Adventures With Phil

Just Stepping It Up A Notch

[adventureswithphil]

Two years of crazy... awesome

Two years ago, I started showing up to this crazy thing called November Project Canada. At the time I didn’t really know what it was all about except that a group of people were crazy enough to be outside, in January, at 6 AM, just to stay fit. What’s kind of crazy is I don’t remember exactly how I found out about NP. I didn’t have a crazy friend who invited me. I actually didn’t know a single person the first crazy day I showed up. I think I read an article somewhere online, or maybe it was in the newspaper, something about fitness, there may have been a NP pop-up, and there may have been a reference to some guy named Andrew Ference, I honestly can’t remember.... crazy, huh? What brought me to NP was that I had a goal: to be as fit as I could in a month so I would be prepared for the crazy adventure of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. 

After a few times at NP, I figured out a few things: there was a lot of running, and a lot of these people were crazy fast. 

I definitely consider myself to be crazy for showing up and continuing to show up at NP, because I am not a runner. When I was younger, I was a good sprinter; considering how short I am, I was actually crazy fast (I could do 40 m in about 5-6 secs). But I dreaded running anything more than 100 m. 

A few months after coming back from Kilimanjaro, I ran a 10 km race, my first one ever. Whatever possessed me, a non-runner, to do such a crazy thing? It must have been all those crazy people at NP rubbing off on me. 

Well, after 2 years, I am still not a runner. But what keeps me coming back to NP, other than it being free ;) are all the awesome people that I’ve met. Thanks for all your positive energy, thanks for the motivation, thanks for the high-fives and hugs, and thanks for being you, you’re all crazy, just like me! 

PS. Almost forgot, a few weeks ago, I earned my NP -30 badge, which is now proudly sewn on my backpack. For those who don’t know what this is, well I think it’s proof we just may be crazy. You earn this badge for showing up to NP when it’s -30 or colder. 

[adventureswithphil]

I quit my job today

Yup, you read that right, my career as a power engineer has come to an end. I still have a few more weeks of actual work but I gave my notice of resignation today. If you've talked to me for any length of time in the past several years, I'm pretty sure you would have undoubtedly heard me complain about my job and how much I disliked it.

I have known for quite some time now (ie. years) that I did not wish to continue in power engineering, it just took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do instead. Then one day, I decided to go climb a mountain. Now I can't say for sure that climbing Mount Kilimanjaro last year set me off in the direction I'm about to take but I know I can list off a bunch of events and people I met that caused me to make certain decisions leading up to today, that if listed, might sound like the ending of How I Met Your Mother (the way it should have ended, not that garbage one they actually aired), anyways, Kilimanjaro would be in there.

So, you may be wondering what I'm going to be doing. Well, I will be going back to school to study civil engineering technology. After going to Washington DC to attend the eMi conference last October, it became clear to me that what I wanted to do with my life, realistically, was to be involved in what eMi does. Then, after talking to several people, I came to realize that civil engineering technology really fit well with my personality as I've always considered myself to be a jack-of-all-trades, having some knowledge in a lot of different things, and civil engineering would provide a broad spectrum of areas of expertise and one could be involved in all of them. 

After having told my superiors that I was quitting, I was then free to start telling my coworkers, which was very freeing as I've been planning this for months and have had to hold my tongue many times to avoid letting the cat out of the bag. One lady said to me “That's great to hear! I'm so happy for you, you haven't been happy here since the beginning. You're way too smart to be working here and honestly, no offense but, working here has made you dumber.” I can't say I disagree. When you work in a place where only a handful of people are motivated, where there's a sense of entitlement, where there's constant conflict with management, where there's low morale, no matter how far you try to stay out of the negativity, it still gets to you, it wears you down and eats away at your soul. It's like being thrown into a pool you can't get out of so you have to tread water; well, you can only tread water for so long.

I hope that what happened to me never happens to you. I think that if you take the time to figure out what you're passionate about and pursue that, I doubt that this will ever be a problem for you. 

