I'll be "baq"

You'd be forgiven if you weren't able to shell out $275 to hear the man known as "the Governator" at the Fairmont Hotel earlier this week. I could live for several weeks on this kind of dough (no pun intended), though I must admit I was a bit star-struck when I heard Arnold Schwarzenegger was coming to Winnipeg on his first speaking tour.

I remember actually seeking out Arnold's films when I was an impressionable lad. He certainly wasn't the most appropriate role model, but who could fault a hero who always got the bad guy. The characters Arnold played in Conan the Barbarian, Commando, Predator, and The Running Man always saved the day and dished out swift, calculated justice.

I feel I am obliged at this time to separate Kindergarten Cop, Jingle All the Way, and Twins from that last paragraph. These films must have come at a time when Arnold was at a weak point in his career.

But I digress.

It has been reported that Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay was at "Ahnold's" Winnipeg speaking engagment and had a chance to speak with Mr. Schwarzenegger before he left for Toronto and Montreal. In hindsight, this can only be seen as a missed opportunity for Schwarzenegger as a refresher course in present Canadian military involvement.

As Schwarzenegger spoke a few days later in Montreal for his final engagement, a few details became lost in translation.

"The Canadians that went over there to Iraq," he said,

"Those are heroes!"

Of course it was a slip of the tongue, but as far as we know it only raised an eyebrow. No one immediately stepped up to correct "the Governator" that Canada is involved just in Afghanistan.

Apparently Peter MacKay was no better earlier in the week in Winnipeg as he provided a geography lesson that placed California's and British Columbia's borders side by side. I suppose he has somewhat of an excuse as he was born on the other side of Canada in Nova Scotia. Maybe he doesn't make it that far west too often.

Mr. Schwarzenegger politely corrected MacKay after the fact, and reminded him that Oregon and Washington lie between B.C. and California.

A transplanted American from Austria giving a Canadian a lesson in his own geography.

Who would have thunk?

Three Brisk Weeks

At 4:30 p.m. last Friday, I closed my notebook, laptop, and logged off the desktop terminal to mark the end of my three weeks of internship at The Winnipeg Humane Society. I spent my morning doing a last proof on the campaign plans I had created, organizing my work files I would leave behind, and building a PowerPoint presentation for its AGM. I departed with the impression that my work was very appreciated and that some of my ideas would be considered for implementation. The three weeks I had to work alongside the people in its communications department went by too fast, but in that short period of time I learned a lot.

This was my first real-world office experience. My previous occupation three years ago was limited to the world of manufacturing. I really enjoyed the professionalism of the office atmosphere. I've heard others say in the past that some offices can be stuffy, but The WHS was not one of them–which is good for me as I always try to lighten the mood wherever I go. The staff always greeted me with a smile and on occasion, asked how I was doing. A very nice, sincere group of people indeed. It also helps when a dog trots over for a pat and wags his tail beside you with her big, toothy grin, or the "office cat" head-butts your palm as you reach down to pet him on your way to the washroom.

Very "warm, fuzzy feeling" kinda stuff.

To show her appreciation for my time, my boss for the duration, Aileen White, treated me to lunch along with her uber-capable assistant Jenelle Petrinchuk. These two women are a great team and are part of an excellent core of people at The WHS. I learned a lot while I watched them collaborate on ideas, and I gained a lot of respect for the amount of responsibility and work they accomplish. In turn, they appreciated my contributions, and I hope my work encourages adoption from its shelter. I thank both Aileen and Jenelle in guiding me through my brief time with them. I hope we keep in touch.

I also wish The WHS and its many helping hands great success in the future. The WHS is an organization I sincerely wish to help in some way once my professional career begins.

On the Business of Saving Animals

Tomorrow morning I start my second week of work placement with The Winnipeg Humane Society. I'm feeling much better going into this week than last Tuesday – literally, I was getting over the last gasps of a cold/flu that had anyone standing within twenty feet think I was losing a lung. It was amazing how much better I felt by Friday and how much easier I was able to compile my thoughts and not have them sneezed away. Ahhh, memories...

Having worked in such a hands-on capacity last summer in Animal Intake at The WHS, and now finding myself assisting with Administration, I can see the role that synergy plays in order for these two areas to properly function. There are constant fluctuations in how the public perceives (and uses) this organization, and in order for it all to operate as neatly as possible, internal communication is essential.

And then there's the pride.

From my own observations and witnessing their actions, the members of this organization do their utmost to enrich the lives of the animals who are in their care. I am very honoured to be working alongside such caring, compassionate, and selfless individuals. My only hope is that I will create an initiative in the coming days that will give their "temporary tenants" something that is fondly referred to;

A forever home.

This Ain't Your Neighbour's Lada...

I grew up in a small town surrounded by GM's, Ford's, and Chevrolet's. My bowling instructor drove a Lada. Even though the Lada was never considered the epitome of fine automobiles, the car still had a high level of interest for me. At the age of thirteen, I was easily impressed by its heated side mirrors and tiny wiper blades on the headlights. The car looked like a toy, and I secretly wanted to own one.

With maturity, common sense prevailed and I drifted from my daydream of owning "Russia's auto" as I took to driving several domestic cars throughout my adulthood. But who knew that a Russian automaker was secretly building a super-car that would re-ignite my childhood interest.

