Search This Blog

Monday, October 26, 2015

7-Day, 5-Minute Facebook Challenge - How Well Did I Do?

October 26, 2015

Last week, I decided that I would take on a bit of a challenge to see how well I could do.  Here, let me refresh your memory.



So this is something that I like to call the 7-Day, 5-Minute Facebook Challenge.  And the idea behind this challenge was to cut back on my usage of social media.  I think that we have all had moments in which we get blown away by how much of the day that we spend on computers, smartphones, and cell phones, and I wanted to take this challenge to prove to myself that I could live without social media.

My initial goal was to go on Facebook for five minutes each day for seven days, and that was all that I would do.

I failed miserably.

It's not as though I didn't try to do it though.  I had every intention to follow through with my plan.  But it was all in the timing.

You see, I happened to pick the same week that our Canadian elections were being held.  Couple that with the fact that a lot of my Facebook friends were celebrating birthdays that week, and well...let's put it this way.  It is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

But do I consider this little exercise a complete failure?  Absolutely not.  Even though I didn't stick by the rules, my social media usage went way down as a result!  Rather than spend hours on the computer wasting time, I only spent minutes, and focused my time on other things.  It was such a freeing experience, let me tell you.

And on top of all that, I found that I was happier when I was away from it!  No longer did I get caught up in Facebook drama, or get buried in a whole bunch of memes that I had seen a thousand times, or get bombarded with game requests.  It was nice to not have to deal with all of that.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely think that social media has its merits.  It's a great way to get connected with the world and a wonderful platform to share your thoughts with like-minded people.  But at the same time, I think most of us in general tend to spend too much time on these platforms.  It's not good to have too much of anything, and I wanted to see if I could take on the 7-Day, 5-Minute Facebook Challenge to at the very least see if I could cut back on social media.

It may not have worked the way that I wanted it to work, but at the same time, I think it was a success in that I did do what I wanted to do.

That said...I probably should have made it a 7-Day, 30-Minute challenge.

Friday, October 23, 2015

New Archies Reviewed - Episode 7B: Jughead The Jinx

Hello. everyone!  Are you looking forward to another edition of The New Archies Reviewed?  I have to tell you, it's been fun to do this.  I forgot how badly this cartoon has aired, and I'm thinking of bringing back random 1980s slang, just to see how the 2015 generation reacts.  I figure that since it's "Back To The Future" week, it's totally radical timing, dude!

Sorry.  I'll stop now.

Okay, so what episode were we on?  Oh, yeah...we were finishing up episode seven.  The first part of episode seven was one I really liked, and as of right now is my favourite episode.  Let's see what the second half brings us.



Episode 7B:  Jughead the Jinx.  Hmmm...if I recall, I did like this one as well.  Not as much as "Red to the Rescue", but it's enjoyable enough.  And, do you realize that this is the FOURTH episode where Jughead has a starring role?  He's sure come a long way from the first episode where he spoke all of twelve words - one of which was Feltzig.



And our episode begins...in an African desert?!?  Whoa, where the hell did Riverdale Junior High get the money in the budget to send the whole school to Africa on a field trip?  Oh, wait.  They only sent Jughead.  And Jughead's having a very miserable time, crawling through sand dunes, dying of hunger and thirst.  I'm guessing that based on what we know about Jughead, he's only been there for twelve seconds, but what do I know?

And after mistaking a desert oasis for a burger and fries, Jughead happens to trip over a lamp in the middle of the desert.  He rubs the lamp, out pops a blue hued Genie that sounds like the late Robin Williams, and Jughead transforms into Aladdin and sails off to rescue the beautiful Princess Jasmine.

No, wait.  That's the Disney movie, "Aladdin", which has recently been re-released.  Do check it out.  It's one of my favourite Disney films.



So, right off the bat, Jughead wishes for hamburgers, and the Genie grants him his wish, and just for fun he gives Jughead a gong and a mallet, telling him that if he wants more, to just hit the gong.  Either Jughead's hit the jackpot, or he's dreaming.



Yep.  He's spotted Patrick Duffy coming out of the shower and realizes that yes, he has been dreaming.  After all, we see the disturbing image of Jughead holding a baseball bat while feathers are coming out of his mouth from him trying to eat his hamburger shaped pillow.

But Jughead seems more concerned over the fact that in his sleep induced haze, he took the bat and smashed his mirror to smithereens.  And now Jughead has been cursed with back luck, lasting him straight through...1994.