[adventureswithphil]

Things I wish someone had told me before I was 25

As summer draws near, so does the end of the school year for many young people and along with that comes graduation. For the post secondary students, this has possibly already happened. This is mostly for my friends who are graduating, but even if you're not and you're under 25, I think you should read this. Maybe it's just me but I feel like there is this expectation of young people to go to college/university right out of high school, and then after you're done that, you find a job so you can start your career, and you're supposed to have your life figured out by the time you're 25. As I've stumbled and fumbled my way through life so far, I've learned a few things. I didn't have anyone to help guide me so I had to learn most things the hard way: through experience. I want to share some things that I wish someone had told me before I turned 25, and I guess my hope is that maybe some of you won't have to go through the same kinds of pains that I went through to learn these things.

If you don't know what you want to do with your life, know that that's ok, but don't waste your time and money (or should I say your parent's money) going to college/university. You may lose out on some scholarships but in the grand scheme of things, that is insignificant. No amount of money is worth doing something that doesn't bring you joy. This brings me to my next point: Life is too short to be living someone else's dream/life. If you want to become a doctor, do it because you want to be a doctor, not because your parents want you to be a doctor, or you think your parents want you to be a doctor. Do it because you are passionate about what being a doctor means. (Doctor is just an example, you can replace it with whatever you want: teacher, engineer, nurse, carpenter, electrician, actor, singer, writer, etc) It's your life, find the thing you're passionate about and pursue that. Maybe you haven't quite figured out what you're passionate about; it's not the end of the world. Get a job doing whatever while you figure it out. Just don't sit at home doing nothing, you'll never figure anything out that way. If you really have no idea where to start, take a career seminar; they can help give you some ideas for career paths based on your personality, values and skills. Travel. You will get to meet new and different people, eat amazing food, see breathtaking places, but most importantly, you will discover more about yourself than you could ever imagine. There's a whole world out there waiting for you to explore. As a young person, you have so much freedom. I hope you don't fall into the trap of "I'll do this or that when I have more money, or whatever." because before you know it you'll have a job that doesn't give you enough time off or you'll be married with kids and you just won't be able to go. Give yourself the grace to make mistakes, even fail at something. Your failures (and even successes) do not define you. As someone who was a high achiever in high school, the first time I failed a class in university, I didn't really know what to do. So much of my self worth and identity were tied into how well I did in school. You may fail at something but you are not a failure. Your performance does not define you. Don't be afraid to bring things to an end. There will probably come a time when you will need to end something. It could be that you're taking the wrong college/university program; it could be a relationship that has no future; it could be a job you need to quit; no matter what it is, if you've given it your best shot, there is no shame in ending/quitting something that just isn't working. I'm proud of you. In my whole life, I have only heard these words twice, that's the truth. When you hear words as important as these, you remember it when you hear them. The first time I heard these words spoken to me, I was 24. I hope no one reading this will have to go that long before hearing those words. If you've never had anyone tell you this, I'm saying it to you right now; You've made it so far in life, I'm proud of you. I believe in you. You are smarter, stronger, and more courageous than you think, know or believe. You can do it. Move out of your parent's house. Get a group of friends and move in together. Don't just live in a house together, do life together. I know that living at home can save you a lot of money, but if I can make a guarantee on anything I've written here, it's this: there is nothing in the world that compares to cultivating deep relationships with your friends and there's no better way to do this than doing life together. There are things you won't be able to do if you're still living at home, like having a bunch of people over whenever, staying up late playing games, or watching movies or YouTube and laughing together, laughing so hard you cry. Share your ups and downs, your hopes and dreams, your feelings (that means you too guys). Don't just live together, really share your lives; that's what it means to Build community.

[adventureswithphil]

What does it mean?

Last weekend, I finally got around to watching the movie The Blind Side. Needless to say, it has been on my list of things to watch for a very long time. It was a great movie; it definitely earned a spot, if not the top spot on my favourite movies list. 

