Christmas poem

This year has been especially hard on a lot of people with the current global financial meltdown, in the United States especially. The United States is, arguably, in it's worst economic conditions since the Great Depression, and definitely since the end of World War II. Foreclosures are looming constantly over many, construction projects are grinding to a halt, jobs are dead as the money runs out. The State of California is now in a 42 Billion dollar budget defeciet situation. All funding to state sponsored construction has been cut, schools are closing, people are losing their jobs, old jobs are not being replaced and are being eliminated, cities and towns are either bankrupt or on the verge... Things just are not going well at all. So in the spirit of the season I composed a little Christmas poem to keep our minds on the holiday spirit. I hope you'll all read it and enjoy it... or at least read it and call it crap. But it won't take long, you'll be done in a snap!

Merry Christmas everyone, I'll post again in the New Year.

Christmas Two-Thousand and Eight

'Twas the season of Yule

But profit reports smelled worse than a stool,

The stores were all boarded and shut,

closed and gone as sales fell in a rut.

Foreclosures were high

and reposessions were nigh

Many families soon with no home

Look sadly on crumbling streets they are soon to roam.

The children of the wealthy

had Christmas dreams so unhealthy

An X-box360, a Nintendo Wii Fit

Stuff too expensive, by just a wee bit.

Even Santa, with his jolly old heart

was laying off elves, just as a start;

Dasher and Dancer and Comet and Cupid

were all given pink slips, now isn't that stupid!

He looked at the gifts on the back of his sleigh

Much smaller than in Christmases of Yesterday

Even Santa cuts back when the bottom falls out

poor Rudolph the Reindeer had to pawn his red snout!

I want, I want! The children all shout

Their parents, despair trying to figure their bills out

Heating and water and rent cost lots of green,

We hope you don't mind the heater being set at thirteen.

Off to bed now the children are sent

The parents money, before they get it, is spent

Off to the sky, Santa did go

A little less jolly, seemed his Ho Ho Ho!

Through the sky that old elf flew

Not much spirit came into view

Many houses were bare, devoid of their lights

This year was the worst he'd seen in many nights

Down the chimneys he crept with his sack

Noticeably lighter this year, on his back

Below the tree the presents he left few

A sweater for Suzie and a scarf for Jimmy too.

The next morning the children from their beds they did wake

not long, to open their presents, they did take

No cell phone, no X-box, no video games came out

the mouths on their faces, they made one big pout

Corporations, parents, children, even you and me

Had forgotten the true meaning of Christmas you see

It's not about the presents and toys

It's about family and friends, and children, both girls and boys

While the tree and the stockings may seem empty this year

It is important that you not shed a tear

Give thanks for who and what you call your

For there are still many to whom you have more

Christmas is not a time for being greedy

Give that spare change, instead, to the needy

We often forget what it is that matters most,

So with family and friends take up a toast

To health, to happiness to friends that are near

to doing the same again year after year

To time with the family even when times are tough

Because being with them is more than enough.

Differences between Calgary and the Bay Area

In light of my impending trip back to Canada over the coming New Year, I thought I'd revive a post I made about the differences between things back home and things here. People here always do end up asking me how things are different when I tell them I'm from Canada. How do you like it? Is it the same? So here was last years reply to that query:

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Originally posted on Facebook, January 9, 2008.

Being back in Calgary was an invigourating experience. In fact, I didn't want to leave. We had a great time. Such a good time in fact, that the Airport decided to close customs on us so that we would have to stay another day. Being back home also slammed me back to the different paradigms between the Bay Area and Calgary. For comparison I will use San Jose as representative. Similar in population and economic growth.

1. Public Transit/Light Rail Transit: In Calgary, I found myself uncharacteristically stuck when it came to transit fare, I had $12USD to my name in cash. I was able to exchange my 2 USD for 2 CAD to buy a ticket. On the way back, I had been clever and bought something so I'd have Canadian currency for the change machine to pay for my fare. The change machine wouldn't take my $5 (too wrinkly methinks), and the actual person to buy fare from only took exact change. Seeing my plight a citizen came to my rescue and paid for my fare.Frankly, here if you had the same situation you might get a snicker if anything. People just mind their own business and everyone else be damned.It's so much cleaner in Calgary too, less graffiti, it smells nicer, it's better lit, everyone uses the train. In San Jose you only take the train if you can't afford to drive or are willing to get mugged.