And right off the bat, Jughead's luck seems to be working against him.  While most students would be thrilled to be the representatives to give a royal couple from an obviously fictional nation the key to the city in a ceremony, when Miss Grundy announces that Jughead is getting the honour, it causes Reggie and Veronica to react with disgust, Archie to cheer for Jughead, and Jughead wishing he was back in that desert re-enacting "The Gong Show" with that genie.



Over at Pop Tate's, Archie, Betty, and Eugene take Jughead out to dinner to celebrate his being chosen to meet with the royal couple, but all Jughead can do is worry about how he is cursed, and how the whole evening will be a disaster, which leads to this awesome sight gag seen above!

Betty tries to calm him down, and Eugene tells Jughead to eat his burger and shut up about being a jinx.  Jughead obliges, not realizing that he has overloaded his burger with ketchup and he squirts some on the floor.



Enter Moose who slips on the puddle of ketchup and crashes right onto the table where Betty, Jughead, Eugene, and Archie are seated. 



I tell you...it's a hamburger massacre.  Maybe Jughead is jinxed!



Oh, and here comes Veronica, who seems to have come back to her senses following her personality transplant last episode and has handed Jughead a list of do's and do not do's for the royal gathering.  After all, the gala is being held at Lodge Mansion, so it's definitely crucial to HER reputation that everything goes well.



And Jughead responds by throwing a strawberry milkshake all over Veronica, which is totally how I would react as well.  But in Jughead's case, it was purely accidental, and now Jughead is convinced that he's going to blow the whole thing.  Fortunately, Archie, Betty, and Eugene have decided to stick by Jughead through the ceremony to make sure that it goes off without a hitch.



Which is when we are treated to a scene of Reggie with a Cheshire cat grin on his face, listening in on the conversation at Pop's front entrance.  See, Reggie is upset that Jughead got chosen to greet the royal couple instead of him, and now he wants revenge.  And he plans to use Jughead's superstitious nature against him.



At the Lodge Mansion, a crew of people are working together to get the place ready for the royal gala - which let's just say is on a Friday the thirteenth, just for the hell of it - and Reggie is already making mischief.  He's carrying four large balloons filled with water (which must show that Reggie has superhuman strength as I can't even carry ONE that huge without it busting), and he's placing them in the balloon drop mechanism over the stage.  But just as he's placing the last balloon in, Veronica comes in and startles Reggie so much that he falls off the ladder, breaks his neck, and dies.

Just kidding.

Actually, Veronica has come in to ask Reggie a favour.  Since Veronica knows that Jughead isn't exactly a member of the upper crust, she wants Reggie to teach Jughead how to greet the royal couple properly.  



Judging by the look of Reggie's eyes in that very moment, he's thinking two things.  One, he wants to make Jughead crash and burn.  Two, he's craving Hawaiian luau food.



Either way, Reggie sees the request as another opportunity to ruin the event for Jughead, and he teaches Jughead the "royal greeting" of the fictional nation that the King and Queen are from - which apparently involves a cross between a jumping jack, the hokey pokey, and an early version of the Macarena.  It's just as goofy as this screenshot looks, believe me.



Oh, and to top it off, Reggie hands Jughead the official "walking stick" of the country and tells him to perform the greeting carrying it.  I wonder what's so special about that stick anyway?



Now, here's where things get really entertaining.  While Reggie continues to booby trap the ball room, which includes placing remote controls around the building to activate the water balloon drop and spring loaded punch bowl, Veronica happens to walk in on Jughead performing the totally bogus greeting that Reggie taught him.  And instead of getting suspicious, Veronica insists that Jughead show her how to do it so she can greet them properly! 

It's the night of the gala and everybody from Riverdale Junior High is dressed in their Sunday best...well, by late 1980s standards, anyway.  And, Reggie has an evil grin on his face as he tries everything possible to wreck the gala so that he can make Jughead look foolish.  And when he spots Betty and Archie giving Jughead a pep talk by the punch bowl, Reggie activates the switch on his remote control to douse the three with delicious fruit punch...



...only it doesn't work.  Seems like Reggie's been using cheap batteries or his Slinky spring has malfunctioned.  See, I may not be a huge believer in good luck, but I am a firm believer in karmic retribution.  And Reggie's jealousy is starting to come back to bitch slap him into next century.

