Privacy and What Happens When we Do Not have it

If you're like me and over half a million Canadians you may have just found out the people you trusted to keep all your personal information safe as failed you.   Not just failed to protect the information they promised to protect but failed in reporting us when they "lost" the information.  It seems Human Services Canada has "miss placed" a portable hard drive as well as a thumb drive containing the person information of any one who applied for a student loan from 2000 to 2006.  Now one would think if they would to store the information on a portable drive that it would be at least encrypted but that was not the case.  To what I have been able to find out neither the portable drive nor thumb drive had any form of encryption on it.  In fact placing our personal information on such devices is against their own policies and regulations.  And after all this, putting countless people at risk of identity theft and other countless possibilities they expect use to take "We're sorry – and we're trying to make sure it never happens again."

I am sorry as one of the people affected by this a simple apology and empty promise doesn't even start to make up for such a mistake.  Not only did they fail to notice when the information went "missing" but when they did they took over a month to report RCMP to look into the incident.  And they took even longer tell those affected that their personal information was compromised.  When I contacted human resources to find out how this could happen the representative I spoke to couldn't answer any of my questions.  All I was told was that they were sure the drives haven't left the property and it has to be somewhere in the building.  They failed to mention who lost the information or what was found during the investigation just that one was conducted.  All I was told was my personal information was used for an internal survey they were conducting at the time.  They didn't even tell me why my information was used without my permission and why they would need all my personal information for something like that.

Like many Canadians I am outrage that something like this was allowed to happen especially in the digital age we live in.  I personally use a portable drive to store my work but the drive I have is encrypted.  It's encrypted in such a way I have to type in a password into the drive itself before the computer is even able to see the drive.  If I happen to forget my pass code well the only way to resetting it reformatting the entire drive and erasing all the information it has stored.  If an individual such as myself goes to such a level to protect his personal files one would think that a government organization would go to further lengths to protect their own.  Every thumb drive, portable drive and hard disk should be encrypted to such a level that it would be nearly impossible to crack.  But as it seems the government couldn't be bothered to do that and drag their heels to admit anything happened.

I found it offensive when the representative I spoke to tried to assure me the investigation so far shown the drive have yet to leave the building.  If they haven't been able to find one portable drive and one thumb drive in four month than the possibility it still being inside the building to be small.  When I point that out to the representative she kept totting the company line trying to assure me that they are doing everything in their power to discover what happened.  If they want to assure me they could have pay to have my and everyone else affect by this SIN number changed.  The person who was responsible for the "missing" drives should be charge with gross negligence and publicly made known.  I want to know who gave this person authorization to store my personal information in such a manner that any person with even a moderate computer knowledge could simply access by plugging it in any computer with a USB port.  I want to hear that they have been fired from their positions and lost any pension or any possible benefits because of their negligence.

Anyone could have my information and using it for whatever purpose they wish.   I can tell you that I feel violated by this breach of my privacy.  Till this moment I had perfect credit rating and was considered debt free.  Now my credit rating could drop, at risk for loans to be taken out in my name and have little protection against it.  People now can apply to EI, fill out passports or several things in my name since they have enough information to do so.  The possibilities of potential misuse is terrifying and as people that have been victims of identity theft before have all pointed out that it has taken years and thousands of their own hard earned money to solved.  I know one person that has criminal record because someone stole his identity and caught drinking and driving.  He nearly lost his job over it, only the fact the DUI charge was on the other side of the country during a time that he couldn't possibly be there was the only reason he wasn't fired.  And even though he didn't do it he still lost weeks of work trying to prove it.  This is what we are facing now and into the future.

I believe that our leaders don't fully grasp what people are potentially facing now.  A million Canadians are now at risk for the rest of their lives of their identity being stolen.  Not just the six years they promised to watch our account but the rest of our lives.  Whoever has this information could sit on it till the six years are up and sell it on the web.  There are already web site dedicated to selling people information and any one of ours could pop up on one of these.   There are four different class action lawsuits occurring against the federal government because of this incident.  I have personally signed up for my local class action lawsuit.  The government should be held accountable and made to pay for this mistake instead of trying to sweep it under the rug.  I hope this lawsuit causes some serious changes within our and how our government deal with our information and how they approach such issues in the future.  It is time our government go through an ideology shift and come to understand the impact their mistakes have on us, the people they are suppose to be serving to begin with.  It is time they do more to protect us instead of thinking of how to get more money out of us.

