Today I want to talk about a different kind of moving on… physically moving.

I`ve been thinking a lot lately about how much longer I`m going to be staying at my current residence. Yes, it`s quiet here. I love being outside the city. I have a great view. I love sitting outside at night and enjoying the solitude. There`s plenty of room for the kids to play when they come to visit. There are a number of things that I really enjoy about being here… and a few that I could live without. The daily commute is a bitch sometimes, especially in the winter. It`s even longer if I want to go see my kids. The heating bills in the winter are ridiculous, yet I still freeze. But mainly it`s the feeling that this truly is not my place to settle into.

When I was first asked if I would be interested in taking care of this house, I jumped at the chance to have a little space to myself. It was a win-win for everyone. Well, it`s been 2 years now, and things have changed somewhat. It`s time to consider what is best for me, moving forward.

My roommate must be thinking the same thing. He recently applied for a mortgage and contacted a realtor. I would be surprised if he was still here at Christmas. Maybe he will offer me a  place to stay with him. Maybe not. I have more options today than I had 2 years ago, so I`m not overly worried. A small 2 bedroom apartment isn`t really looking so bad right about now. Then main goal is still that cabin on the water, but I`m willing to make sacrifices now.

For now I`ll take it day by day and see what happens, but I`ve stopped purchasing anything “house related” until I figure out what is going on.

It’s hard to imagine that today is the first day of September, and it’s as hot as it is.  This weather is nuts!  I suppose that it has something to do with a little storm called Earl coming up the coast.  He should be arriving late Friday, if weather predictions are accurate.  Athough Earl isn’t expected to hit here directly, I think that we’re still going to see quite a bit of rain.  But that’s fine… it’s been a dry summer, and we can use the rain.  Maybe not that much, though.

I’ve been planning something a little different for today.  It started a few weeks ago.  I had an idea.  I know that some people aren’t going to like it much, but that’s ok.  I wanted to do something a little different.  Even if you don’t watch all the videos, you might still read the little blurb that I put with each of them.  Or not.  Who knows  :-)

Anyway… it’s off to bed for me.  It’s 2:15am and I should try to get a little rest before my rugrats wake up in a couple of hours.

Thanks for reading!

I’m sure that my readers from New Brunswick are already well aware of this, but September 27, 2010 is election day in the province! It’s time to get out and exercise your democratic right by casting your vote. I’m surprised by the general sense of apathy from my generation (and probably younger generations now) when it comes to voting. A good friend of mine is a political science major, and couldn’t be bothered to vote.  ”It doesn’t matter who wins. They’ll all screw you.” is his philosophy. I understand the sentiment, but I’m disappointed that he feels that way. And he’s not alone. I won’t pretend to know what the number of non-voters are, but just in speaking to people I know, it can be more than a little disappointing.

I make no secret of the fact that I tend to vote Liberal in both federal and provincial elections. I find that their values are more in line with mine, although that certainly does not make them perfect! Far from it. On the federal side, I consider Michael Ignatieff to be a bit of an arrogant ass, and wildly out of touch with the people. As much as I am no fan of Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, I don’t think that the federal Liberal party has any chance of winning an election any time soon with Ignatieff at the helm.

In the case of the provincial Liberal party, Premier Shawn Graham has all but ensured that they will sitting on the sidelines after this election. Of course that is only my opinion, but I will be absolutely shocked if they win a second term under his lackluster leadership.  Opponents of Graham immediately point to the debacle surrounding the proposed sale of NB Power to Hydro Quebec, and I do not disagree one bit.  The entire thing was mishandled right from the beginning, and New Brunswickers were left holding the bag.  Whether you agree with the idea of privatizing NB Power or not, it’s hard to deny that Graham’s poor leadership (and constant flip flopping) cost New Brunswickers dearly.

But for me, I look back even further at this government’s track record.  Remember the proposal to turn UNBSJ into a polytechnic school? I don’t hear anyone talking about that anymore, but I certainly remember it. I was completing the final few courses of my Bachelor of Business Administration at the time, and seriously wondering whether or not I was even going to have the opportunity to finish.  No one had ever heard of a polytechnic prior to that, and Shawn Graham did a poor job of explaining it.  In the end, he reversed the decision, and UNBSJ remains a proper university.  But it is this kind of reckless behaviour that bothers me about the current Liberal government.  Shawn Graham comes out of nowhere with an idea that does not make sense, does a piss poor job of explaining it to New Brunswickers, and then backtracks completely in the face of public opposition.  At the end of the day, we’re no further ahead, but have spent too much time and money on something that should never have been on the agenda to begin with.