(Which, granted in New Archies time is only thirteen or fourteen years, but still.)

It's time for the ceremony to begin and Veronica introduces the King and Queen of...okay, I'll admit it.  I don't even remember what the name of the country is that they're representing.  I'll have to rewatch this later at some point.



Anyway, Veronica opens the ceremony by doing the greeting that Jughead taught her that he learned from Reggie, who made it up just to embarrass Jughead.  Instead, Reggie is mortified that he has instead humiliated Veronica until the King and Queen do the greeting themselves!  Another lucky break for Jughead, who goes on stage and greets the royal couple the exact same way!



But Reggie still has his trump card.  If the punch bowl gag didn't work, surely the water balloon drop trick would.  Sure enough Reggie grabs another remote and activates a remote control hidden amongst the hundreds of balloons located up above. 



Of course, you can't drop balloons over someone without it being New Years' Eve, the opening of a new business, or giving a royal couple a key to the city, so Jughead has to honour his duties by giving them the key and telling them to "have a nice day"!  I'm pretty sure that Veronica must be seething over the fact that Jughead seems to be acting more like a Walmart door greeter than a royal representative, but for now, we'll just go with it.

It is then that the Queen notices Jughead's "walking stick", and Jughead politely hands over the stick when the couple wants to take notice.  Back on the floor, Reggie's remote control is once again acting up.  Reggie did remember to charge those rechargeable batteries, didn't he?

It turns out that the walking stick isn't a walking stick at all.  It's an umbrella.  But isn't it bad luck to open up an umbrella indoors?



Well, if you're Jughead, it turns out to be a blessing.  At the moment the umbrella pops up, Reggie's water balloon drop releases sending cascades of water flowing down.  Geez, how much water did Reggie fill those balloons with?

Fortunately, Jughead's quick thinking prevents him and the royal couple from getting completely drenched.  But poor Veronica looks like a drowned rat, and she is absolutely furious.



Especially since she remembers seeing Reggie put something in the balloon drop hours earlier.  And let me tell you.  An angry Veronica is to be feared. 



Reggie tries to run away from Veronica, but backs into the punch bowl which NOW decides to activate.  Reggie is doused by punch, Veronica slips on the punch and knocks Amani and Betty over.  Betty knocks over Archie and Eugene, who crash into Mr. Weatherbee and MS. Grundy, who crash into Moose who then sails into the support beams of the stage.  Nice use of the entire cast there!



Wait.  Moose took out the support beams of the stage?  That means that the King and Queen are in danger of getting injured!  But wait!  Jughead defies the laws of physics and manages to grab onto the King and Queen and all three of them float safely to the ground.




Someone who isn't safe?  Reggie.  He's holding his arm and has punch in his eye, and he is calling for a medic!  Seems like he's been cut by the broken crystal pieces of what was left of the punch bowl.  It's a good thing the animators used pink for the punch.  If they had used red, it may not have been suitable for a children's cartoon!



Outside the Lodge Mansion, a crowd gathers to watch Veronica publicly tear a strip off of Reggie who completely ruined HER event!  But luckily for Reggie there was a doctor in the house to bandage up Reggie's arm for him!  How's that for plot contrivance?

You want to know what else is contrived?  Jughead blaming HIMSELF for how the event went, claiming that he really is a jinx.  But everyone else in the Riverdale Peanuts gang call Jughead Jones a blockhead, and remind him that when Reggie's gags went out of hand, he saved the King and Queen from getting injured!



This causes Jughead to react with happiness saying that his luck has changed, and he seems to have found a four-leaf clover confirming it.

Well, that is until Jughead realizes that the clover only has three leaves.  But it doesn't matter.  Jughead doesn't need lucky charms to get him through life...not when he has good friends.



And of course, the episode ends like an episode of "Fame", with Jughead and his friends coming together for a high-five session.

Okay, so maybe the ending of the episode was lame, but I do like this one.  I didn't know that Jughead was so superstitious and that he went so crazy over them, but he still went ahead with his responsibilities which show that he is a strong person.  And once again, Reggie gets his comeuppance.

Speaking of Reggie...if you like him, the next episode of New Archies Reviewed is all about him.  And in this case, the gang decide that the best way to get Reggie to stop being a jerk is to be nice to him.  We'll see how that works out!

