Happy Canada Day

I know that it is a day early but I want to wish everyone a Happy Canada Day. Some of you will have finished long slow drives to cottages. Hope that you have a wonderful time at the cottage. Others will be enjoying the city which has its delights as well. We will be having breakfast in the Beach area. Nice way to start the long weekend. I will have gone to the Music Banquet. Nice to have been invited.
Enjoy.

Mail strike is over!

Yeah! There is good news and bad news. The mail strike is over which means that bills will come. However, it also means that some cheques will start arriving. I am owed a couple cheques for performances. I can also start sending letters to friends. Missed sending off notes and cards. Just realized that I need to send a birthday card to a friend. Must get that off.
Wish that the strike could have been resolved without government intervention and suspect that it could have but we will never know. Enjoy the mail. Most of you will not care about the bills since you have prepaid them.
Bring on the mail.

Jeffry Leung and Fuzzy Bird

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of hearing one of my former students perform. He is now finished second year of the performance programme at U. of T. He is calling his performances the Fuzzy Bird project and I must say that I am impressed. The Fuzzy Bird comes from a Japanese composer who wrote the piece which is very modern.
I just googled him but at the moment, nothing. I do not think that will continue. Jeffrey Leung will be a name to note and you will hear more.
Must go and practise. However, I can only think about the standard he is reaching. Not enough hours in the day.

No Happy Feet!

A young Antarctic Emperor penguin has caught the attention of the media. This poor penguin took a wrong turn and ended up stranded on a beach in New Zealand. Conservation experts say the penguin, discovered Monday, is about 10 months old and stand about 80 centimetres high. Colin Miskelly of Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand, said the bird was likely born during the last Antarctic winter. It may have been searching for squid and krill when it took a wrong turn and landed about 3,200 kilometres from the Antarctic coast. Now that is a wrong turn. I would have noticed after the first kilometre or so. This poor bird's homing instincts were not very strong.
Recent reports say that the conservationist will not get involved with the bird. They can not head to the Antarctic at this time of year and they are worried about bacteria that the bird might have picked up.
Sad to think that this poor bird might perish on the beach alone and lost.

Cost of bags

Today, I bought blueberries. They are 2 for $5 which is about as good as it gets. When I asked for a bag, what a surprise. Bags are supposed to be 5 cents. Well, they are 5 cents plus tax which makes them 6 cents at this particular store. The money is not collected by the government so the store in question collects the money and then what? I was not going to argue with the cashier because she is just doing a job but I will send a note to the parent company. Wonderful if I get an answer that makes sense? Will keep you informed.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to send the letter until the mail strike is over.
Oh yes, I was told by an American company that I contacted today about purchasing some bassoon reeds that the strike is supposed to be over by Wednesday. Will see what happens. Another company that I contacted for something else did not think that the Wednesday is realistic. Politicians will not go on vacation until this is resolved. Will be interesting.

The Shops at Don Mills

A year later and the mall is not filled and I think a disappointment. Sadly, the builders forgot that we live in Canada and this is not a discount shopping centre with Big Box stores. The restaurants might be busy but I am not sensing that this mall is a major success. Sadly, because the stores are so far apart, it will be impossible to cover them. Maybe this is just my opinion but I have not gone to this centre for over a year.
Perhaps, others have found it much more to their liking.

Giving from the Head

2006, Charity Intelligence was launched and it started to apply its investment strategy to giving. It researches and analyzes Canadian charities in order to provide givers with the information they need to give to charities with proven results. It provides its findings free of charge on its website: www.charityintelligence.ca.
"We come from an investment background and modelled how we would invest money to...giving." Ms. Bahen of Charity Intelligence says. "If you look at the traditional methods of giving, compared with the analysis methods of giving, it's like investing your money with a Bernie Madoff, someone who has approached you at your golf club, versus going out and doing the nuts and bolts fundamental analysis and investing in a Warren Buffett, who a proven track record."
This sounds wonderful but I have a couple questions: who pays the staff of Charity Intelligence? Why is their information better than others? The last crash suggests that even the best companies had trouble figuring out where to invest. Only large proven charities would receive money from this group.
Hope that this works. Will check into it.