2008-08-20T17:37:49Z Bill Ing bill@home.ingmedia.com Copyright 2008, Bill Ing SPHPBLOG
1. Learn that if anything is worth doing, it would have been done already.
2. Never rush into a job or opportunity without a lifetime of consideration.
3. Believe that tomorrow holds the possibility for new technologies, astounding discoveries, and a reprieve from your obligations.
4. All deadlines are unreasonable regardless of the amount of time given.
5. Never forget that the probability of a miracle, though infinitesimally small, is not exactly zero.
6. If at first you don’t succeed, there is always next year.
7. Always decide not to decide, unless of course you change your mind.
8. Always begin, start, initiate, take the first step, and/or write the first word, when you get around to it.
9. Know that the work cycle is not plan/start/finish, but is wait/plan/plan.
10. Never put off tomorrow, what you can forget about forever.


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I know I'm guilty of procrastinating and filling my time with unproductive activities.

But for those times that I do get frustrated with myself and actually get off my arse to do things, I'm amazed at the results.]]> http://bill.ingmedia.com/index.php?entry=entry070705-190846 2007-07-05T00:00:00Z 2007-07-05T00:00:00Z An 2003 article about how rich black kids in a well to do school area weren't doing well.

The article is about how an American school district that is well off and whose families are well off aren't making the grade.

It goes on to talk about a mentality where the kids aren't given high expectations, good guidance at home and are also given a sense of mistrust of the 'white' establishment.

Folks, I think North America generally is headed in that direction especially given our culture of corporatism.

Michael Roach of CGI wrote in IT Business recently that tuitions should go up and that essentially the bar should be raised for people in the IT sector so Canada can become a land of innovators. Sounds like he wants either for schools to take the burden off of companies for training or he thinks that schooling alone will be responsible for the people of the next Xerox PARC facility. This coming from a CEO of a company that specializes in taking other's software products and customizes it to wrap around other company's problems. Show us the corporate R&D dollars and the cream will rise and come to you. But business being what it is focusing on the letters R, O and I (Return On Investment), that isn't going to happen.

Ever see Blade Runner and the way Ridley Scott paints a picture of a future dystopia where everyone has the smarts to do things that we see as rocket science and brain surgery today?

Put on your tinfoil hats, but here's an idea.... corporatism serves to blur the line between need and want for their latest and greatest products which are always out of date soon after you buy them or they're disposable so you need to always acquire more of it. We work our asses off to stay in this hamster wheel and give up things like free time and family life for it and the price is cynicism and youth who become disenfranchised from the system and slack off.

Kids who grow up in such a culture often have TV and the media to provide them role models. (Spoiled actors, immature sports stars and manufactured product mascots for the most part). None of them seem to tout the virtues of hard work, sports stars who say they work hard usually have a gift that helped them go the extra distance to take one of the highly coveted and limited number of spaces available in professional teams. Telling millions of kids out there that they can be like them when there are only a few hundred positions out there is pretty bleak. Add the product tie-ins for expensive and poorly made goods that most sign up for and you get irony.

Parents need to play the role. Provider and nurturer with a good helping of critical thinking equally hand in hand first and foremost. Not to be confused with authoritarian methods of "do as I say" especially since most never do as they say anyway.

Then we need to get by all this marketing crap, too many psychology and english majors coupled with artists that figure out how to get you to buy into status items and keep you working long and hard to maintain.

Perhaps then, we will note it as a quiet revolution completed that brings us onto the right track as a growing and advancing society.

Not a society that is growing and relying on advanced disposable technology as a crutch to say we've come a long way since our parents grew up.






]]> http://bill.ingmedia.com/index.php?entry=entry070617-005415 2007-06-17T00:00:00Z 2007-06-17T00:00:00Z
One of a few excptions were winter coats from Northern China... of course 'cause they have winters there and understand what one needs to stay warm. I shrugged and went on my merry way to school.

I knew China exported alot of cheap junk to the rest of the world. Dollar store toys, knick knacks, knock offs and alot of cheap tools to name some. I just assumed cheap junk was just cheap junk and anything else that was expensive or mattered (whatever that means) was made well.

Recently, a few eye openning things and second hand experiences in recent times put me in mind of my dad's rantings. A buddy of mine, John, was sent over to China to oversee machinery being installed. Apparently, although the firm he works for has offices and facilities in China, the customer didn't want the end product to be made at the Chinese plant, but made in Canada and shipped over there.

