Aug 29
May 28
Weekly rant #43
So I am just about done the Gunslinger series and this got me thinking about fate, or Ka as it is referred to in the books. Many years ago I had the thought that there are multiple universes that all stem from ones first choice. I mean for every choice a split occurs. I began to wonder about the choices I have made in my life and how the other Jason's are doing. The Jason that didn't throw the snowball mixed with mud at that van in Montreal or the Jason that went to karate instead of gettting dropped off and waiting in the park. What about the Jason that stayed in Oliver, continued the drinking and drugs?
The one I wonder about most, these days, is the Jason that finished work one night, drove drove home at 150 kph down Old Dewdney Trunk Road in tears, almost hit a telephone pole and when asked by Teresa to "tell me you love me", said "I love you". Because this Jason, writing this, couldn't. How is he doing, I wonder. DId he get to return to school? Did he get to build the darkroom he wanted? I guess he is the assistant manager at the store that replaced SuperValu in Coquitlam, working with Al, Tim, Gabe and Rena. I hope he is doing ok in his universe. At least he gets to see Amanda every day.
But anyway, there are some that believe in fate (Ka) and there are some that think we have a choice. I have no idea. I have been plugging along, studying, working and life keeps rolling along. I have found that I need active in this "fate" otherwise life seems to fall apart. Ignoring bills and hoping that problems go away only leads to the crappy consequences of those choices. A good example of my universe is my "extra job". I started working with one of Rebecca's cousins, every other weekend for a little extra money. I got this job just before my trip to Vancouver last Christmas (see my post on my trip from hell), when I came home to that huge bill, my "extra money" went to paying it off. Fate?
A quote I once heard, or read said; "every decesion I have made in my life, led me directly to where I am." True and to the point. It makes me sad to think of some of the other Jason's out there, and at the same time wonder about the one who made all of the right choices.
Sometimes when I'm tired and weary, when my wife says how much she appreciates all that I do and how hard I work and when my kids tell me they love me, I think that the Jason who made all the "right" choices is the one right here.
PS. The rant is: Some people in the teaching program should stop whining about how early in the morning some of the classes are, that they have to do re-tests and that some of the material is not relevant to "their subject". Shut up and realize how good it is. Life is what you make of it (if you read the above paragraphs, you will understand).
"Man stands for long time with mouth open before roast duck flies in." -Chinese saying
May 23
Invitation to connect on LinkedIn
| Arjun, I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. - Jason
|
© 2011, LinkedIn Corporation
May 16
Weekly rant volume 42
So my new job gave my name to www.sinec.se which is the Swedish International Network for Exchange and Commerce. They want me to do some translating for them in exchange for a membership. I am a littlw worried about the direction that all of this is going. How much time do I want to put into this? I want to continue the teaching program so I don't know how much energy I can give to this new endeavor. Might lead to something cool and interesting though...
I love my wife and kids. Rebecca is my one and only, not just cause I'm lonely...
Anyway...this year of Geography is almost over...English next year.
May 2
Sickening Behaviour.