I thought it was a great movie because it showed how, out of compassion, a woman and her family took in a homeless boy, fed, clothed, and raised him as their own, even when doubts or opposition confronted them.

But the greatest thing about this movie was that it challenged me. Near the beginning of the movie, Coach Cotton is at a table with other staff members trying to convince them to admit Micheal into their private school. They come up with some reasons why they shouldn't, but he says to them: “Look at the wall,” pointing to the sign behind him, “Christian. We either take that seriously, or we paint over it.” 

Now I would call myself a Christian, but I don't say it often and I don't really like to proclaim it on the Internet. There are a couple of reasons for this. First of all, the word Christian has a lot of connotations, many of them negative, and with all the stupid things people claiming to be Christians say and do that gets plastered all over the Internet, I don't want to be associated with those people. But probably more importantly, I know that I haven't taken my faith all that seriously and I often do not act Christ-like, and I am misrepresenting Jesus because of that.

So, what is a Christian, and what does it mean to take that seriously? I believe a Christian is a person that lives (or strives to live) a Christ-like life. When Jesus was on earth, he healed the sick, fed the poor, and hung out with the rejects; he loved people and told his followers to do the same: he said the greatest command was to love God and love people (my paraphrase). 

In the past few weeks there's been a lot of talk about Syrian refugees. But maybe it's time to stop talking and time to start acting. It seems to me that Christians like to talk about doing good, but when it comes to doing it, we’re not so good at that. We’ll give our “10%” and feel good about it because “I've done my duty.” I don't know if you've done anything or thought about doing anything to help with the refugee crisis. Maybe you donated some clothes or money to some organization; maybe your church is going to sponsor a family. Those are great things, but if you are a Christian and you're reading this, I think we can do better. If we’re going to call ourselves Christ followers, we better start loving people. The question is, are you going to take it seriously and how far are you willing to take it?

I often wonder how many people actually read the things I write; I guess I'm about to find out. It takes about $25,000 to sponsor a refugee family of 4. Now, I don't have that much money, but I do have $1000. I wonder if I have 24 friends who would be willing to partner with me to sponsor a refugee family. This isn't going to be through a church, just a bunch of people doing this together, because it's more personal this way. Besides, a church is already supposed to do this kind of thing, I'm just a random guy that wants to try to live out my faith. Now here's my challenge to you: maybe you don't have $1000, but you could grab a couple friends and split it up. But let's step it up a notch, I know there's something you could probably give up to come up with $1000 all on your own. Maybe it's giving up your daily $5 coffees for a few months, or how about giving the money that you're probably going to get at Christmas. How about we step it up another notch? What if instead of buying Christmas gifts for yourself and your family, you put all that money towards bringing a refugee family to Canada? What kind of message would that send, not only to the family that you helped, but to your own family, and your friends, and coworkers? Don't you think people might start to think there might actually be something to following Jesus when they ask you what you got for Christmas, and you respond with “nothing, but I gave a refugee family the opportunity to come to Canada”?

So, who’s with me?

[adventureswithphil]

Doing my duty as a responsible Canadian

So, I voted today. First time ever voting early, because I won't be in the country on Election Day. If you're reading this and are eligible to vote, I really encourage you to get out and vote. 

I honestly don't know why some people don't vote. Maybe those people should go live in a country where they don't have the right to vote and see how they like it. Yes, it is true that for the majority of Canadians, your one vote doesn't make any difference. I know that the ballot that I cast today does not help the party or the candidate I voted for, because I'm quite certain they have no chance at winning the riding I'm in, so basically my vote doesn't count. This is in part due to the flaw of our “First past the post” electoral system, and it has to go. 

Once again, I find that I am not voting FOR someone, but I am voting AGAINST someone. I will not shy away from saying that I do not support the Conservatives. They are the only party that hasn't made any commitment to electoral reform. The only reform they have made, ironically named the Fair Elections Act, actually makes it harder for certain people to vote. 

