I was away on a New Leaders retreat a few months ago. BORING!! The stuff a pastor HAS to do is silly sometimes...I ran off to the lake to hide a few times, the wind, sun and water had caused the ice to heave itself upon itself. I climbed in and through the long caverns as water began to come through and the ice cracked and surged. It was if the water beneath me was trying to pull me in but couldn't break the surface....

Going, going...?

US hunger for McDonald's slowing

I'd love to see this pest die forever!

McDonald's low-cost meals are not tempting cash-strapped US consumers

Weak US demand for McDonald's has taken some of the shine off the company's quarterly figures, which beat Wall Street forecasts.

For its January to March period, McDonald's said net income grew to $946.1m, up from $762.4m a year earlier, lifted by overseas growth.

European sales in outlets open at least a year rose 11% - a record, while US sales rose 2.9%.

US sales fell in March for the first time in five years.

The fast-food chain forecast an improvement in its US business in April, and is forecasting same-store sales will rise by 2% to 2.5%.

But the sluggish figures show that even McDonald's, with its focus on budget meals, is suffering as the US economy is battered by a weak housing market, shrinking employment and tighter lending conditions.

The picture looks brighter outside the US, with growth in Europe driven by the French, UK and German markets.

McDonalds is in the middle of rolling out new-look restaurants around the world, with almost half of the UK's 335 busiest branches refitted in the past 18 months.

These feature comfortable chairs and offer customers free wireless internet access - a move that mimics coffee chains like Starbucks.

Shares in McDonalds were down 1.4% at $57.85 in afternoon trade in New York

Socialized murder

Death Penalty Still Permitted...

Afghanistan Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belize Botswana Burundi Cameroon Chad China (People's Republic) Comoros Congo (Democratic Republic) Cuba Dominica Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guatemala Guinea Guyana India Indonesia Iran Iraq Jamaica Japan Jordan Korea, North Korea, South Kuwait

Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Lesotho Libya Malawi Malaysia Mongolia Nigeria Oman Pakistan Palestinian Authority Qatar St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Saudi Arabia Sierra Leone Singapore Somalia Sudan Swaziland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Trinidad and Tobago Uganda United Arab Emirates United States Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Jesus hates it!

Poof and it's gone

sVoting time in Canada. Each Province (State) holds elections for a single-chamber legislative assembly, from which a Premier (Governor) and cabinet are selected; legislators serve for five-year terms. The Provinces have powers embracing mainly matters of local or private concern such as property and civil rights, education, civil law, provincial company charters, municipal government, hospitals, licenses, management and sale of public lands, and direct taxation within the Province for provincial purposes.

Canada just had It's Provincial vote. In my Province, Alberta, nothing changed really. The same guy got in in my riding. Must be frightened of change?
The main BIG 4 choices in Alberta are: Progressive Conservative, NDP, Liberal, and Wildrose Alliance. The other choices are few but MY choice is hidden within.
I voted again, for the Alberta Greens.
Yup, I'm a West Coast, tree-huggin', enviro-hippy, socialist at heart. You should have experienced the flack I received from Christians because I, a Christian, didn't vote for the Progressive Conservatives. I thought I actually had a CHOICE in the matter and could vote as I felt lead...NO WAY!
Apparently, Christians NEVER vote GREEN and should ALWAYS vote Conservative. Who'd a thunk it?
I had a sign in my front yard, one on the back gate, one in my car window and another in the van I use for work! If it would have stayed, I'd have put one on my mountain bike too! Didn't see one other GREEN sign in the County!

Ballots counted...the Conservatives are in again...big surprise! And man, you should hear the smug fanfare! But wait, only 40% of eligible voters bothered to put pencil to paper and vote. Better still, only about half of them said yes to the PC party. By my figuring, that makes it slightly UNDER 30% of Canada's voters that wanted the PC's in again...
But, once counted, they won.

Sour grapes? No. I just wish more people would actually get up off their couches and exercise their right to vote. Stop moaning if you don't vote! Those of us that DO vote? I'd love to know if you really THINK about your choice. Don't worry about what others may think of you, it's a secret remember? Don't just place an X on the "default" guy.

