-Election
-Superbowl / sports
-Olympics
-School/work
-rabbithole
The last time I blogged it was about the Federal election happening in Canada. Now this is an interesting issue because people almost everywhere you go are always willing to talk or speak their minds about politics, particularily what affects them the most and what they feel more passionate about.
BF:But voting is not just voting for the party that you believe supports your views the best. Voting is putting your vote towards a process that will have the highest chance of producing a result that best suits you. In other words....you have to look into the politics within the politics.
Anyways, that people think differently no matter who they're with is most likely to become present when talking about politics. You quickly learn not only how people think, but why they do so, especially when the discussion reaches a topic that strikes a particular chord with various members who take opposing sides on it. Then the game begins. Each side has their discussion on the topic, relating their own views on the topic while essentially trying to convince the other side. I personally believe that such discussions are beneficial to both parties, even if neither side wins and they have to acknowledge that both sides have valid points. At the very least they have shown that they have thought deeply about the subject and aren't voting blindly.
On January 23rd, much of Canada was watching as the votes were counted (which started after the polls closed in vancouver). The final results? The Conservative Party, led by Stephen Harper, won with roughly 40% of the vote. The Liberals got somewhere in the low 30s. So, as per indicated in the popular vote, the Conservatives won the minority government. Harper was sworn in on the following Monday.
This past Sunday was the Superbowl. This year, it was to be the 40th Superbowl and before the actual kickoff (which happened at about 6:30pm EDT), they introduced all the previous MVP winners all way way back to the first one, though not all of them showed up. The game was between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks, being played in Detroit. It was a good game all around with the Steelers coming on strong all throughout the game to earn their victory at 21-10. The Superbowl is pretty much the only football game I'll watch and, because of that I really don't know which team to cheer for. Since I was at a friend's house to watch it, I cheered for whatever team they were cheering for (Steelers).
In general with professional sports, I don't get too interested in seeing it. I'll watch the occasional hockey game once in a while, but I don't keep track of how the players are doing, who got traded to whom, or what happened in which game. Most notably with the NHL, I've met people who lost their interest in watching hockey either gradually up to now, or when the strike happened that cancelled the last year of hockey. Ever since the NHL expanded to include more players in more cities around the NHL, the league has been diluted with players who basically are designed to hit other players and interrupt the flow of the game in order to give their team an advantage. The problem here is that the NHL has become more of a business than a sport.
BF: I've blogged about this before, when the NHL actually did go on strike. . Anyways, that's the main reason I prefer to watch other non-NHL games, specifically the Olympic hockey games and the All-Stars. In the All-Stars game, the players are basically voted into the team by the players and the fans don't really like to see grunts in the all-star game.
In the Olympic games, (BF: They start tomorrow :) ) however, the teams are not limited to the NHL or even North America. The teams competing in this year's Winter Olympics (held in Turin Italy) are Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Kazakstan, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, and the United States. What I like about these games is that the teams are basically hand-picked to represent their country so the level of hockey you see is noticeably higher. At this level, grunting and hitting won't work anymore. In the Men's Hockey, the playing field is more level across the countries as the men are into it more in other countries than the women are. In the women's hockey, it's almost always just the Canadians against the Americans.
As for school, I've entered my final semester/term in college. In a matter of weeks I will be graduating with a technologist diploma in Instrumentation Engineering. As part of the requirements for sixth semester, I am required to have a work placement two days a week (monday and tuesday). I've been able to get my placement with Calderwood Automation, a service company that upgrades, repairs, and maintains various control systems in the southeastern Ontario area. So far it's been very interesting and I've been learning a lot on it. I've been taken to various service sites and got to learn about various things as well as help with some of the work when needed.
Earlier this week, OPSEU, which is the union that represents the full-time teachers at St. Lawrence as well as all the other 23 colleges in Ontario, had a vote to see whether or not they were in favour of a strike on March 7. The teachers voted 80.4% in favour of a strike, which is a pretty strong mandate. If the strike does occur this year it could affect my graduation depending on how long it goes. However, in talking with teachers at the college, they aren't too concerned about a strike happening. The last time the teachers voted in favour of a strike, they came up with a last-minute deal and the strike was averted. They trust in Dalton McGuinty's (Ontario Premier) ability to avert the strike. There's still plenty of time for the teachers and management to sit down and talk about their negotiations and come up with a deal. Here's the interesting part though. The strike deadline is set for a day that I'm on placement. If they don't come up with a deal and decide to strike, I am not allowed to go on work placement as it's very likely that I won't be covered by the College's insurance. However, if they don't strike, I have to go in for the placement. If it comes to that I won't know until the morning of. In 2003, the teachers also voted in favour of a strike, but the mandate wasn't as high as 80%. The management was able to form a deal with the teachers and nothing really was affected.
Anyways...that's that about my school life and work...in my personal life, as it always is...there's generally nothing of note to report. Every day in general is just another part of the schedule. Wake up, go to school, come home, do workish stuff, go to bed. Rinse. Repeat. Go out on weekendnights, sleep during weekenddays, and then get ready for the week again.
Rabbit Hole Feature: TBA. Nothing has come to mind atm but I'll post one next time I feel something to blog about in this section.