Their economic record is deplorable. Sure they managed to balance the budget, but how they did it rubs me the wrong way. If you didn't know, they balanced the budget by selling the small percentage of shares the government owned of GM and Chrysler back to GM and Chrysler. All of a sudden TADA, look we just got millions of dollars, the budget is balanced, the Conservatives look like heroes.  The problem is, the shares were worth less than when they were bought so the government just wasted millions of our tax dollars in a bail out that should never have happened in the first place. That's right, the government should never have given a bailout and here's why: capitalism. Isn't the very essence of capitalism that you are free to offer your product/service and if you succeed, you succeed but if you fail, you fail and someone else is free to take your place? Another way to help balance the budget: cutting services, like for veterans by closing veterans affairs offices. 

Income splitting and the UCCB is a scam. Income splitting only helps if one spouse makes a lot more money than the other. The UCCB is a taxable benefit of UP TO $2000, that replaced a non-taxable credit of $2350.

Other things the Conservatives have done: removed protection of 99% of Canada’s water to appease the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association. Destroyal of and limiting access to historical scientific and statistical data. Muzzling of Canadian scientists. 

Oh and I almost forgot to mention the longest election campaign in Canadian history, that again is costing tax payers millions of dollars. Raise your hand if you were paying any attention to the election campaign during your summer holidays back in August. Yea, didn't think so.

These are just a few of the things I cannot support. 

[adventureswithphil]

Alberta votes

So we’re going to have an election in Alberta. I want to encourage everyone who is eligible, to go out and vote. Do not think or let anyone tell you that your vote doesn’t count. YOUR VOTE COUNTS. But before you vote, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE make sure that you are making an informed decision on who you are voting for. I cannot stress this enough. Find out who’s running in your riding and what they stand for. If you find that you cannot support any of the candidates, rather than not voting, in Alberta provincial elections you are allowed to decline your ballot. Declining your ballot is different from spoiling your ballot. Even if declined ballots do not officially count for anything (hopefully some day they will), you had to have given it some thought to come to that conclusion and you participated in the voting process.

Also go and watch the movie Head of State; Chris Rock becomes the President of America, this was before Obama; it’s quite entertaining. 

What I’m about to say next will probably be controversial but I think it needs to be said. For my Christian friends, do not let your morals dictate who you vote for. Judging by their actions (refer to any political scandal), most politicians have low moral standards anyways, what makes you think they agree with and will defend your morals? Whatever moral stances you think a political party has could change if it’s going to buy them votes. I know this happens in the US but I think it happens in Canada too: Christians have a tendency to vote only conservative; they are unwilling to vote anything else because that means they would be saying they support gay marriage and abortion. Really, these moral issues should not be for the government to decide; this is the job of the church. One of the reasons why these moral issues are associated with left wing politics is because they promote equality, which is a socialist ideal. Also, the right doesn’t want to go there so it has been associated with the people who tend to be against those things: the “religious”. This is just plain wrong. So is the notion that Canada is a Christian nation. I don’t see anything Christ-like about anything the government does. In fact, I would say that the first people to be called Christians were actually communist: the people shared everything amongst themselves. So, Christians should actually be left-wing not right-wing. Now I’m not saying you should vote for a socialist party, I’m saying just because you’re a Christian doesn’t  mean you have to vote conservative.

In the end, what counts is that you make an informed decision and you go vote.

[adventureswithphil]

Did he tell you?

Sam and Pete met while serving during the war. They quickly became good friends, spending all their time together. Sam loved that Pete had an easy-going nature, a real positive outlook on life, and he had this quirky smile that he flashed before he jumped into action. They shared everything with each other: rations, childhood memories, hopes and dreams, and lots of laughs. Sam knew their bond was stronger than brothers.

One rainy night while they were sitting in the trenches, a grenade was thrown and fell in between them. They both looked at it and then at each other. Pete winked at Sam and flashed his stupid grin just before he dove on top of the grenade.

Sam was sent home and he went to visit Pete’s parents. They talked for hours about Pete. Finally, there was a moment of silence and Sam asked quietly “Did Pete ever tell you?” He was holding back the tears. “Did Pete ever tell you...” he said again, “did he tell you that he loved me?”