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Back To The Future - The Future Is Now (Though Not Always Accurate)

Shhh...be very very quiet.  I'm hunting for a doctor driving a DeLorean and his teenage companion.

Only, I'm not going to shoot them.  That could really destroy the future.



Yes, today is October 21, 2015, and at 4:29pm Hill Valley Time, Doc Brown and Marty McFly are supposed to be arriving from the year 1985!  I'm definitely keeping my eye on them! 



Well, okay, I know that's not really going to happen.  After all, the "Back To The Future" series was a fictional production.  A great series of movies, mind you, but totally fictional.

Of course, back when the original movie came out in 1985, the future was not known.  I was only four years old in 1985, so I had absolutely no idea what the world would be like thirty years down the road.

Of course, we all know that in the thirty years since "Back To The Future" was released, the world has definitely changed.  In the thirty years, we've seen the first African American President elected, the first African American woman to win an Academy Award, and the first time the Boston Red Sox won a World Series in almost a century!

Of course, the more things change, the more they stay the same.  After all, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are still trying to stop Shredder, Madonna is still releasing albums, and Donald Trump still has the same exact hairstyle.

So, it got me thinking...how accurate was "Back To The Future" in predicting certain events?

After all, in "Back To The Future II", Marty and Doc Brown travel to today's date!

Now, keep in mind...the second film was released in 1989, so it was absolutely impossible for the cast and crew to know what would have worked and what wouldn't. 

But I've watched that film and made a few notes.  So, what did "Back To The Future" get right, and what did it get wrong?

Let's find out.



PREDICTION #1:  The Cubs win the World Series

Okay, so if you want to get technical, the answer is NO.  According to the film, the final game in the world series was either held the day of October 21st, or the day before.  As of October 21, 2015, the Series is still going on, and four teams are still playing.  Though, interestingly enough, one of those teams is the Cubs...



PREDICTION #2:  Jaws 19 will be shown in theatres on 3D

I know there's been a lot of Jaws movies made, but I'm pretty sure that there haven't been nineteen of them made!  And, check out who made this movie!  Yes, Max Spielberg, the son of Steven Spielberg.  Though he hasn't made his directorial debut yet, I can tell you that this prediction did get one thing right.  Over the course of the last few years, 3D movies have become a big thing.  Not just that, but no longer do we have to wear those red and cyan glasses!  3D technology has really evolved.  Not quite to the levels of "Back To The Future", but it's getting there!

Though if they wanted to really blow people's minds, they should have made the marquee Star Wars themed!  Did anyone believe that in 1985 they would still be making those films?



PREDICTION #3:  We will be able to make phone calls via video

And, thanks to Skype and other various forms of online messaging, we can definitely do all this and more.  Although, the method in which the movie shows us seems a bit unorthodox.  I mean, yes, you could use a television screen (and bonus points for making the televisions flat screen even though the clarity of the image isn't quite there)...but why not just use an iPad or tablet?  Oh, wait.  Back in the planning stages of the movie, the crew never considered the power of the smartphone.  Though, I guess it could be overlooked when you consider that the smartphones back then were Zack Morris phones.  And speaking of which...



PREDICTION #4:  We will have phone booths that look like this

I really wish we did.  My god, those things are gorgeous.  Unfortunately, thanks to smartphones, pay phones are being used less and less, and some places have even got rid of them!  Before you know it, phone booths will become a part of history.  Nice flyer posted on the wall there, by the way!



PREDICTION #5:  Fax Machines will become a part of everyday communication

Only, they didn't.  I mean, finding dot matrix paper in 2015 is almost as hard to locate as finding typewriter ribbon!  These days, if you want to get a message out, we have e-mail, social media, and Snapchat.  Fax Machines are so 1990s.



PREDICTION #6:  We will all dress like THIS.

And more power to you if you do!



PREDICTION #7:  We will be able to purchase a product called Pepsi Perfect

And, as part of a social media contest, you can enter to win a Pepsi Perfect bottle much like this one!  Though, the closest that we can get to getting Pepsi Perfect is to drink a 710mL bottle of Pepsi Max.  And for some, Pepsi Max is an acquired taste.

Fortunately, my taste buds have given Pepsi Max the A-OK!  Though, I wonder if this was meant to poke fun at the New Coke disaster of 1985.



PREDICTION #8:  Mattel will come up with their own version of the Hoverboard and it will be sold in toy stores all over the world!

