? The discovery of some old dancing shoes may just be the re-think required for reworking old West Coast swing moves. How about that crochet project which isn’t happening because of some subconscious dilemma of tidiness? Is there a family bonding opportunity lost because the scrabble board is tucked away in storage while junior obsesses over some phone app?

We downsize and right size and retool as we grow. Then grandchildren are suspicious of the person of old. Sterility takes hold and the culture becomes cold. Can we live in the new lost from soul sustaining symbols of identity?

If your work commute is more than 45 minutes, it’s detracting from your quality of life and possibly impacting your health. Could the associated fatigue be a cause of waning interest on a home hobby? Perhaps it’s the behaviour modifying influence of a roommate or spouse? What is the cause of deteriorating mental health? Is it all physiological in need of mind altering chemicals? Is there some correlation between the suppression of a creative outlet through the sterilization of home and mental fitness? What about the social impact of a conglomerate of such individuals?

Lifestyle

Embracing Calgary’s Winter

You either hide behind your smart phone, TV, tablet or get out there and bask in the sun’s glory when it’s minus eleven, no wind and the snow has settled perfectly awaiting the crispy crunch of your footsteps or ski boots. I for one prefer the slippy slide of skis whether it’s X-country or downhill. I’m typically setting the pace by marking trails for others who look up from the doldrums to discover that winter has its place in an outdoor fitness regime. Calgary has oodles of acres of green space within its park system and public spaces due partly to inept urban planning. You might as well pay tribute to your health while others navigate traffic on their way to the mall. Makes good sense, right?

You can hum and haw at the prospect of finding a fitness friend with all the coordination and texting for confirmation while knowing full well that it’s not of their highest priority, or you make that one time commitment of acquiring some affordable equipment for those occasions of spontaneous winter thrill while leading the charge. Whether it’s from the annual ski swap, Value Village, Sport Chek, or cousin Harry’s garage – winter sporting equipment is available to all who seek refuge from the germs of the gym and electronic frequency.

Speaking of the annual ski swap, a volunteer at the event back in October took time with me to discuss his upcoming ski adventure plans. He had his multi day multi hill pass all picked out which was going to mean fulfilling its benefits by travelling to distant resorts while arranging logistics, rides, time off, and the opportunity cost of time from his studies. There will be the inevitable disappointment of friends, some poor winter road conditions, and lift line ups during the high season. He was perplexed why I picked up the early bird season pass at Nakiska.