is it premature to declare The End of the Vest?!

for years i have been harping on about our prime minister's lacklustre physical appearance and his penchant for wearing ill fitting vests (in fact, i have an entire tag on this blog dedicated to it).  and have even been known to state that i am completed content with the use of public funds to hire a stylist tasked with sprucing up his appearance so that he looks less like a corpse and more like someone who i feel comfortable representing canada. 

and lo and behold, he has hired a stylist!  and people are concerned with where her salary comes from.  but i don't care!  i love that he realises that he needed help in the appearance department and is taking appropriate action.

but i am still not convinced that she can change this:

into this:

god love him

all my pleas for the federal government to hire steve a stylist could not even have prevented this embarassing piece of canadian history:

soapbox, perhaps

because you cannot turn your head without hearing or reading about the ECONOMIC DOWNTURN, i have a little something (else) to say about it too. i had coffee with my top colombian chum yesterday and he made a really good point, one that i think we often forget. he said, and i have to agree with him, that these types of crises are commonplace in so many other countries, especially in latin america. there have been economic crises, recoveries, absolute meltdowns, among other daily struggles in so many other parts of the world. people living through such things have learned to become industrious, resourceful, and hopeful in light of so-called impending doom.

and people from those countries, including colombia, are now living and working and prospering in canada. it is my prediction that it is these communities that will weather this economic storm better than anyone else and may come out the winners in the us, the uk, and canada. he also used an ever favourite english expression to recommend that canadians should just 'chill out.'

similarly, i am not so sure why canadians are up in arms about obama's economic stimulus package that includes a 'buy american' clause. how on earth can canadians say that these are unlawful protectionist policies that break trade law? we would do the exact same thing, international protocol or not. remember that little problem with the beef years ago? same thing. we rallied around our beef industry and insisted on exclusively buying canadian beef and gave all those who didn't the evil stink eye. and i think that that was an appropriate response, just as americans trying to save their own mortgages is the right response for them. now, it is our dorky pm's job to play the game, be diplomatic, and represent canadian interests. and stay away from vests of any persuasion.

and you knew it was coming, everyone is going to have something to say about the woman who just gave birth to octuplets in california. my first instinct is to think this is a product of a private health care system that would allow someone to pay for fertility treatment even though they already had 6 children and that i cannot understand a mother choosing to put 8 lives in danger rather than reducing the number of fetuses early on. but as one doctor put it, his job is not to police births, but to provide information and education to parents. and we would all be in serious trouble if our doctors were allowed to police our behaviour, yet i think in an environment where we enjoy the benefits of public health care, the burden those babies will put on our health care system may change that thinking. a little Handmaid's Tale-esque, but it does make me think.

luckily for me, i am not raising 14 children so i won't need to think about it for too long and get back to organising my daytimer to fit all my commitments and engagements in while enjoying this great weather with a run tonight!

scowly face vs illfitting vest

i don't know why, but this photo struck me. ignatieff looks mean and menacing and not the person that i want making the fateful decision about our government. but it could be this guy, which is far more frightening:

election fun

just hanging out on a friday evening, watching the american presidential debate. obama is looking a titch more grey than he did at the beginning of the campaign. i cannot imagine being on the spot like that and not saying something stupid. mccain just seems a little too smug.

here is something (sort of) exciting - during my volunteer commitment this morning, i saw stephen harper. well, i think it was him because i did not have my spectacles on, but we were in the same mini mall while he popped in to say hello to his riding office. i knew something was up when i saw the csis (or who i thought was csis, does csis protect our pm??) guys walking around with their earpieces and curly cords stuffed into their jackets. then i saw the fancy black cars so i popped my head out to find a bunch of guys in suits. if the guy who i thought was harper is harper, he is taller than i imagined. no sign if there were any ill-fitting vests worn.

during some downtime today i read the liberal platform and although i have not read the others, i like the idea of a longer grace period on student loans and increased financial support to the global fund. but deciding the very date that canada will be out of afghanistan? i have mixed opinions.

more exciting news - i got a blackberry today. and it is pink! and i have no idea how to use it, but i am up for a new learning curve. and i have a special place in my heart for organisational tools.

shock and awe

i am in ottawa. or as my friend once told me to call it, ottawow to make it sound fascinating and exciting. but truth be told, i actually find ottawa fascinating and exciting and perhaps that is just because i am a western canadian who feels isolated and disillusioned with our federal government. you be the judge.