Only, Mattel didn't come up with the idea.  If anything, that credit goes to Lexus, who came up with a design this past summer.  So, while hoverboards are technically around in 2015, they don't look or perform anything like the one that Marty uses. 

Though one thing the movie did get right?  Neon colours!  They were big in the 1980s, and they seem to be getting a second wind as of 2015!

And, here are some other predictions courtesy of the newspaper of the future.



Sadly, there is no Queen Diana...she died in 1997.
And, it talks about a female president...but we're not quite at the right year for that one.  The closest year we can expect is 2016 - and that's only if Hillary Clinton gets the Democratic nomination.



So, there you have it.  Eight predictions from Back to the Future.  Some came true, some sort of came true, and some missed the mark altogether.  Can you guys and gals add any more that I may have missed?

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

October 20, 1977

Welcome to another edition of the Tuesday Timeline portion of this blog!  Before I go any further though, I will extend my congratulations to Justin Trudeau for winning the majority government in the Canadian federal elections.  I'm not entirely convinced that he was the right person for the job, but I will say that Canada did need a change.  Thankfully, he's got the next four years to prove himself.

For now, we should take a look at other events that took place on this date in history on the twentieth day of October.

1803 - The United States Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase

1818 - The United States and the United Kingdom sign the Convention of 1818, which permanently fixes the U.S./Canada border along the 49th parallel

1873 - Politician/activist Nellie McClung (d. 1951) is born in Chatsworth, Ontario

1882 - Actor Bela Lugosi (d. 1956) is born in Romania

1883 - The Treaty of Ancon is signed by Chile and Peru

1904 - Chile and Bolivia sign the Treaty of Friendship

1913 - Singer/banjo player Grandpa Jones (d. 1998) is born

1927 - American psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers (d. 2013) is born in Brooklyn, New York

1931 - Baseball player Mickey Mantle (d. 1995) is born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma

1935 - Actor Jerry Orbach (d. 2004) is born in The Bronx, New York

1941 - The Kragujevac Massacre takes place in German occupied Serbia, killing thousands of civilians

1944 - 130 people are killed and a portion of Cleveland is destroyed following a natural gas explosion

1947 - The House Un-American Activities Commission investigates communist activity in Hollywood which spawns the infamous Hollywood blacklist

1951 - The "Johnny Bright" incident takes place in Stillwater, Oklahoma

1968 - Jacqueline Kennedy marries Aristotle Onassis

1973 - The Sydney Opera House in Australia opens to the public

1982 - Sixty-six people are crushed to death at a UEFA Cup match in what would come to be known as the Luzhniki disaster

1991 - Out-of-control wildfires consume portions of Oakland, California killing 25 people and causing over two billion dollars in damage

1994 - American actor Burt Lancaster dies at the age of 80

2014 - Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta dies at the age of 82

And for celebrity birthdays, we have the following people turning one year older; Robert Craft, Colin Jeavons, Timothy West, Sandra Dickinson, Tom Petty, William Russ, Melanie Mayron, Keith Hernandez, Bill Nunn, Steve Orich, Thomas Newman, Danny Boyle, Jane Bonham-Carter, Mark King, Viggo Mortensen, Eric Scott, Mark Little, Julie Payette, Elizabeth Carling, Susan Tully, Snoop Dogg, Dannii Minogue, Dan Fogler, John Krasinski, Katie Featherston, Jennifer Freeman, and Hunter King.

Okay, so let's take a look back through time and see what date we'll be looking at this week.



Ah, October 20, 1977.  A date that...I wasn't around for.  But for someone who is a huge fan of music as I am, maybe it's a good thing I wasn't around to experience it.  After all, it was the year that one band had the ultimate tragedy happen.

You know, just doing a quick Google search, 1977 was a year in which many musical legends passed away.  I mean, in one year we lost Bing Crosby, Guy Lombardo, and of course, Elvis Presley.  I know people cite that day in February 1959 as the day the music died, but 1977 seemed to be the year that music died.

And in the case of this band that originated out of Jacksonville, Florida, the band had to deal with losing three of their members in a fiery plane crash on this date thirty-eight years ago.

I'm sure you know which band I'm taking about.  If not, have a listen to this.