2. Driving: One of the first times I visited the Bay Area, I did a very Canadian thing. I slowed down so someone could merge in front of me. Unfortunately, that person had expected me to cut them off and gradually slowed to a stop, dumbfounded at being let in.On the very same trip I witnessed the norm, two lanes becoming one, a truck smoked it's tires to cut someone off. In the exact same spot that I'd slowed to allow merging traffic in.Back in Calgary I realised I was in the wrong lane and expected the car next to me to go by and I would have to go behind to get to the right turn. And that car slowed to a stop to allow me to get over... I suppose it really is a Canadian politeness thing.

Don't expect to be able to cross the street anywhere other than at an intersection with lights either. It's full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes here. And almost EVERYONE runs the red. Sometimes 3 or 4 cars per lane at the same intersection. It's insane.Might I also add that when I got back and had to figure out how to use my exemption ticket for the parking lot at the airport in an automated system the moron behind me decided honking at me when I hit the help button would make things go faster. I'm pretty sure that back home someone would have realised the problem and shown me how to do it. "WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA! HONNNNNNNNNNNK!!!! Home of the 'ME! ME! ME!' Attitude!"

3. Doctors:

Calgary: You can get sick any time you want and see someone for free.

San Jose: You can only get sick from 9-5 monday to friday but not between 11 and 2 or on holidays. If you choose to be sick during anytime outside of normal business hours you have to go to the emergency room and pay upwards of $100 or more just to be seen. At least my chiropractor only charges 40 bucks, it'd be 30 but he's not in my network.

The pace of life is simply slower back home. We work hard, but we also find time to relax. Down by the Bay everything is always go go go.

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We do very much miss Calgary and are looking forward to going back. The wife and kids love it there and it would have been a shame had I not decided to go back this year. We look forward to 9 days of relaxation and recuperation before heading home to California for the drudgery that promises to be 2009.

Ta ta for now.

Grichy Evaluation

This year more than any, with the state of today's economy, the words of Dr. Seuss are quite relevant, and I thought to myself while watching it today: There are a lot of children nowadays who could benefit from really truly understanding the importance of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and it's true moral. We all, it seems, have been sucked in to the whole corporate holiday that is X-mas. We all put so much value into buying things for people, rather than the importance of being with the people who matter to us.

Let us not lose sight of the true spirit of Christmas. Spend time with your family and friends, and don't get caught up worrying about buying that ridiculously overpriced bauble for whomever.

Yet, in examining the Grinch further, we see also, that having understood the "true meaning of Christmas" the Grinch does not begrudge the Whos their gifts. The gifts are returned to the Whos and their feast and their decorations, all their musical instruments the Grinch hated so much. They are part of something larger. That is the revelation that the Grinch has while listening to the Whos down in Whoville as their stuff dangles precariously off Mt. Crumpet.

So give and receive and be merry, but don't forget that without all the dressings and feasting, without the presents and trees, Christmas still comes and is about the people you spend it with.

Christmas day is in our grasp, so long as we have hands to clasp.


[Excerpt from: The Grinch Who Stole Christmas]
...
He rode with his load to the tiptop to dump it!
"PoohPooh to the Whos!" he was grinchishly humming.
"They're finding out now that no Christmas is coming!"
"They're just waking up! I know just what they'll do!"
"Their mouths will hang open a minute or two,
Then the Whos down in Whoville will all cry BooHoo!"

"That's a noise," grinned the Grinch, "That I simply MUST hear!"
So he paused. And the Grinch put his hand to his ear.
And he did hear a sound rising over the snow.
It started in low. Then it started to grow.
But the sound wasn't sad! Why, this sound sounded merry!
It couldn't be so! But it WAS merry! VERY!

He stared down at Whoville! The Grinch popped his eyes!
Then he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise!
Every Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small,
Was singing! Without any presents at all!
He HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?"
"It came with out ribbons! It came without tags!"
"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"

And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store."
"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"