Pete’s mother looked at him angrily and said, “Sam, a man gave his life for you. Of course he loved you!”

The story above is a work of fiction, except for the very last line. There once was a man and his name was Jesus. He loved you, and he loved me. He showed us his love by giving his life for us. This is what we remember and celebrate at Easter. 

[adventureswithphil]

What I learned from having my old Facebook account hacked, reactivated and used for spam

First of all, I had a pretty simple password for that Facebook account. I don't know why but I did, it was pretty foolish on my part.

I also did the whole deactivation process incorrectly. I basically said goodbye, hit the deactivate button and never signed in again. I can't even remember why I didn't want to be on Facebook anymore. 2 years later, I put myself back on Facebook but instead of reactivating my old account, I made a new one, not sure why I did that. What I should have done was delete everything, which is what I ended up doing today.

Even though mobile phones are great and having internet access pretty much anywhere you are is great too, there are some things that are still better with a keyboard and mouse. It was impossible to untag myself using the touch screen of the phone. 

I suppose it's a blessing in disguise that I didn't just delete everything the first time because I still had a friend list and was able to reconnect with a few people that I didn't re-add when I created my new account. Through this I also learned that a lot of people don't go through their friends list to delete people, otherwise they wouldn't have still been in my friend list, although I suspect it's probably too much work for people who have many hundreds or thousands of friends.

I then found out that it is actually possible to have Facebook completely delete your account, but you have to ask for it. So all that work deleting stuff was kind of a waste, but it was oddly satisfying because I felt like I was Dr. Who deleting himself from the annals of history :)

[adventureswithphil]

The joys of being on hold

Today I made 2 phone calls. One was to Fido to make a modification to my cell phone plan and complain about a missing discount. Total time on phone: 9 minutes. The 2nd call was to Shaw to complain about the ever increasing cost of Internet service and to try to get a discount. If it wasn't for Shaw's 'call back' feature, which allows them to call you back, I would have spent over an hour and a half on the phone. But even with this feature, I still spent 50 mins on the phone, and over 30 of those minutes on hold. I had to call them 3 times to get anything done because the first lady in billing couldn't help me and when she tried to forward me to the loyalty department my call was dropped. When I called back, I was put on hold and the rep stayed on hold with me until I could be transferred to the loyalty department. When I did get transferred, the lady couldn't hear me on her end so she hung up on me. I had to call again and got put on hold again. This was not the only annoying thing throughout this process. I also had to listen to the same 4 songs of their extremely short hold music set. All of this just to get the right to not have my internet bill go up and they're giving me a 5Mbps increase in Internet speed which I'm sure won't even be noticeable.

[popmech]

This Man Is Re-Creating the Deadliest Flu Virus

[adventureswithphil]

Yoshihiro Kawaoka caused a global uproar by re-creating history’s deadliest flu virus. That might sound crazy. But when a real influenza pandemic strikes, you’re going to want him on your side.

[ftnd-blog]

The Good Guys: When Major Corporations Say No To Profiting Off Porn

As a $97 billion a year global industry, porn has become a viable revenue stream for otherwise legitimate corporations. Gas stations and gift shops sell porn magazines, hotels offer porn films as part of their in-room entertainment services, clothing/apparel companies continue to push the boundaries of pornographic advertising, cable and internet service providers offer a wide array of options to cater to the pornography viewing experience, and the list goes on and on. 

With too many major corporations secretly (and not-so-secretly) profiting off the porn industry, we figured we would shout out a few of the good guys - the major worldwide corporations that have publicly rejected pornography and chosen to make their millions of dollars without making porn a part of their bottom line, as easy as it would be for them to do so. 

So here are five awesome companies that have kicked porn to the curb in the last decade, choosing not to be responsible for the proliferation of this new drug in society.