Personally, I see my vote as a vote of non-confidence in the current government.  Can I, in good judgement, give Shawn Graham my personal stamp of approval for the last 4 years?  Do I feel that this party is the right choice to guide our province’s direction for the next 4 years?  The answer is no.

Agree? Disagree? What matters most is that you have a voice that deserves to be heard. On September 27, get out and vote for whichever party you feel most deserves it.

My kids came to me at the start of their summer vacation and asked me if they could get memberships to Moshi Monsters.  I hate to admit that I’m getting old.. I had no idea what Moshi Monsters were.  They patiently explained to me that they were computer monsters that they created and then could do things with.  Basically online pet monsters.  And sure, you could “play” for free, but there were limitations to the free accounts.  But that’s ok.. for $5.95 US/month, you can get a membership, unlocking different rooms and items for the Moshi Monsters to explore.  Of course, when you have 2 kids, then you need to accounts.. and 2 memberships.  I thought about it for a bit.  I’m trying to encourage them to use the netbooks that I gave them for Christmas last year.  They say that they love them, but they’re more likely to turn to the Wii when they’re looking for something to do, than their netbooks.  I totally understand it.  The Wii is fun, and very simple to use.  The netbooks have a steeper learning curve, but it’s one that I want them to tackle.  So anything that gets them using their netbooks is good, even if it is a silly little kids’ game.

Well now the end of the summer is quickly approaching, and I warned them that I would not be renewing their memberships when school started.  They said that they were fine with that, although I’m wondering what happens to the items that their Moshi Monsters accumulated under the membership accounts, when the accounts revert back to “free” status. Hopefully they don’t all disappear, but if they do… well, they were warned.  

So last time the kids were over, they started asking about Club Penguin.  Apparently it’s the same sort of thing.  I don’t know how many of these things exist, but they were asking whether or not they could have a membership to that too!

Yeah… go talk to your mother!  :-)

We’ve all seen this before… at least the picture.  It’s the famous “tank man”.  I don’t remember if I had seen the video, though.  I suspect that I had, but it’s certainly worth watching again. Mashable posted a list of 10 Incredibly Inspirational Moments on YouTube recently.  They start by saying YouTube isn’t just for kittens, cute kids, and confabulating celebrities. And it’s true!  Most YouTube clips that get sent around the office are funny stuff… or at least funny to someone.  But YouTube is much more than that.  I recently watched 2 videos on how to replace the broken screen on my iPhone.  It was enough to convince me that it might actually be possible for me to replace myself.  And when the repair kit arrives in the mail, you can be sure that I will sit in front of my computer and follow the instructions of one of those videos step by step.

Even if you don’t watch through the 10 videos (I did not.. not all of them) it’s worth checking them out.  Each one of them is definitely special in its own way, and a reminder of how far we’ve come.

I noticed a little tweet from someone I follow today that instantly caught me eye! The city of Philadelphia is requiring its bloggers to pay $300 for a business license, due to the fact that the blog has the opportunity to generate profit from advertising.

WHAT??

Yes, that’s right. Take a look at this article in the Philadelphia City Paper. They cite two examples of what I would call personal blogs, not money making enterprises.

I can certainly understand if you were running a true business from your home. I had to register Write-Click Media, and even THAT hasn’t made a penny. But for all those people who are passionate about something, and want to write  about it in a blog… they have to pay $300 because their blog MIGHT make money someday? That just seems wrong to me.  Insanely wrong.

If you’re interested in the two blogs mentioned in the article…

MsPhillyOrganic

Circle of Fits

I’m on my way there right now to leave a nice comment for the authors.

Provincial Archives of New Brunswick

My mother has been making Lady Ashburnham pickles (commonly revered to simply as “Lady A’s”) for as long as I can remember.  They’re a very yummy mustard pickle!  I eat them primary with roast beef, turkey, or ham dinners, although I know people who use them as relish on hamburgers or hot dogs, and even someone who makes tartar sauce with them.