Last point I'll make is to all of those CHRISTIANS that offered negative comments to me ( and behind my back...cowards) regarding MY support of the Greens.
Think on this:
THE SECOND YOU RELY ON YOUR GOVERNMENT TO BE YOUR MORAL COMPASS, YOU'RE LOST! TRUST YOUR GOD!

chilly

Usually I notice stuff. However, I didn't notice something about the weather recently and now our life is a bit miserable.
Me and PJ were treated to a few nights in Canmore Alberta. We stayed at a bed and breakfast that we love while the Puppet was left with friends. The B&B is called Canadian Artisans. Valerie and Bob treat you like royalty!! Mucho recommended!
Anyway, while away, a buddy called me and mentioned that the weather with a wind chill had dipped to minus 42 celcius. This translates to flippin' cold!! I assured Dan that I had heat tapes around our pipes under the trailer and that I had set the ol' thermostat to about 15 C. Since we were going to be away and unable to stoke the woodstove, I took no chances...no sweat!
The continuing cold wind for 2 days and nights proved too much for my heat taped pipes though. Since the water hadn't flowed for a few days, it froze in the pipes. Now we're screwed.
A few things to clarify here.
#1) This unusually cold weather was an ARCTIC OUTFLOW...not Canadian born as so many people think.
#2) Living in a trailer sometimes sucks.
#3) We're are however,thankful for our home of 8 years.
#4) It's time for us to move into a wooden house. (send cash).
#5) I trickling tap would have prevented this.
#6) No water means just that...NO WATER FOR ANYTHING.

So there it is. Our start to 2008. Inconvenient but so far, cost free. I'm on the "wait loser" list at the local rental shop for a dragon-like heater to thaw my pipes under the trailer. Seems as though I'm not alone in my misery.
As for now? We're drinking/cooking with bottled water, melting large pots of snow on the woodstove to flush the brownies down the toilet, and we're trying to keep a giggle going.

C'mon Spring!

Funny ol' World

I have two pieces of paper photographed here. One image is an old envelope that held a Christmas card I received from a couple in church that "appreciate our Ministry..." A very nice card indeed. The other image is a piece of paper that they put inside the card. We're to have a really decent meal on them...time together is important they say! I thank God for these people, and others like them. Here's the bit I thought about in order to blog: One piece of paper is worth more than the other. One, I could trade for anything...literally! Drugs, food, clothing, music. I could support a charity or my church, I could bless someone else...an endless list of things proving the "worth" of that bit of paper. The other? Well, it's usefulness is almost done. All that's left is to recycle it. No REAL value there in and of itself. Funny World this! Some things have value, and some simply don't. People are like that too are they not? Some we value, some we don't. Shame really! Happy Easter...

One of the greats is gone...

Jazz legend Oscar Peterson dies
Oscar's web page here.

Jazz pianist and composer Oscar Peterson has died of kidney failure at his home in Toronto, at the age of 82.

Peterson was one of jazz's most recorded musicians, and was famous for his fast-playing virtuoso style.

He made more than 200 albums and won eight Grammy awards, including a lifetime achievement honour in 1997.

He released his first single at the age of 19 and performed with greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington and Nat "King" Cole.

The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame announced last month that it was to present the star with its Founder's Award in 2008.

This was to celebrate "a brilliant jazz pianist and composer" who showed "musical dexterity and energetic performances", it said.

Peterson, who had a working-class upbringing in Montreal, won a talent contest organised by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) when he was 14 years old.

"The world has lost an important jazz player," Hazel McCallion, mayor of Mississauga, Ontario, and Peterson's close friend, told CBC News.

"He's been going downhill in the last few months, slowing up," she added.

His studio and live partners included Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and Stan Getz.

Basie once described Peterson as someone who "plays the best ivory box I've ever heard", while Ellington referred to him as "Maharajah of the keyboard".

Gifted at improvisation, Peterson said in 2005 how live free-form jazz could enable "moments of great beauty to emerge".

He was made a Companion of the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honour, and he was the first living Canadian to be depicted on a stamp.

Peterson was married four times and had five children, all by his first wife.

More here...

Photos here...