On May 1, 2011 Pres. Barack Obama appeared on national television with the spontaneous announcement that Osama bin Laden, the purported organizer of the tragic events of September 11th 2001, was killed by military forces in Pakistan. Within moments, a media blitz ran across virtually all television networks in what could only be described as a grotesque celebratory display, reflective of a level of emotional immaturity that borders on cultural psychosis. Depictions of people running through the streets of New York and Washington chanting jingoistic American slogans, waving their flags like the members of some cult, praising the death of another human being, reveals yet another layer of this sickness we call modern society. It is not the scope of this response to address the political usage of such an event or to illuminate the staged orchestration of how public perception was to be controlled by the mainstream media and the United States Government. Rather the point of this article is to express the gross irrationality apparent and how our culture becomes so easily fixed and emotionally charged with respect to surface symbology, rather than true root problems, solutions or rational considerations of circumstance. The first and most obvious point is that the death of Osama bin Laden means nothing when it comes to the problem of international terrorism. His death simply serves as a catharsis for a culture that has a neurotic fixation on revenge and retribution. The very fact that the Government which, from a psychological standpoint, has always served as a paternal figure for it citizens, reinforces the idea that murdering people is a solution to anything should be enough for most of us to take pause and consider the quality of the values coming out of the zeitgeist itself. However, beyond the emotional distortions and tragic, vindictive pattern of rewarding the continuation of human division and violence comes a more practical consideration regarding what the problem really is and the importance of that problem with respect to priority. The death of any human being is of an immeasurable consequence in society. It is never just the death of the individual. It is the death of relationships, companionship, support and the integrity of familial and communal environments. The unnecessary deaths of 3000 people on September 11, 2001 is no more or no less important than the deaths of those during the World Wars, via cancer and disease, accidents or anything else. As a society, it is safe to say that we seek a world that strategically limits all such unnecessary consequences through social approaches that allow for the greatest safety our ingenuity can create. It is in this context that the neurotic obsession with the events of September 11th, 2001 become gravely insulting and detrimental to progress. An environment has now been created where outrageous amounts of money, resources and energy is spent seeking and destroying very small subcultures of human beings that pose ideological differences and act on those differences through violence. Yet, in the United States alone each year, roughly 30,000 people die from automobile accidents, the majority of which could be stopped by very simple structural changes. That's ten 9/11's each year... yet no one seems to pine over this epidemic. Likewise, over 1 million Americans die from heart disease and cancer annually - causes of which are now easily linked to environmental influences in the majority. Yet, regardless of the over 330 9/11's occurring each year in this context, the governmental budget allocations for research on these illnesses is only a small fraction of the money spent on “anti-terrorism” operations. Such a list could go on and on with regard to the perversion of priority when it comes to what it means to truly save and protect human life and I hope many out there can recognize the severe imbalance we have at hand with respect to our values. So, coming back to the point of revenge and retribution, I will conclude this response with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., likely the most brilliant intuitive mind when it came to conflict and the power of non-violence. On September 15, 1963 a Birmingham Alabama church was bombed, killing four little girls attending Sunday school. In a public address, Dr. King stated: “What murdered these four girls? Look around. You will see that many people that you never thought about participated in this evil act. So tonight all of us must leave here with a new determination to struggle. God has a job for us to do. Maybe our mission is to save the soul of America. We can't save the soul of this nation throwing bricks. We can't save the soul of this nation getting our ammunitions and going out shooting physical weapons. We must know that we have something much more powerful. Just take up the ammunition of love.” - Dr. Martin Luther King, 1963 -
Apr 13
Weekly rant, April 13th 2011.
Another section of Geography done, regional economics. Just passed the final by the skin of my teeth, oh well. The teacher was not clear about what he expected from us. Oh well...
Still dealing with the aftershocks of my travel woes and now have to pay 1000:- per month to pay it off while I wait for my case to go further with Konsumentverket and hopefully get my money back. I am thinking of adding damages to the case as it is causing further problems with my credit etc. I could certainly use a little vacation from life right about now...oh well...
I now have two jobs on top of school and the kids and married life. I clean a grocery store every other weekend and have started translating press releases for a company that builds unmanned arial vehicles here in Linköping. The "extra" money goes, of course, to pay bills... oh well, c'est la vie. I start my sommer jobb at the campground Lysingsbadet (www.lysingsbadet.se) in June and I am looking forward to it. Another beautiful Swedish summer.
The kids are good, Mattias has fit in well to the new school, he came in in the middle of the year because we moved into the city, and Markus and Elisabeth love to go to their daycare. I still love that we pay nothing for daycare or school. Mattias is a LEGO master like his pappa and can draw awesome skeltons.
Not really a rant...what can I rant about? Life is good, hard but good. I have an awesome sexy wife who takes good care of me. Speaking of Rebecca, she has applied for the teaching program at LiU in the fall and I can't wait to see her sexy body around the campus, sit under the trees and talk about Vygotsky and Skinner and love each other.
I could rant about gas prices, 14,32:-, but I realise that driving is a privelege, not a right. I could rant about my excercise routine, but I don't have one. I could rant about how I have to pay an increase in my rent because they are fixing water damage and need to "upgrade" the bathroom but...oh well...