i have met two new friends that will also be living in nairobi and am feeling a lot better about what it is that i have gotten myself into. it looks like i have found myself a place to live (at least temporarily) and i have the misfortune of having booked my plane ticket so that i arrive in nairobi on the morning of the first day of a long weekend. which means, a rather long and boring weekend for me spent inside reading books as i am not sure i will be brave enough to venture outside through the big, bad streets of nairobi (the african cited rated most dangerous on some polls). or at least only during high noon since i have been warned about going outside after dark.

i have kept pretty quiet about the internship and my next trip to africa on my blog, but prepared to be shocked and awed (oops, wrong international campaign...). or at least hopefully things get a little more interesting around here. and by interesting, i mean interesting cultural and professional experiences, not muggings and robberies.

so far, i have managed to safe on the streets of ottawa. tomorrow i visit the kenyan high commission to convince them to give me a visa (and by convince, i mean pay them the fee) and then more training and conference sessions and then out for dinner with my favourite ottawa resident (besides steve and his ill fitting vests, of course), k!

the ultimate geek

please go visit k's blog and see why canada is never going to be known as a country with any fashion sense whatsoever.

i've said it once and i'll say it again, our prime minister is the ultimate geek.

i (heart) lists

some things i have been thinking or wondering lately, in list form...

• i love lists
• lloyd axworth is a cool canadian, i wish i had of known how cool he was when he was an mp
• i have always wondered why canada and other countries aren't doing anything in darfur in the sudan and after reading axworthy's book and some other articles i am really wondering why the hell the world isn't doing anything
• lent is going well, i have had chocolate chips in home baked muffins, but i decided that was ok, only 7 more days to go
• why is it so difficult for people to call the inuit 'inuit'? why do people insist on using the word eskimo immediately after it was just explained to them why inuit is more appropriate?
• why do people feed you chicken the very day after you've said you don't eat it? oh well, it was in chicken-finger form which is more handleable and less chicken-like
• this surprise afghanistan visit by harper is too bush-like for me
• i am still struggling with this make poverty history thing - did it just take attention away from the real protesters and the real alternatives to the g8 or did it actually bring awareness to the masses of the relics of colonialism and the effects of the policies of the international monetary institutions that plague the african continent? i am doubtful that there were many people who attended those concerts that have done anything since to combat world poverty, as if the problem was solved with a white wrist band and bob geldof
• i own a white wrist band, but am hesitant to wear it
• does it seem to anyone else that itunes always has a new version to download?
• i have been reading a lot about canadian identity and it has got me thinking that although i love politics and international relations, my favourite courses in my undergrad were those in women's studies, sociology, anthropology, and the liberal arts and if i ever go back to school after this, i think i will study one of those. not for a job, not for any type of world-saving or improving, but just cause i like it
• i keep dreaming that i have eaten chocolate and am disappointed in myself for not lasting the entire lent period, but i am determined to even though my mom sent me mini eggs in the mail!
• instead of deciding on essay topics, i am preoccupied with thoughts of what i will do come september, i am anxious and nervous and incredibly excited even though i am still so up in the air about what it is i want to do first. i have lots of things i want to do, just not sure the order of them all
• i am having a 'breakfast-off' with some friends to settle whether or not canadians make better breakfasts than the british and i think team canada will take it, any suggestions on what to serve at a 'traditional' canadian breakfast? i do think we do breakfast better than any other country i have visited. something about sitting around, drinking cup after cup of coffee and eating something sweet, salty, and spicy all in the same meal. normally not my style, but for breakfast i make an exception
• i've been thinking a lot about my grandpa, he is a cool canadian too, i think anyone who met him would find it hard to disagree with that

snowflakes - no two are alike

it snowed today. and it has managed to stay on the ground for at least an hour now, which is creating quite the atmosphere around campus. there are snowmen being built, snowball fights along the walkways, and my lecturer even stopped the class today to throw a snowball at a student. what was funnier was when the student threw it back and we saw the quick reflexes of our lecturer. a classmate was deciding if she should leave because it was staying on the ground and she didn't want to drive home in it. and this is how snowy it is now, an hour later...

it reminds me of last year when we went toboganning with the south african and mozambicans we were living with in lacombe, what a great memory of feeling just like a kid again. this past week has been a hard one for me and i really wouldn't mind feeling like a kid again.

i accidently misheard 'lancaster' as 'lung cancer' yesterday and it is becoming to feel a bit like that - suffocating. so i am happy that i am leaving for a weekend, this evening i am off to leeds which will hopefully be rejuvenating and relaxing. i suppose any contained area gets stuffy every now and again.