New Year, New Beginnings

            This post has been a long-time coming.  It's already February 2013 and I am only now thinking of it as a new year.  Because I finally found a job within my field and so it feels like a new beginning for me.  The job might only be a temporary one but it's a job that will give me more experience and I hope will help me earn my CET designation I wanted for two years.  I am also hoping that this job may lead into a permanent position within the same group down-the-line.   But all that is unknown to me and right now.  I will take solace that I have found employment again, have some form of income coming besides EI and that I can get benefits through blue cross. 

            New Years is about beginnings and a fresh start which is something I need in my life.  When 2012 started I knew it was going to be a year of many changes.  Don’t ask me how I knew that I just knew but I never realized how many changes I would have to endure.  First my gaming group and friends were reposted to different locations.  I was with this group of people for almost three years gaming every single Saturday or nearly every single one.  We became a close-knit group of friends that began hanging outside gaming.  Though I still communicate with them losing that group was a great blow to me.  I didn’t realize how much that weekly socializing meant to me till it was gone.  I have been in a search for a new social outlet since then and have explored different besides gaming.  I have gotten more involved with my photography meet up group and other meet up group around my city.

            Another change last year brought was a new job in a different field I was in and the job lost that came after it.  It was the first time in my life that I have taken such a risk before.  Never before would I have considered a drastic change to my life and what it could have resulted for me.  I faced my fear and tried a job that I knew going in was just above my expertise, fully knowing that I could be without a job before my probation was up which did happen.  I even faced the fear of unemployment and an uncertain future.  In some facets I am still facing an uncertain future since the job I am currently employed in is only a temporary one and could end between a year to a year and a half.   The only reason I keep an eye out for new postings is to find a more permanent position.  But this job will lead to several things I have been trying to obtain for years my CET and it’s a good foot in the door with the municipal government.  It doesn’t mean I will stop looking at other jobs but can take solace in the fact I have found employment that pays well though no benefits.

            Last year involve many personal changes for me and I believe that trend will continue into this year.  I am finally taking the time to discover who I am as a person and who I want to be.  As most people know such self-reflections and transformation are never easy.  It takes much self-re-evaluations of one’s own life and admitting when you’ve made mistake which no one ever wants to do.   Admitting to our personal flaws is not something most people want to do much less do something about them.  Changing our behaviors and attitudes towards life takes much personal strength and conviction of character to succeed.  Too often we find it easier to fall back to past behaviors and ways of thinking because it what’s we know and what we know is more comfortable as well as less scary to face.  That is why most people fail with New Year resolutions because they simply fall back into their old behavior since it is easier than making the change.

            In my case falling back to my older behaviors and ways of thinking is no longer a choice for me.  I’ve been through too much in the past year to allow that to happen and now I have to change to adapt to the event happening all around me.  Few people are happy with their personal lives and fewer find the drive to do anything about it.  Well I believe I finally found the drive to do something about my own life and am now I am taking the time to think where I want to progress.  It's time to do those hard personal reflections and question my past actions, discover why I made the choice I made and admit to all my personal faults and limits.  Now this won’t be a simple and could take  the rest of the year to succeed but if I want to grow as a person I have to start somewhere.  Since I do want to grow as an individual I am taking it on myself to do all this.  I won’t lie to myself; most likely it will be a hard and terrifying process to go through.  One filled with many doubts and possible shame over what I done and acted in the past.

            As last year was a year of many changes so will this one but the changes won’t only be external.  I plan to change a great deal about myself, from how I view the world and the way I think.  No longer will I limited myself to one single perspective.  Now is the time to escape the box I placed myself in before the lid is sealed shut trapping me forever as the person I was. 

