Opinion Poll

Ouf! What happened to last week. I don't even have anything written on my calendar from Wednesday to Friday and I have no idea what I did besides work those days. September is tough for me because I feel like I can't waste a single second outside because the cold and rain is coming soon.

This weekend I did some rearranging of the garden furniture and I really it now.  In fact, I like it so much, I am angry with myself for not doing it sooner.

I also took out the hedge trimmer and smoothed out some ivy walls as we seem have have had a sudden growth spurt - maybe they are preparing for winter too?

On Thursday I was playing with Eco in the yard - she likes to play with a hard plastic ball in her pink pool - she spins it around and around and around and has a great time doing it. I even taught her how to push the ball back to me when she flips it out of the pool. The problem is the neighbour's dog whines when we play. What can I do? It's not my fault he's whining? I even put a board up against the fence so he can't see us. All was well and good, Eco and I were in the middle of our playing when my neighbour sticks her head over the fence and says "Are you doing that on purpose?" She proceeds to give me shit. I'm not going to lie - my first reaction was to be pissed off - so I took Eco inside.

I have since moved the pool and play area to the opposite side of the yard and we are trying to accommodate her request but part of me is still pissed that her dog's problem has become my issue. Plus, being an over-40 adult I really don't like getting in shit from someone else - do you know what I mean? I think the issue is more about HOW she did it and not WHAT.

your comments?

Gummy Adults ?

I've noticed several commercials lately advertising adult supplements in gummy form and I just couldn't understand why an adult would need an easily chewable vitamin save for the small percentage of the population that has throat or swallowing issues - but these are wide scale expensive advertising campaigns. Here's one article on the subject and another more 'tongue in cheek' here. So what's your take on the trend? Is it hard for the vast majority of people to swallow vitamins or do we have a large population that just doesn't want to grow up or if-you're-going-to-have-to-take-a-vitamin-it-might-as-well-taste-good-and-be-easy-to-swallow or something else?

So I was just walking Eco when a man with a cane stopped to pet her and tell me how nice she was. He started to tell me how he had a Catahoula and how he learned to train dogs when he was in the military. I then learned about his African Grey Parrot and two other birds that he has. I also learned about his 14 years in Marines and the time he spent fighting Escobar's men in Colombia; about how he was writing a book but he was doing it on line and then the CIA stopped him and put him on a 'no fly' list; he ended up giving up his US citizenship in trade so they would leave him alone and now he writes the book - he's been writing it for 2 years but has only 78 pages due to panic attacks and post traumatic stress disorder. He's 52 and all his family has been in the military all the way to the US Civil War (fighting for the North of course). He's from Brooklyn (although had no accent at all) originally and how he came to my little community outside of Vancouver is, apparently, a long story.His son is currently in the Canadian Armed Forces.

Jp says I should just walk away from people like this. Judging by all that I know he figured I stood and listened for about 15 minutes (which was true). I find it hard to be rude to people even if they are strangers and I politely wait for an exit opportunity. Does this ever happen to you? How long do you stand and listen?  Is it my fault Eco's so dang cute that everyone wants to pet her?

I have a question for you

Every year there are several workshops and shows in the Vancouver area put on by well-known dancers in our community. Typically a dance school will host the 'celebrity' who will teach individual classes or whole weekend retreats. Often the cost for a 2-4 hour workshop can be around $150, and a whole weekend is easily around $350 or more dollars. Plus the costs to travel to the show etc.

Last week it was announced that really 'famous' dancer was going to be coming to Victoria (which is on an island near Vancouver) -so not only would there be the costs for the workshop but you'd need  over $200 for the ferry to get to/from the island plus hotel and food etc.

Why am I telling you all this? To give you an idea of the costs associated with one weekend training workshop. By the time all these costs add up, I knew that I couldn't afford to go. But  apparently my instructor had also mentioned that she couldn't afford to go so one of the wealthier students felt that since our instructor always shares what she's learned with her students, that she would front the money for the weekend seminar and then asked us to help her with the costs.

Multiple students committed to giving $50 so our instructor could go to the seminar. Any extra money donated would be given to our instructor to help pay her hotel and food etc. Based on rough estimate of those who said they'd pay, I'm sure the goal was met.

But I am on the fence about this - what do you think? The dance school is a business. We pay money to come to class each week - now we're asked to pay for our instructor's training? You wouldn't see that anywhere else would you? Would you pay your dentist or doctor for training so they'll be able to look after you better?

I know there is a strong sense of caring and support for everyone in the dance group and I'm not for or against one side or the other - I am just curious as to what you think of this scenario.