1. Google

Just a few months ago, in July of this year, Google released a statement to their advertisers, informing them of Google’s new policy to no longer accept AdWords advertisements containing explicit language or that link to porn sites. For the average Googler, users will no longer see any sidebar search results or ads for porn sites.

While this was a move that will significantly affect Google’s reported $100 million a day AdWords revenue, they made the decision anyway to walk away from making money off of porn. 

Mad props, Google.

2. Sony Corp.

In early 2007, Sony Corp. announced that it would not work with the adult film industry to put porn movies on Sony’s popular Blu-ray Disc format.

The company disallowed its disc-replicating outlet, Sony DADC Global, to handle adult film titles. Sony or any of it’s subsidiaries won’t duplicate any movies that are above a certain rating or that have not been certified by a local motion picture association.

Basically, Sony told pornographers that they would have to find somewhere else to produce their content. Sony cut the porn industry out of their Blu-ray camp and told their Blu-ray replicators that if they produced adult content, they would lose their license.

So despite facing the threat of being surpassed by competitors in the high definition disc market that were willing to take the business of the porn industry, Sony said no to profiting off of porn. 

You rock, Sony.

3. Marriott International

In 2011, Marriott International, one of the largest hotel chains in the world, released a statement saying it would no longer offer in-room adult films. Marriott’s statement said it would “phase out porn over the next few years … across our system,” and that, “it is our practice to keep adult content out of the reach of children and unavailable to any adult who chooses not to view it.”

The change has affected nearly 600,000 rooms in the Marriott-brand hotels, which include Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott, Renaissance Hotels, Courtyard by Marriott, as well as Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company LLC and others.

While in-room porn films have been known to be a solid stream of revenue for hotel chains, Marriott wasn’t cool with being one of them.

Good for you, Marriott.

4. Apple

Here is just one of the million reasons that Apple is awesome. The innovative company is actually very well known to be against porn. Legendary Apple founder Steve Jobs said in an email exchange with a customer in 2011, that he believed he had a “moral responsibility” to reject pornographic content on Apple products.

He famously wrote, “Folks who want porn can buy [an] Android.”

Jobs also defended his stance against a critique from a magazine writer who objected to an Apple commercial calling the iPad a revolution, while banning porn in the App Store. ”Revolutions are about freedom,” the journalist wrote.

Jobs responded that Apple products offer users freedom from porn, and told the writer that he might care more about porn when he had children.

Apple’s App Store guidelines are very clear about pornography:

Apps containing pornographic material, defined by Webster’s Dictionary as “explicit descriptions or displays of sexual organs or activities intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings”, will be rejected.

Apps that contain user generated content that is frequently pornographic (ex. “Chat Roulette” Apps) will be rejected.

Apple seemed to feel that with all of its impressive technological achievements to be remembered, it didn’t want “making it easier to view porn” to be one of them.

Can Apple get any cooler?

5. Omni Hotels & Resorts

Omni Hotels & Resorts is a luxury hotel chain that offers over 20,000 rooms all over the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In 1999, Omni was credited as the first national hotel chain to remove porn from their services.

"This was never a business decision," said Omni spokesperson Caryn Kboudi. "Our ownership at the time had younger children, and it just wasn’t a way as an organization that we felt we wanted to make money."

You’re awesome, Omni. Enough said. 

—————————

We respect cool companies that decide to ignore the dollar signs they could be making, in favor of not promoting and increasing the demand for something as harmful as pornography.

If you are with us, share this article and let people know who the good guys are. 

#fightthenewdrug

[adventureswithphil]

Thank you Apple

Earlier this week I updated my Iphone to the new iOS8. At first I was a little annoyed because I didn't have enough space available for the update (it was asking for a whopping 5 GB) Then after the update I was a little annoyed that there were a few apps added that I'm probably never going to use. But in the end, updating to iOS8 has actually made my life better. 