Facing the Evening Daemons

Why is it the demons of our minds only come out at night? I find myself this night unable to sleep simply because my mind won’t rest.  Thoughts keep spinning around and around in my mind which is forcing me to pick up my computer to write out what they are.  As with most nights my thoughts circle around my unknown future.  This is the first time in my life I don't know what is going to happen to me in the New Year.  I've been job searching over two months now and still I have been unable to find any form of employment or at least in my previous career field.  Even my attempt to find other drafting positions in other fields have proven fruitless, since either I don't have experience in those fields or lack the necessary knowledge or training to do them.  I have no hesitation in saying the first time my life I don't know what to do.

            My thoughts are filling with horrifying possibility that keeps me awake.  The possibility of not finding another job or forced to take another job outside my field of study just I have some form of limited benefits.  Even the idea that is impossibility to find a job in a different field is impossibility and I may force to go on welfare or to rely my parents the rest of my life for a place to live and to take care me as if I'm still a child.  Even the possibility of being forced out on the street has at one time or another has entered my mind.  These are the demons that I am facing right now, demons of unknown possibility and an unknown future.  Never before have I been so unsure of my future but then again never before have I been put in such a position where I have to consider my future such broad context.

            When I first finished college I never thought about not being able to find a job as a drafter just how long till I found one.  I'm so relieved when I found a job even before completing my program and in just a few days after the last final I began my career at my first real job.  A job that I originally thought I would stay at till I retired but as with many things in life that was not to be.  After years of working there the company underwent a merger with another company which resulted in changing the corporate culture that I originally introduce too.  No longer was I working a job where I was encouraged to learn and further develop myself into designer but forced into a simple AutoCAD technician role. A roll that is nothing more than a tracer, simply copying what the engineers draws on paper, reproducing them in CAD and never questioning or asking why they designed it the way they did.  That wasn't the reason I spend three years in the diploma program just to become a simple tracer.  I had a need to learn more and to do more with my life.

            That's the original reason I started to search for a new job and seek employment elsewhere, employment that I hope and thought would lead into a designer role and finally earning me my Certified Engineering Technologist designation that I so wanted.  As it so happens taking a new job, one that originally found me instead of me seeking it out, led to present position now, one of unemployment and confusion.  I took on a role but I knew that I didn't have all the qualifications for but promised training and mentorship to aid in my development into that role.  The training I received was miserably delivered and simply comprised of a training manual that was poorly put together and difficult to find the necessary information, one class at NAIT (which I had to sign up for myself) and a few training courses that were forcefully given to me because they were required by the human resources for all staff members.  I never received a mentorship that I was promised, the style of training I expected or all the safety training or gear that was needed to do the job, instead of providing what was promised I simply let go because I wasn't “fitting in.”

            Now my career has been set back more than five years and to a point where my previous education isn't worth much anymore.  The five years I did at my previous job doesn't qualify me as a designer or much of an AutoCAD operator.  I may have five years’ experience of using AutoCAD and Autodesk like platforms but that experience is just using them on their most basic level which is nowhere near the expertise that is wanted.  I may part of a bachelor under my belt but that only makes me overqualified for job I'm applying for.  Now I have to consider position pay me far less than I left my first job at which was below the average for my industry.  Because of that I am considering a career shift onto a different career path or once my EI runs out returning to school full-time to complete my present bachelor's.  I am even considering entering a new program whether it is the degree program for another diploma program after completing my first bachelors just to make myself more employable.

            I'm attending workshop that I hope will improve my resume and cover letters writing as well as my interviewing skill as an attempt to stay on my present career path.  Whether this will work or not is yet to be seen.  So far the only workshop I attended a showing that and to drastically revise my resume and how I've been doing my cover letters.  Something I plan to undertake during the so called “Christmas holidays.”  I hope after the holidays I'll have a presentable resume and cover letters to match that may be picked up by the human resources algorithms.  I have some hopes that I may fine new employment early in the New Year but somehow I think that is doubtful.  Already I'm thinking of possible alternatives I can follow if I fail in my job search. 

