Perceiving

On the heels of Hurricane Sandy, the most devastating storm to hit northeastern US and eastern Canada in decades, all we can do is stand by and wait. You need to see the pictures to appreciate the magnitude of the storm. http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/10/hurricane-sandy-after-landfall/100396/ Damage to Toronto was minimal however we had booked our flight out to Africa via JFK airport, one of the big three New York airports that was flooded and shut down due to the hurricane. I've been monitoring our flights daily the past few days. The clean up effort taking longer than originally hoped, I see flight cancellations gradually trickle on to the next day. And then the next. The day before our scheduled flight out, our long-haul flight stands to be the first flight out of JFK for this airline after hurricane Sandy hit.  This morning, JFK airport has re-opened with limited service, the first plane touching down on its runways since. If we manage to escape this calami

Actually, it's not Monday. It's Tuesday. Five minutes ago anyway. I was enjoying an hour of guilty pleasure watching Ugly Betty season 3 on DVD when ET the hiphop preacher's voice rang in my head, "How committed are you? Are you no TV committed?" If you don't know what I'm talking about, you gotta see this motivational talk on how to live your dream. I stopped the DVD after the first episode. Yes, I am no TV committed.

Decided to make some pesto with the fresh basil from my garden. This is everything from my basil plant. After discarding the stems, it yielded to 1 cup of packed basil leaves. Fresh basil from the garden Next, toast 1/8 cup of pine nuts for 5 minutes in the oven. Also prepare two cloves of garlic. Preparing the ingredients for pesto In a food processor, throw in the basil leaves, toasted pine nuts and garlic and pulse until finely chopped.  Then add 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil and blend. Blending the ingredients together  The finished product: 1/2 cup of basil pesto. To be enjoyed at a later time. Basil pesto

Life, Above all is a film about a young girl in rural South Africa trying to hold her family together as they endure a chain of tragedies. You can find the plot summary and spoiler reviews at  IMDB  or  Rotten Tomatoes . I like the choice of title which can have multiple meanings that capture the various themes in the film. First it speaks of the value of every human life. Some quotes from the movie echo harsh realities of how we could perceive people suffering from AIDS. "Those whores, they deserve what they get."  The film conveys that many of those suffering from AIDS do not deserve it, and even those who do are still beautiful human beings with a lot to give. Secondly, it resonates of hope. Where there is life, there is hope. It is a tragedy that in many places in the world, people are so unknowledgeable about AIDS and disease that they can't help but explain it through their own world view. Someone with AIDS is bewitched and they are seen as a curse, and so they

If you are able to get fresh, clean and drinkable water from a tap like I did, consider yourself lucky! Fresh clean water from a tap Many people turn on their tap and get brownish water, or worse no water. Other people don't even have a tap and must travel far to fetch water. For those who live in the first world, we hardly give any thought to the value of water and its scarcity in many parts of the world. On this day, why not take a few minutes to get more informed? Here are a few good links to get you started: World water day in pictures:  http://gu.com/p/36c88/tw For Canadians, ideas on how you can take action on World Water day:  http://canadians.org/water/issues/World_Water_Day/ Al Jazeera's documentary on Canada's oil sands and its effects on the nearby rivers. These should get the ideas flowing.

As bank profits  continue to rise--already to the tune of one to two billion dollars per quarter among Canada's big five banks--it perturbs me that they continue to make fine print changes to gouge more money from the unwitting masses. This notice came with my monthly MasterCard statement describing a change in policy that any payments made to the outstanding balance will first be applied to items with the lowest rate of interest to the items of highest rate of interest. Basic money sense knows that if you are in debt to various lenders, you pay off the high interest sums first to reduce your total payments. How do banks claim to work for us when they make illogical policies that hurt the customer and not work in their interest?

About a week ago, I read on the  news  that the French senate has passed a bill making it illegal to deny the Armenian genocide that took place under Ottoman rule. Denial is now a crime punishable by a year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros. It is objectionable that in a democratic society in which one of the most fundamental pillars is free speech that such a law could even be passed. Never mind that this legislation seemed to come out of nowhere. What had prompted France to get in between this century-old conflict between the Turks and the Armenians at this time? History of all things is never black or white. "History is fables agreed upon" according Voltaire. France may have gained favour with its 500,000 or so resident Armenians, but this is a step back for free speech. The government should not be in the business of legislating people what to believe. Jan. 31, 2012 Latest update to this story:  France's Armenia genocide law put on hold

Upon reading this article today:  The real way to build a social network , I have become extremely aware of how I've completely undervalued my "shallower" relationships. There was a time a few years back when I felt completely overwhelmed by the amount of social obligations that I had--someone's birthday every week, house warming, baby showers, bridal showers, weddings to take up all of my weekends. I was so miserable that I had to consciously take some measures to reduce the social excess in my life. It began by cutting off or severely loosening shallow ties. It wasn't easy and I took some flak for it, but it had to be done. I jumped at the chance to work abroad for six months in a country where I didn't know anyone nor did I speak the language. I missed my close friends and family but it felt so good not to have any obligations--to own my time completely. Since coming back from that, I've changed my approach to friendships. I would invest heavily