but i should count myself lucky because yesterday i was able to go to the lake district and have breakfast and a rather frigid boat trip around the lake. quite a beautiful area. but the 'vegetarian breakfast' didn't have anything on anything nellie's could whip up with a nice refillable coffee.

so what are the thoughts on harper having to stand up to klein publicly? i hope that he prevents privatised health care, the thought just scares me. but that might be a trade off for cooperation with bush on this missile defense thing, which i am also not particularly crazy about. not sure which would be worse just yet. but i am following it on my morning viewings of the national, which i watch just to get my peter mansbridge fix.

i am all about compromise these days. we've been talking a lot about it in my conflict resolution courses and i have to say that compromise is something i am trying to get better at it but sometimes it is still quite difficult. i have to pretend to be a tamil tiger for an upcoming lecture where we will have to negotiate in a role play situation (oh my, even the words 'role play' give me shivers) and today we sat and listened to a sri lankan in our course tell us more about the finer details of a rather complicated conflict, but i am learning how evasive the concept of compromise can be so i am trying to my best to realise it in my own life.

well the sun has returned and soon there will be no snow left for a spontaneous snow angel, but it was nice while it lasted.

cowboy cabinet

a conservative government... the corpse has won. i don't mind the conservatives as much as i dislike harper. he is just such a poor representation of canada, i think. with his extremely poor fashion sense everytime the stampede comes around and he puts that ill fitting leather vest on and his lack of dry canadian wit. as i tend to look at things from a foreign policy and international relations perspective, it worries me to think about what harper will do in terms of bush and the 'war on terrorism.'



i really do think this is going to force the liberals to do some serious rethinking and rebuilding and learn how to be an effective opposition, which will be good in the end. now that paul will step down as leader, i wonder if belinda will make the run. i tend to think so and i honestly think that has been her intention since she first ran for mp. she probably saw that it wouldn't happen with the conservatives so she switched to where she could see a future as leader. i don't know that much about her, but i'd like to see it happen.

should we all start betting on how long this minority will last? i am not good with numbers, but my guess is shorter than martin's government lasted.

late night radio in the afternoon

it is official, i am excited to come home for christmas. i hadn't realised i was coming home in only 2 weeks until about, well, yesterday and i am enhancing my festive spirit by listening to lite 96 online because a radio station that only plays christmas music from december 1st gets my support. it might actually be unhealthy to love christmas music as much as i do.

just a few more gifts to buy, a few more days to enjoy tea and crumpets, and more than two weeks worth of research that i will naively try to fit into two weeks and i will be on my way home. please preare the eggnog lattes!

the day i get home i will be going straight to the traditional knouse family pre-christmas christmas, where i will probably fall asleep in my mashed potatoes and gravy, but i am really looking forward to it even if i won't have a clue what day it is.

so maybe steve will lower the gst...but doesn't it seem a bit ironic that he also wants us to write off the liberals for the things they have done in the past but he is backstepping on what HIS government brought in? i really don't know who i will vote for (eventhough some people seem to think i see things only one way), it really depends on where my vote will count, in my home riding or in some magical, international riding. i don't know how they figure these things out. considering i am a politics student, i should probably know.

bottled inspiration

why, why, why must steve and the conservatives bring up the gay marriage thing again in this election? they ran with that on their platform last time, they lost, the party that won passed it, and now they want to go back and change it? it is a democracy people, might as well get used to it - you don't just go back and change things again and again. otherwise why don't we get rid of the gst and pull out of nafta while we are at it?

i managed to find my inspiration to get working on term papers. i love when you come across some interesting information and can't write it down fast enough. i forgot how i love to pour through articles and pile the books up on the side of my desk as proof of how much i have accomplished. i think my brain works better when i take off my shoes and put my feet on my chair. i love shoes but i take them off at any chance i get.

yesterday i learned that if you live in your own tiny room that has rather sound proof walls, you can chew gum and make smacking sounds as loudly as you like. i have never done this before because i hate listening to other people chew, but it was actually... sort... of... fun. and seemed to help me concentrate.

mobilise the troops

this photo cracks me up...

don't you wonder what they are thinking? stephen is up to something and is trying to sit fancy so that no one will pick up on his smirk and paul is trying to be cool and pretend that he doesn't know anyone is watching.

an election is on the way, interesting times in canadian federal politics.