Life goes on, nah nah nah...
Jan 18
Travel fun
SAS KundrelationerSAS Kundrelationer
Avd STOSK
195 87 Stockholm
Sweden
Den 18 januari 2011
Re: re-booking of ticket number 4R37PO and DCJK5H
Dear Customer Service Manager,
On December 18th, I purchased a return trip to Seattle Wa. from Arlanda (Stockholm) through Expedia.ca.
First, let me describe my experience. I arrived at the check-in counter at Arlanda at 4:00 am and checked in, chose my seats and printed my boarding passes. I then dropped off my bag at the baggage drop and proceeded to the gate, all smooth and great service so far. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:05 am but at 6:02 a representative came out and told us that the flight to Frankfurt was now cancelled and we could go get our baggage and proceed to the SAS (star alliance member) desk. I picked up my bag, and proceeded to the enormous line that had now formed at the SAS desk and waited. I stood in this line, with no way to get food (we were given water, which was thoughtful), for seven and a half hours. The SAS counter was manned by two people who were obviously overwhelmed with re-bookings and after about 5 hours more staff arrived and the line began to move. When I reached the counter I was tired and anxious to get going so I said to the lady, "I need to get to Seattle, before Christmas would be nice." She checked her computer and came back with "How about Stockholm to Moscow to Beijing to Vancouver to Seattle?" to which I replied, "Ok, sounds great". She hand wrote 2 Flight interruption manifests, handed them to me and said "don't lose these, they are the money". OK, I said. I was then given directions to another desk where I was given a room for the night at the Radisson Blu, which was very nice and appreciated.
The next day I checked my baggage, handed my flight interruption manifest to the man at the gate and boarded the plane to Moscow. Upon arrival in Moscow we were told to proceed to the security check and that we would be "escorted" through the airport to our next gate. That was not the case. I got through the very extensive security check and had to run to the next terminal and found the Star alliance partner desk, which is also the transit desk manned by one Russian woman who was suddenly swarmed by people pushing and waving passports. Soon another came to help and they took my passport, baggage check and flight interruption manifest. He came back shortly and said "you have no ticket!" to which I replied "what do you mean, that's all they gave me in Stockholm". He continued with "you cannot get on plane, get out of line". I checked with someone else who was on the plane and they had both a handwritten and a copy of the flight interruption manifest, I did not. I was not given one in Stockholm, and was not asked for anything else at the gate in Stockholm.
Suddenly concerned I asked what I should do and his reply was "come back in two hours, we are busy". At this point I phoned my family in Canada who were awaiting my arrival and told them the story and then waited two hours. I returned to the frantic desk, which was still busy, and asked what I should do. "Come back in two hours" was the reply again. Now, a little worried, I used my iphone to find the contact numbers for Lufthansa and SAS. I reached Lufthansa and told them what had happened, the response was "that's not our ticket; we can't do anything for you. Where did you buy the ticket?" I told them that the ticket had been booked by my father in law in Canada through Expedia.ca, which is just a travel agency, not an airline. "You will have to call them then" they said. I then called my father in law in Canada and got him to try Expedia, and like I thought, they are just an agency and don't handle re-bookings. I then called SAS who also said "That is not our ticket, try Lufthansa". I also tried the help desk and got the message "we cannot take your call right now, try again later" I got that message every time I called them over the next hour. Now I was worried, I have no visa to be in Russia and was not in transit as I had no ticket to get out of Russia. I returned to the Aeroflot desk (a star alliance partner) and was told then to come back after 10 pm when the next shift came on. I asked what was going on, what I should do or if they had any information. "No" was their reply.