When I moved out of the house Mum would provide me with the occasional bottle to get me through, but eventually I realized that if I was going to consume Lady A’s on a regular basis, I’d better figure out how to make them on my own.

It’s not that they’re overly difficult to make.  The problem is that they’re time consuming… but that comes mostly from a society now used to buying everything off the shelf.  Call it what is is.  Laziness.

When my daughter was old enough, we introduced her to Lady A’s, calling them “Nana’s pickles”.  She loved them!  (My son, not so much)  It didn’t matter that I was now making them myself.  They will probably always be “Nana’s pickles” to her.  She loves to smother her potatoes in them, and used to put up quite a fuss if she didn’t have the pickles… to the point where my ex would actually put some in a little container to bring with her, if she knew that we were going somewhere like Swiss Chalet.  I know, I know…  My daughter still prefers the pickles on her potatoes, but I’ve been able to curb that behaviour a little.  If I have the pickles, great.  If I don’t… suck it up and eat your supper.  I’ll make some more when I have time.

But as long as I’ve been loving these pickles, I had absolutely no idea that they were a local favourite!  I hate to admit that I read this story in the Telegraph Journal, but I thought that it was very interesting!  It tells the story of a telephone operator from Fredericton who marries an English Lord… and develops a recipe for pickles.  I always assumed that they were just pickles that everyone else knew about, but now I’m not so sure.  If you’re not from New Brunswick, or not from the Maritimes, do you even know about Lady Ashburnham pickles?  I’m not so sure!  And if you do, maybe you’re like me, and don’t know the story behind the woman whose name lives on.. especially at this time of year.  Pickling season!  Thanks to Dad, I have enough cucumbers to make a double batch!

You can read the full newspaper article (with the recipe!)  here.

[This is the one that started it all... the first blog post that I ever wrote.  Unfortunately I do not have a record of what date it was posted... I'm just glad to have found it.  I was originally going to name the blog Stevolution, The Evolution of Steve, but I couldn't register the name stevolution.com.  I contacted the guy who owned it to see if he was interested in selling it, but he was not.  So I went with What About Stephen instead... a throwback of sorts to a short-lived TV comedy What About Brian... and there you have it... a behind the scenes look at the makings of WaS.com]

“Welcome to McDonalds drive-thru.  Can I take your order?”

I glanced at the clock.  4:03 Am. Had my life really come to this?  I used to joke that there’s nothing better than a Quarter Pounder Combo at four in the morning.  The perks of a shift worker are few and far between, but that statement seemed to lessen the pain a little.  But now, as I listened to the hollow-sounding voice coming from the intercom, I had a moment of serious reflection.  If I didn’t consider it rude to do so, I would have just apologized to the girl, and driven off.  Hungry as I was, this Quarter Pounder represented something far greater than simply food.  This IS what my life had come become.  A series of late night drive-thrus, followed by the guilt of wanting more, and the inevitable return to the never-ending cycle.

“I’ll have a Quarter Pounder Combo, with Coke.  And sweet and sour sauce please.”  My response was automatic, drilled into my head from years of repetitious encounters like this one.

“That’ll be $6.85.  Please pull ahead.”

I had one last chance to drive away.  To take control of my life, and make the fateful decision to forego the late-night poison.  Instead, with a heavy heart, I pulled ahead slowly, and offered the girl my debit card.  As I watched her swipe it through her cash register, I wondered what her life was like.  I hated the fact that I was drawn here.  I knew better.  I knew I should be making a difference with my life, and not merely going through the motions.  And what about her?  What circumstances drove her to be handing out hamburgers and french fries at an hour when most human beings were snuggled warmly in their beds?

“Would you like your receipt in the bag?”

The question seemed pointless.  What do I need the receipt for?  I can’t eat it.  I don’t plan on returning the hamburger.

“Yes please.”

She passed me the not-so-little brown bag, and my Coke, and turned her attention to her microphone, repeating the sequence with the car behind me.  A systematic reflection of late-night efficiency that would certainly have made Ray Kroc proud.

As I pulled away slowly, I glanced in my rear-view mirror one last time.  How many times had this sequence unfolded tonight?  How many more times would it continue?  In two hours the menu would change, but the cycle would not. The cars would continue to line up. They would never stop.

I settled into a parking spot, and turned up the radio.  It was time to eat.