            Thinking about these alternatives may be one reason I’m up so late, one of the many demons that is haunting my mind.  What alternatives are there for me?  Is anything else I can do with my life?  At the age of 30s is there anything else I can follow that I could possibly hope to succeed in?  No wonder I can't sleep.  So many fears and so many thoughts spinning in my head with no end in sight.  All I can do is keep at what I've been doing.  Keep improving my resume, keep looking for new jobs, applying for what jobs I find and try to keep busy so these thoughts won’t haunt me at night.  For now what else is there for me to do?  I don’t know that answer to that question but I hope it comes to me soon so I can sleep soundly again.

Beginning the Process with a Plan

            For anything to begin there must be a starting point, my starting point will involve developing a plan which I can follow and carry out which should help me on my new journey towards being a more creative person.  Now I am already aware that this plan has to be a living document one that will be constantly changing based on how I'm developing in the position I find myself in.  Now in developing this plan I will have to consider the lessons I learned during my Leadership Development class.  A class that has been worthwhile to me because it made me realize that I have to start taking control my life instead of letting my life control me.

            To begin my plan I must have a series of goals in mind since I have multiple projects and skills that I want to develop. Some of my goals include learning Photoshop and Illustrator, getting back into photography and developing my photography skills, begin to world build my literary worlds, learn to draw as well as continuing in developing my own blog.   Now as anyone can see from all that my plan will have to be diverse to cover all these areas and in fact may involve multiple different plans for each one while keeping in mind that I must continue job hunting to find a new form of employment.             

            One of the items I have to keep in mind is the goal of finding a new job and what that may entail for me.  It may include making a slight career change for short period of time, or speeding up bachelor program to complete it sooner or even entering a new diploma program at NAIT after completing the bachelors.  My primary goal is to find a new job which I hope will be in my previous field but I have already come to the conclusion that I may have to change and may involve in taking a severe pay cut compare to what I previous was making at my first job.  I already know that I won't be making as much money as I did my last job unless somehow my old union gets me back old job back or some close to it.  To be truthful I'm not going to be holding my breath since that is unlikely, though I am hopeful.

            Now my plans will take some research to do everything that I want to accomplish.  One of the items that I will have to take a look into is how much longer till I complete my bachelor's at NAIT.  If it's under a year then I might have to consider getting a student loan and just completing it as rapidly as possible.  Once I get my education out-of-the-way then I can start considering other forms of employment since all have the educational background I may need.  I will have to speak with one of my instructors to discover which courses would suit me and my final educational objective.  I want to balance the project management branch and the sustainability branches available within my program since I believe these two branches will best server me once I regain employment.  It may involve taking one or two extra classes beyond what is required but I still believe it will be worthwhile to have as much underneath my belt as possible.  It may even help me finding a better job in the future.

            Another part of my plans will be to develop a routine which will allow me to continue improving my writing, my photography and allow me to develop some drawing ability.  No irony realize that once I have employment I will have to reset that schedule or routine to still allow me to do what I want but I believe its well worth it.  Getting into the habit of creating these blog is but one step in developing a writing routine.  I hope to get in the habit of at least creating one blog week and dedicate at least a few hours a week world building my literary projects.  First have to discover which part of the day would best suit me for writing for prolonged periods of time.  Now this will take some experimentation on my part, whether its getting up earlier or writing later into the evening.  I do believe it is possible since every other writer out there has been able to do it themselves and if they can I should be able to too.  It may even result in me needing to find a different location to do my work in such as coffee shops, writing at school, going to the local library or I hope discovering that I'm able to write at home.

My photography may be a little bit more difficult to progress since for some styles of photography I will need willing subjects take portrait shots of.  I hope one or two individuals can still fit in their wedding dress so I can begin practicing some wedding photography.  I already own several photography workshops’ books which I will allow me to explore different types of photography and give me something to start from I just have to find the time to do so.  I believe that I can persuade my sister-in-law or even some of my friends to pose for me if I want to practice portrait but I am not one hundred percent sure on that.  I may have to look into possibly getting some models to pose for me.  Now I'm little bit hesitant in using professional models since with my limited funds right now I can't afford to pay them all for their time.  I have heard some models a willing to pose in exchange for photos for their portfolio which is an alternative I will have to explore.