Enter Marussia, an automaker that can claim the title of Russia's first sports car manufacturer. It's B1 and B2 models easily compete with the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini, and its curb appeal as they might say in the auto business is, "sexy". The car looks like it just rolled off of a racetrack or the set of a James Bond film.

Marussia has recently partnered with Richard Branson's Virgin Racing which will likely see an exchange of expertise and increase Virgin's image of good associative branding. Formula 1 is an incredibly tough circuit to break into, so I am interested to see how well Virgin and Marussia perform together in the 2011 F1 racing season.

Unfortunately, compared to the Marussia, only the Lada is within my price range.

Dare to dream.

America's Stonehenge

I'm a fairly patient guy. So much so that I've waited to get to a backlog of magazines that have been collecting in a pile for more than a year now; interesting magazines like Adbusters, Discover, and my favourite, Wired.

In reading Wired's May 2009 issue (yep, eek!) last night I came across an incredibly interesting and weird (that's "weird" not "wired") article. The issue's theme was focused on magic, puzzles, and some of the strange places found on Earth. Near the back of the issue, I came across an article dedicated to one of America's least possibly heard of attractions. I'm not a world traveller by any means, so I guess it's not unusual that I've never heard of this mysterious structure. Its name: the Georgia Guidestones.

To look at them, they appear to be a backyard version of Stonehenge. While their appeal is likely limited, the messages that are inscribed upon them are meant to be a guide map for after the apocalypse. The ten "rules" for re-establishing world order are even written in seven major languages to assist whoever might still be around to read the inscriptions.

Due to its controversial message, and the fact that the Guidestones are situated in America's Bible Belt, the stones have seen their share of misfortune. There have been calls to destroy the stones as some feel they are tied to the Antichrist, and there has been at least one attempt to pull them down. To date, graffiti has damaged the site the most and the County has tried lighting the site to avoid further damage (Technically, the site is owned by Elbert County where the stones are situated. The identity of the man who financed and arranged to have the stones erected was known by only one man; the lawyer who handled the legal necessities and immediately transferred ownership of the small parcel of land to the County after the unidentified man paid for it).

The most controversial of the stone's messages are the first three. Do I believe they should be pursued? Absolutely not. We can't snap our fingers and turn back to the clock to a time when Earth's population was more manageable. But I find it fascinating (and spooky) that there are people who take any of this seriously. As to the identity of the man who commissioned its construction? That's just good publicity. No single, largely unknown, assembly of stones are bound to upset life as we know it. For the most part, the recommendations on the Guidestones seem pretty rational. Countless structures that convey their own messages have been erected in cities, townships, and villages all over the world. They're called churches, mosques, temples, or any other variant of places of worship. If you hold your own beliefs to be true, it should matter little as to what another person believes. If no one is inciting hatred or being harmed, let it be.

Were the Guidestone's in my hometown, I certainly wouldn't sweat it.

And now, the time is near, and so I face...

...the end of Semester 3. Yay!

I don't know if I've ever had a late post (oops), but I'm happy to say that I've completed my last assignment for this semester. I've been working on building a four-page website for the past seven hours at the college. It's my last task for Image Editing, and now that it's done I can say that it looks great. If only the actual business that the idea is framed around existed, I would have it hosted and displayed on the web. I feel as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders as I was concerned about my competency going into this assignment, but I feel I have done a decent job. All that I have remaining is an exam in Canadian Literature and then I am done.

I look forward to my fourth semester at Red River College, but I'm looking forward to resting even more. There's at least a couple of things I've had to put on the back-burner at home the past few months; not the least of which will be installing two chandelier light fixtures in our home before Christmas arrives.

My life is wayyyyyyy too much fun.

Filming

A few weeks ago, myself and two classmates began an assignment for TV class that would see us visiting an industry professional's workplace, and asking them questions about their job. As luck would have it, the two classmates I joined for this assignment had located a person to interview, and they were okay with me joining them for the project.

A few days before the shoot, I went to the location where we would be filming. The woman we were interviewing was Deborah Zanke. Deborah is the owner of her own business called Message Communications. She manages her business from a very spacious, contemporary home. I couldn't wait to tell my group-mates about the great location we would be shooting in.

We spent almost two hours filming our interview with Deborah and getting the required "b-roll" to fill in any gaps in the editing room. All told, we spent about five hours editing what would become a three minute, twenty-four second video. I offered to give Deborah a copy of our assignment once it was complete, and upon viewing it, she commented on how "professional" the final product looked.

I think Deborah's video is the best work I've been involved with to date, but I'm still a student so I won't let it go to my head.

As with many of our assignments, there is always room for improvement. Overall, I feel there are some particularly good shots and advice from Deborah. We really appreciated the fact that she agreed to be our subject and allowed us to shoot in her home. Thanks again.

In tomorrow's class, we are watching all the groups' work from this assignment, and getting tips from our instructor, Dean Cooper, about the good, and the bad, and sometimes ugly. :)

I was surprised about how much I enjoyed this assignment. As I sat in the editing room, I really enjoyed all the piecing together and the patchwork quality to creating a film, as short in duration as it was. I look forward to our next challenge.