ARTIST:  Lynyrd Skynyrd
SONG:  Sweet Home Alabama
ALBUM:  Second Helping
DATE RELEASED:  June 24, 1974
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #8



Yes, we're talking about the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.  And let me tell you, I had to actually look up the proper way to spell Lynyrd Skynyrd for this piece, I'm ashamed to say.  But then again when I was little, I couldn't even pronounce the band's name.  For years, I kept referring to the group as "The Lanyard Band". 

Getting back on topic, the song above could be easily considered the band's signature song, released a little over three years prior to the plane crash.  And at the time of the plane crash, the band was at an all-time high.



Three days earlier, on October 17, 1977, the band released their fifth studio album, "Street Survivors", and the word on the street was that it was set to be the band's best effort yet.

It was the band's first album featuring their brand new guitarist/vocalist Steve Gaines, who was hired to replace departed member Ed King.  At that time, Steve's sister, Cassie, was one of the backup singers for Lynyrd Skynyrd - a group affectionately nicknamed "The Honkettes", had put in a good word for Steve and insisted that he was perfect for the group's sound.  Of course, the band would have to be in complete agreement, and lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant would have the final say.

Well, the time for Steve Gaines to prove himself came on May 11, 1976 when the band asked Gaines to join them on stage to play.  And when he got up on stage that night, his guitar picking and playing skills blew everyone away, and he officially became a member of the band not long after.

Gaines' abilities certainly got the attention of Ronnie Van Zant, who was blown away by his talent.  Privately, he once remarked that the band would be in HIS shadows one day.  Van Zant believed in Gaines' abilities so much that for the first time since the band got together, Van Zant let Gaines take lead vocals on the song "Ain't No Good Life" - one of the few songs that featured someone other than Van Zant on lead vocals.

When "Street Survivors" was released, it was the first time that Gaines would be featured on an album, and it seemed as though his future, as well as the future of the band would be unstoppable.

The band had already embarked on a tour five days prior to October 20, 1977, and on that day, the band had just finished performing in Greenville, South Carolina and was due to arrive in Baton Rouge, Louisiana that same day for the band's next gig.

They never made it.

The plane that the band chartered had run out of fuel midway through the flight, and while the crew of the plane tried to make an emergency landing, it wasn't enough to stop the plane from crashing in the middle of a forest near McComb, Mississippi.

The news was grave.  The pilot and co-pilot were dead.  The band's assistant road manager, Dean Kilpatrick was also deceased.



And three of the members of the band - Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, and Cassie Gaines perished in the crash.

The rest of the band and crew survived the crash, but all of them had serious injuries.  And without a lead singer and guitarist, the band was essentially finished.  The group broke up shortly after the crash, likely not feeling up to playing concerts following the deaths of three of their members.

Eerily, Ronnie Van Zant seemed to have a premonition about his death.  He always talked about mortality and how he felt his time in the world was limited, which creeped those who knew him best out.  He even predicted that he would not live long enough to see his thirtieth birthday.

At the time of the plane crash, Van Zant was 29.



The album that the band promoted at the time of the crash, "Street Survivors" had to be re-released.  After all, the original cover showed the band standing in a fiery background with Steve Gaines in particular covered in flames.  The record company released the album with a solid black background instead, to make it more respectful.  And in spite of the tragedy, the album's sales skyrocketed and the lead single, "What's Your Name", reached #13 on the Billboard Charts.

But the band didn't release any more music - at least not for another ten years anyway.

In 1987, Lynyrd Skynyrd reunited for a tour with many of the band's original members (including original guitarist Ed King) coming back to release and record new material.  As for the lead singer role, Ronnie Van Zant's brother, Johnny took over.  And while the band has gone through several personnel changes as members left or passed away, Lynyrd Skynyrd still performs and records music - their last album, "Last of a Dyin' Breed" was released in the summer of 2012.

Still, I don't think anybody who was around that time will forget October 20, 1977 - the day that Lynyrd Skynyrd was changed forever.


Monday, October 19, 2015

Rules of Voting

Hey, everyone!  And, to all my Canadian friends out there, Happy Election Day!



Yes, today is the day that we get to make our voices heard, today's the day we get to have our say in who we want in office, and today's the day that those election ads will FINALLY disappear!

Sorry, America...you still have to wait until November.  Of next year.

So, in Canada, we have four choices to choose from.  Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party, Elizabeth May of the Green Party, Thomas Mulcair of the New Democratic Party, and Justin Trudeau of the Liberal Party.  And, as of 10:45 this morning, my vote has been cast.