I also plan to take part in the photography challenges posted by my photography group as well as the different photography communities online.  Taking part of these challenges will I hope help improve my own creativity, develop skills and even possibly getting some productive feedback on what I am producing.  The Shutterbug group that I joined have monthly challenges which I will be taking part and  I know some online groups have weekly challenge but I don't believe I can keep up with those especially since I'm still learning how to edit my photos.  Developing my editing skills goes with my photography development which is something I have to keep in mind as I keep find project to work on.  I have already invested some money into some books to learn more about Lightroom and Photoshop and found online tutorials that should help improve my editing skill and understanding of the programs I am using.

I might discover the greatest challenge to my photography is not the photography but developing my skills and ability to edit my work.  Already found even small amount of editing as drastically improve the quality of the photos I have taken and that's my only scratching the surface of what these programs can do for me.  I might have to dedicate a piece of time were I'm only editing photos which may be boring at first but I have to keep in mind the results, which I hope will be better photos.  I think Lightroom will be the first program I invest time in since I have already been using it for some of photos and already seen some positive results from it.  I hope to continue to improve my skills using the program as well see what Photoshop can do for me down-the-line.

Now continue my development and understanding of the drafting platforms I have used in the past and may have to use the future is a whole another matter.  I already know that I have become rusty using AutoCAD and Civil 3-D, which fortunately I do have student copies of the programs so I can brush up on my skills.  I may have to talk to some my old instructors from my engineering design and drafting program to see if they can give me so I can improve my skills with.  I may even have to buy some workbook from the school bookshop to do this and look into buying more student programs to learn the different drafting programs out there such as Revit which is used in architectural drafting.  I have more positions open for architectural drafter than I have for civil or the standard AutoCAD drafter.  Even learning the basics of those programs may open doors to potential employment and will allow me to find a new job faster.

I've already downloaded several books on the basic AutoCAD programs I have which I hope to use to increase my skill level with but MicroStation on the other hand may be a little bit more difficult to develop.  The public library doesn't have as many books on MicroStation as they do for AutoCAD and I already have from my original program all that is available from them on MicroStation.  I may have to use alternatives such as YouTube or the Bentley forums to continue my development in MicroStation.  It may prove a little bit more difficult but it is one of the few choices I have open right now. I hope using the forums and hunting around on YouTube will be the only resource I’ll need but I what books are out there to help me even if I have to buy one or two of them.

The most difficult goal that I want to accomplish is not my writing or photography or even developing my drafting skills but learning how to draw artistically.  Drawing isn't like drafting or at least that's what I found so far, I may be able to draw buildings or other geometric shapes but animals’, flowers or even people still prove a challenge to me.  Luckily the library has assortment of books on learning how to draw from figure drawing to cartoon illustrations. The more difficult part of this goal will be the amount time I will have to dedicate to learning how to draw properly.  I will have to dedicate more time compared with any of the other goals.  To succeed at this one goal I will have to set up her daily routine where I dedicate several hours to simply drawing which for me might be a little bit difficult especially with my attention span as it is.  But I still believe this to be a worthwhile effort especially since I can transfer some of those skills to help develop sketches for photography projects or even design projects for drafting.  If I become good enough I may even start a web comic and possibly develop some revenue from it.

Now how I go about performing all this?  To be truthful I don't know, and just reading over what I wrote, I am feeling a little bit overwhelmed with everything I want to do.  Looking at it as a whole give it does give the impression as something too great to be carry out but if I break down each goal to the most simple I should be able to do everything.  Its about breaking down everything I want to do into the individual parts and then sorting how I want to go about doing it. Now how that is going to be done I don't know right now it will have to research or reflect more on this. I do believe the first step is writing down what I want to do and I hope what my angles which is the whole point of this blog post “beginning the process with the plan.”  I know I need a plan so I can call this all this in the first step in planning is discovering what I want out of it which I think I've just done.   So I hope in the next post or two I will be getting to developing a real plan to carry out everything or to the least the beginning of a plan.