Since I didn't have the space required for the update, I was forced to delete some things off my phone. First, I deleted almost every game on my phone. Then I wiped my photo album, which consisted mostly of pictures of funny stuff I find on the internet. Then I deleted some apps; I can't remember if it was before or after the update but I decided one of the apps that needed to go was the facebook app. After completing the update, I looked through to see what else was using up space on my phone and my e-mail was one of the culprits. So, I'm notorious for not deleting emails and for some reason the way my phone handled mail on itself and the server wasn't working properly. I ended up removing the link to my e-mail, then I cleaned up my inbox and basically deleted 10 years worth of e-mails that I had kept for I know not what. I re-added my e-mail to my phone and now it actually works properly. 

So, a big thanks to Apple for making me delete so much unneeded stuff. Without all the games and the Facebook app, I'm not wasting so much time, hopefully this will make me more productive, at least it's saving me lots of battery life throughout the day. 

[adventureswithphil]

First Impressions

We've all heard it said "first impressions matter". But I have to wonder how much of that first impression actually does. They say the first minute is what counts (I guess that's the whole premise behind speed dating). However, speed dating is probably one of the only scenarios where you only have that one minute. In pretty well all other situations, you're going to spend more than one minute talking to someone. I think what happens after that first minute probably matters more. I mean, even in the speed dating situation, after that first minute let's say one decides he/she wishes to get to know someone better, it's what happens after when one actually decides whether things will work. I suppose if you're meeting people in a large group, you can always walk away from people you don't like or don't find interesting or whatever. With that being said, how long does it actually take for someone to decide whether they like someone enough to continue their relationship? Could you imagine if you met everyone you know in the speed dating format? ie. you only get one minute with them to decide whether or not you want to continue a relationship with them. How many of your friends would actually be your friends? Let's take it one step further. What about love? How many people can really truly say "it was love at first sight" or "you had me at hello"? I don't know. I don't suppose that number is all that high. Sure someone may catch your eye and make your heart skip a beat/take your breath away, but is it not in the process of getting to know someone that love happens? I think it takes more than just that "first impression" to determine whether you love someone. On the other hand, what then does that say about arranged marriages? In this case, one doesn't have a choice on who one marries. But there are some people in arranged marriages who are happy. Can we conclude that they learned to love each other because they had no choice? What about the others, did they just not learn it; if so are they just tolerating each other? In either case, did the first impression affect this in any way?

[adventureswithphil]

Driving in Alberta.

So last weekend, I went down to Calgary. It was the first time in my life that I have experienced high traffic on the highway in Alberta. I was shocked (and annoyed) at how people do not know how to drive on the highway. So normally, I am one of the people who drives in the right-hand lane only going slightly more than the speed limit, but this time I needed to move a little faster. When I'm normally on the highway if I have to pass anyone, even I, will accelerate to get past them then resume my previous speed. If there are other cars in the left-hand lane coming up behind me, I will match their speed to get around the slow car so the faster car doesn't have to brake. For some reason, on this particular day, there were many people barely doing the speed limit trying to pass other people who were barely doing the speed limit, holding up traffic. There were times when it was so bad that I was only doing 90 km/h! 

Once I got to Calgary, I also observed something curious. With the exception of Deerfoot Trail, on every road that I drove whilst in Calgary that weekend, people were actually driving at the speed limit, almost no one was speeding! Even on Deerfoot Trail, where the speed limit is 100, hardly anyone was going more than 110. It was weird. 

[adventureswithphil]

Why is it that we always want what we can't have?

[tifamex]

"The first Disney Movie to tell girls they can fight too is Frozen!"

"Frozen is the first Disney Movie where the girl didn’t need a man to save her!! <3 "

[neko-chicana]

"Frozen is the first Disney movie about loving sisters!"

[jillstrif-deactivated20200104]

who cares either way. where are the disney movies that say men don’t need women? where are the disney movies about two brothers? there aren’t any. please stop ruining everything with feminist desperation. /rant

[adventureswithphil]

Uh, what about Brother Bear? Was that not a Disney movie about 2 brothers? I think it was, Ha!

[adventureswithphil]

Awesome Coke commercial for all my friends who are expecting (especially those who are like the couple in the video) :)