Now, I don't believe it's in good taste to reveal the person who I support in this election (and by support, I mean electing our own local constituents), but I will say that I think my country could use a little bit of change.  That's all I'll say about it though.

The truth is, this time around it has been hard for me to pick a candidate.  Usually, it's fairly obvious who I want to vote for, but this year has been very difficult.  Just when I think I made my mind up, something happened that made me switch my way of thinking.  I'm sure I'm not alone.  After all, this has been the longest campaign period in well over half a century.  There certainly was a lot of time to debate what person I wanted to support.

So, while there is still time to cast your vote (polls close at 9:30pm), I thought I'd give you all a few rules to consider when casting your vote.

1.  Do NOT mark an X next to every candidate.  Spoiled ballots help nobody, and make everybody consider raising the voting age to 35.

2.  Do NOT let negative ads prevent you from casting a ballot, and don't get suckered into the "vote for the lesser of four evils" philosophy.  Just vote for the candidate that does the least negative polling.  I did.

3.  Voting is NOT like Survivor.  Don't use strategy when voting for a person.  There's a good chance your strategy could lead to your favourite candidate getting their torches snuffed.  Vote with your heart.

And finally...



4.  VOTE!  You can't make a difference if you don't have your say!  Remember, there was once a time in which certain groups of people weren't ALLOWED to vote.  Don't take it for granted!

Saturday, October 17, 2015

The 7-Day, 5-Minute Facebook Challenge!!!

October 17, 2015

If you had told me four years ago that I would be much happier and stress-free if I cut back on writing, I'd tell you to take your opinions and stick them where the sun didn't shine before grabbing the nearest ball point pen and attempting to stab you with it.

I know, I know.  That escalated quickly.

Of course, now that I have reduced my blog posts to 3-4 a week, I'm surprisingly okay with it.  In fact, I don't feel pressured to deliver new product every day.  And, I really don't feel any stress when it comes to feeling a need to do this every day.

Instead, I save my stress for work, as I'm sure 99% of us who do have a job will agree.

I have been noticing that I've developed a new love for writing by not doing it as often.  No longer does it seem like a chore.  More than often, it's become fun again.  And, I'm finding that I'm coming up with better topics to talk about when I can research them at my own leisure.

So, I thought to myself...why not do the same with social media?

I was offline for two weeks while I was moving into my new place.  It wasn't planned that way...it just happened that way.  And you know what?  I really didn't miss it at all.  I didn't have any withdrawal symptoms from being away from Facebook or Twitter.  Truth be told, it was quite nice not being around.

I mean, seriously, what was I missing?  10,000 cat memes?  Stories about the Kardashians that had me scratching my head over why they could even be considered news?  The fact that Kanye West and Lindsay Lohan have announced that they want to run for President of the United States of America in 2020?

(I'm not kidding about that last one either.  Lord help the American people if either one ever becomes President.)

So, the obvious solution is to deactivate all methods of social media for good and just go on living life happily, right?

Well, no.  Not exactly.

I can see the good things that social media can bring.  Without it, not many people would be directed to read this blog.  And granted, my blog may not be as popular as say Perez Hilton's, but it IS a true reflection of who I am as a person.  And for someone who is very much an introvert, I find writing in words to be much easier than trying to start up a spoken word conversation.  I'm sure there are others who would agree.

But that being said, I think it's time for me to challenge myself, and cut WAY back on how much time I spend on social media.  And believe me, it's very easy to find yourself checking it when you're not even aware that you are doing it.



So, I'm going to take part in the 7-Day, 5-Minute Facebook Challenge.

And, yeah.  I made up the name.  Not very catchy, but it gets the job done.



What that means is that for the next seven days (beginning tomorrow), I will be checking into social media for FIVE MINUTES each day, and ONLY five minutes.  This gives me enough time to post birthday greetings, post links to my blog, and respond to any messages that I might get.  After the five minutes are up, NO MORE SOCIAL MEDIA.  Instead, I would use that time for other things that I have been putting off forever, and getting them done.

After all, it doesn't seem like we waste that much time on social media, but when you add it all up over the time frame of a year...well...it's enough to stop your heart!

Who knows?  After the seven day period is over, I could find a way to make it last 14 days...then 21. 

I'm taking the 7-day, 5-minute Facebook Challenge.  Are you?