I admit it might be madness want to do all this but right now madness is all I have.  While madness and, a lot of time on my hands I might as well be using it to do something besides hunting for a job and waiting for the next interview to come.  At least now I don't be so bored anymore or at least I hope so.

Beginning the Process of Self Evolution

            It's never easy start from scratch but that's position I'm in right now.  It seems that all my progression over the last few years has been for not.  Because of one simple choice and now find myself in a position where I have to take a job that pays well below than I was making before making the choice.  Just over six months ago I decide to leave one job for another, and it was easy for job that I originally applied for they in fact hunted me down and asked me to come for an interview.  I only went to the interview to get more interview experience and was shocked when they offered me the job, for the simple fact that I didn't have all the qualifications for the job they offered.  I even pointed this out to them on multiple occasions and only accepted the job because of the promise of mentorship and proper training.  The training ever came and I never received a mentor, the training game he was in the form of a manual that I had to memorize within a few months which is contrary to how I learned. It was also not what I originally agreed to when I took the job became to know shock when they finally terminated me.

            Now I've been unemployed for a month and a half and already bored to tears.  It isn't like I haven't been applying for jobs, in fact I've applied to more jobs in the last month and a half than I ever have in my entire life and at least been having one to three interviews a week with no luck.  I can't even begin to describe the frustration I am having, this is the longest time I've gone without employment including my three years of my original diploma.  Even when I took a week vacation I was still working since I had classes and course work to complete.  This is the longest time I've gone without anything to do besides my one class a week which I have to admit has been a godsend to me.  It wasn't for the class I would still be blaming myself for losing that job but now I find myself in a position where I can no longer around and wait for a new job, I need to be doing something.

            Now I will admit to everyone that I wasted the time on my hands.  I could've been working on the various creative projects I have on the go or indulging in the many hobbies I have but I haven't.  All I've been doing is my schoolwork, job hunting, writing cover letters, sending out applications and going to as many interviews as I can and only focusing on finding employment.  Now I'm not saying that's not important I do want a new job and I do need to find a new job but besides that I'm been wallowing in self-pity and is becoming more depressed which hasn't been helped me in the long run and in fact could be impeding me in some way that I am not even aware of. 

            I still plan to look for new job and in fact planned to dedicate at least three hours a day to job hunting but I will also be exploring alternatives.  I intend to get back to the gym which even though I've been paying the monthly fee for it I haven't been going, which has been only a waste of money. I need to get back to being active for all the progression I made in my weight loss journey will be for not.  I also want to get back to writing and not just these blog posts which I just now undertaking but on the back to create a right, my poetry and possibly working on the world building I have been putting off for many years.  I also want to get back to my photography in learning more about it, improving my skills and I hope one day getting to the point where a connection make some form of income from it.  I also have been meaning to teach myself how to draw again.  I remember a long-time ago, back in junior high that I was fairly good at and in fact enjoyed it and since I am a draft by trade I should be able to transfer that skill to a more creative area or at least I hope so.

            I'm also going to take this time to teach myself new skills and improve upon the skills are have. I should be taking this time to improve my drafting skills and my understanding of the programs I use such as AutoCAD and MicroStation and seeing where I can progress on my own initiative.  I also want to take this time to learn how to do Photoshop and work with illustrator as well as learn how to use Lightroom better, since it is the primary platform I use for editing my photos.  I even want to learn how to edit my photos and work better and this is time I can use to do that.

            I finally came to the realization that if I don't keep up on my skills and continue to learn it at least keep active somehow I will simply slide back to bad behaviors; bad behaviors that allowed me to become over 400 pounds, which made me a social outcast, and slipping back into old habits that will only hurt me in the long run.  I know all this will take much time but since I have the time I might as well use it to begin the process of becoming something more than I am now.  I might be without a job for now and have come to terms with the fact that I may be without a job for some time but it doesn't mean I have to waste that time or just use it to find a new job.  I can use that time to prove myself, to regain the creativity I lost, and expand on both my drafting skills, my understanding of the programs as well as the new skills and learning in school.