So now stuck in Moscow, no food, tired and the bank machines don't take my bank card or credit card. I then found the number for Continental airlines and phoned them. After waiting 30 minutes, I talked to someone who looked up my booking and said "I have here an unused ticket from Stockholm to Frankfurt, why are you in Russia?". I told her the story and she said I have to call the SAS desk or Lufthansa because they changed the ticket. At this point I was very worried and starting to get a little frightened. I have never been in Russia, have no contacts in Russia, read and speak no Russian and had no way out. I returned to the Aeroflot desk just after 10 and the new staff told me to "come back after 10, tomorrow". Again I asked for information or if there was someone else I could talk to and the response was an angry "come back tomorrow, can't help you!"
As the overseas flight was with Continental, I tried them again. And again after waiting on hold for 45 minutes I finally reached someone who was helpful. She found my booking and tried to figure out what had happened. After an hour on my cell phone she said "I am on hold with a SAS representative, so don't hang up! But I will in the meantime try to find you a flight out of Russia. That was really dumb that they sent you there and to China, knowing that you don't have a visa." Right after that, my phone cut out. I quickly dialled back and again waited 40 minutes to talk to someone. I reached another person who tried to find the girl I was just speaking with but could not. I re-told the whole story and she put me on with her supervisor. The supervisor came on the line and said "I don't understand Mr. Read, I see here that you are booked out of Russia tomorrow on flight number DL47, Delta flight, to Atlanta at 18:55 and then on to Seattle." "Great!" I replied, "The last girl I talked to must have booked me on a flight after my phone cut out, fantastic, ok then thank you." Now I felt better and phoned my worried wife in Vancouver and quickly told her when I would be coming in and went to find somewhere to relax and try to sleep a little. Before sleeping on a hard metal bench for 25 minutes, I went to the Aeroflot desk to show them the flight number and confirmation. "I said I can't help you! Come back tomorrow after 10!" I tried to explain that I have a new flight and need to check in and get my boarding pass. "After 10!" was the response. I tried to sleep and ate an orange and some cough drops I had in my carryon bag. Shortly thereafter, I received an SMS from my cell phone service provider that said my account had now reached 7000 Swedish crowns and service was cut off. Now tired, hungry, unable to call anyone if I had further problems and really upset, 7000 crowns is my monthly student income, I waited for the Aeroflot desk to re-open and at 10 I returned and showed the new person at the desk my confirmation number and she took my passport and called someone. She came back and said "come back at 13:00 and talk to the Delta representative." "OK" I said and hungrily waited for another 3 hours. At 13:00 I met with the representative from Delta, did another extensive security check and received my boarding pass. At 18:55 we were told at the gate that the flight was late but eventually got on board and the rest of the journey was relatively smooth.
I am disappointed because after receiving the wrong tickets in Stockholm after the 7 hour line up and the terrible lack of service in the Moscow airport I was forced to take care of this situation by myself. Because I was forced to do all of this on my cell phone, I received a bill when I returned to Sweden for 13000 Swedish crowns (bill attached). I am disappointed that on the flight interruption manifest itself it only says "white to receiving carrier(s)" and there is no mention of a customer copy or anything else. I am disappointed in the Star Alliance desk in Moscow which is staffed by people who couldn't speak English, were rude and unhelpful.
To resolve the problem I require you to pay the portion of the bill accrued from the run-around given to me by all the Star Alliance partners involved and the mistake made at the SAS desk that was the cause of the problem in the first place whilst reserving my right to claim against you. Enclosed is a copy of the bill with the amounts circled.
I look forward to hearing from you and to a resolution of this problem. I will wait for one week before arranging for the matter to be corrected by a third party at your cost or seeking help from Konsumentverket. Please contact me at the above address.
Yours sincerely
Jason B Read
__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5795 (20110117) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com
Sep 6
A new day dawning. . .
Wow, it’s been a while. Who am I writing to? Maybe one day an archeologist will find this. . .anyway, year two has started and I am ready to go. Geography is my first choice with an emphasis on human and cultural geography not so much physical. We did 10,000 years of history in the first class, 1,000 in the second and today we will cover the last 250 years of human impact.
Still don’t know about my second choice, leaning towards science but for that I have to complete biology B and physics B on the side. I am sure I will take the longer, harder road as usual.
Got my new iPhone 3GS and love the GPS features, and the magnetic compass. Hm, that’s it for now, I should study. . .