            Like the less I learned in leadership, a true leader has to take it upon themselves to continue learning no one else is responsible for.  I have to start taking responsibility for my own development and my continual development into who I want to be and not just who I am and what others think who I am.  Too long have I allowed my bad habits, negative behaviors, and other people's views on the to control how I see myself.  It's time that I redefine myself and see what I'm capable of doing.  I'm not saying I won't stumble on the way but any path in life starts with the first and I think putting this down to text is the first step in becoming something more, something greater than I am now.  I know I have the capacity and the ability within myself I just have to have more faith and take it on myself to prove that, not just to myself but to the world as well.

            Years to taking the first step in beginning the process of my own self evolution and hopefully transforming my life into something what I want to be and not just what it is.  As I have always said "time to embrace the madness for that is where true creativity and our future lies."  Time for me to embrace the madness and see what I can become form it.

Working Class or Working Better

            As I sit and eating my morning breakfast at my normal restaurant for choice for such a meal I am awestruck by the severs and the skill they show at their job.  Now most people may not even give them a second thought but I have been doing to the same place for Saturday breakfast for over two yours now and some of the server I have gotten to know well.  Hell I am such a regular that I have a regular table and my server who I normally have knows me by first name so I have had a long time to watch them. 

Not to say I can’t understand why I can’t understand why people over look those that server us our meals, get us our coffee and just simple make our live a little bit easier.  We as a society have been program to overlook them, as if they were just simple cogs in a machine that runs life.  It easy to do and easy to think that, after all they serve us and not the other way around but is that right?  I don’t think so.

My waitress without evening knew my drink order and half my order even before I sat down.  She knew how to time my starter, how long to wait before entering my main meal order into the kitchen so it would arrive at the exact moment when I finished the starter.  That is simply amazing and doing it all with a smile too.  Now most would just over look that thinking, “Well that makes sense she worked there so long and you been going there for two years.  She should know that.”  But that isn’t really the point; the point is she constantly does this, not just for me but for every order, it simply amazing.

It made me think of the girl at my Tim Horton’s or those that work at the KFC on cheap chicken Tuesday.  They move at a speed that I couldn’t keep up, serving us with a smile even when some of the customer treats them like dirt.  Think about it; really think about it, it simply amazing they can do it.  It is something I know I wouldn’t be able to do or keep up with but they do it every single day. 

We should take a moment and thank them for what they do and remember even though they are severing us they are still people who deserve our thanks for what they do.

So from me to them, thanks.

All Good Things Do Have to End

It's true what they say, "All good things do have to end.” It's a sad reality of life but we have to deal with endings, even the end of our very own existence.  I say this today reading the final strip of a web comic I have been following for over five years and the sadness as well as the joy knowing it has ended.  It has been my great pleasure to have followed the final journey of it characters and in part being part of their lives though I am sad that there will no longer be another strip it was wonderfully unwrapped up in a way that even I didn't expect.  The artis and the written should be proud on how he wrapped up his saga and the memories it will leave with his fans for years to come. 

Sometimes we have to let go of the things we care for and let them. simply end. That is the afflictions I see a lot with the comic industry today.  The simple lack of the willingness to let go of their iconic character and finally let them past to memory is a failure I see in the comic industry these days..  It's become a common group to say a favorite superhero or villain will never stay dead for long simply because the producers don't want to let go of what has been making them money for so long.  And that is what is making most comics simply stale.

They no longer want to take risk in something new and exciting that could truly rekindle the fires of fandom and bring in a younger readership.  How many relaunches of Batman or Superman have we seen through the years?  How unkillable have the mighty Wolverine have become? 

These characters have entertained us for yeas but it comes a time to let them go and star something new and inspiring.  The web cartoonist I previously referee to has inspired le to focus more on on my own creations and other creative endeavors and I do thank him for that.  I hope that one day to being my own characters to life and as he has done have the courage to let them go when their stories have finally been told in full.

All good things do have to end someday but they don't have to be forgotten ever.