While over there, he saw alot of things that would make one's head shake. Old bamboo ladders missing steps with steel string to strap two together and extend, looking like half a parabolic curve against a wall as someone climbs up to do some painting. A bunch of guys sent out to dig a big hole where an excavator (AKA back hoe) would be used here. Guys being employed to pick litter and sweep along the side of busy highways rather than getting a machine to do it.

Life is cheaper than machinery over there. That was John's observation when we got together recently.

Then came the pet food scandal where plastic was being put into wheat gluten to increase the protein test score which ended up poisoning countless numbers of pets, toothpaste with banned ingredients, baby formula that killed and now a Thomas the Tank engine wooden train set recall where since 2005, paint used to paint the trains contained lead.

As I understand it, my dad and his entire family were farmers and land owners who rented out land to other villagers to work. By the late 40s and early 50s, a government policy mentioned something about communism and sharing which resulted in the tennants staking claim on the family's stuff. However, the local government representative clarified and proved that the others were wrong about their interpretation. Ultimately, a big rift between my dad's family and others remained. They were fed up, and three generations of my family left China all at once never to look back again since the 1950s and still harbour a certain amount of animosity towards their home country.

I think China once had alot of pride. The older immigrants certainly do go on about stories from yesteryear about how things aren't the same as they used to be. But then again, it also rings true here too when we talk abot the good 'ol days. I'd guess opportunism, greed and makeshift ignorant ingenuity to solve a problem is what has landed them in the predicament they're in now for providing cheap and dangerous stuff to the rest of the world.

How it all plays out over the next few years will be interesting.]]> http://bill.ingmedia.com/index.php?entry=entry070614-115013 2007-06-14T00:00:00Z 2007-06-14T00:00:00Z
Knowing that our family will include 3 kids, knowing that we'll be needing to make some big changes in our lives in the coming future, knowing that there are a bunch of loose ends to tie up in order to move forward.

Overcoming my fears and getting back to what people have said I do best, which supposedly is thinking outside of myself and tackling things head on.

I don't know... is it age and the weight of responsibility that forces us into our shells and quells our dreams of greatness or is that what you would call the reality of living life and within the limits set for us in society?

I had a connecting thought about a few couple friends of ours about being "child-less" and "child-free" and the perspectives one has in life when there's a little someone who looks up to you. Also about my dreams and hopes and each of their priorities in life along with how the wills of others shape and change things.

Life is just complicated when you try to pull back and look at it as a whole. I guess focusing day to day is the best way for now.]]> http://bill.ingmedia.com/index.php?entry=entry070510-010925 2007-05-10T00:00:00Z 2007-05-10T00:00:00Z
Way back into the 80s at the height of my interest and fascination in the fictional world of Doctor Who, the special effects were cheesy, actors were kicking rubber floor mats into place that were supposed to be cave floors and alien costumes were nothing more than chicken wire and paper mache.

But the stories rocked, painting pictures of vibrant worlds, established characters and motives all while the hapless Doctor and his companion(s) would stumble in finding corruption and wrong doers that needed to be fixed.

The technology and scenery presented was campy but for the most part the stories gave me enough to suspend my disbelief and let my imagination fill in those parts which weren't visually strong.

With the new Russel T. Davies incarnation of the series, things have gone the other way.

The visuals and effects are great but the stories and delivery are rather lacking. Lacking to the point that it takes the great effects and makes it all cheesy and campy.

I can accept that the TARDIS as a Deus Ex Machina that hiccups more often than not but the sonic screwdriver being able to manipulate a bank machine's security to get it to spit out money? Get real.

Limitations on it to things that are theoretically possible with sound waves should be its thing... ie. sonic disruption, maybe turn ing a screw, welding, cutting etc....

Nit picking more, last season, aliens took over a school and brainwashed the kids into trying to figure some puzzle on the computer terminals. So the Doctor is trying to open up a Cisco switch that's been locked out by the aliens rather than looking for an alien server somewhere.

Or looking at the back of an LCD monitor to figure out what aliens are doing to a computer system.

Maybe the stories aren't weak but the execution of the story leaves lots of gaping holes that aren't glaring and make it hard to suspend one's disbelief.

I guess at least they should tell the story and focus it on the characters and situation rather than give as much time for a somewhat educated audience to see and analyze the implausible.



]]> http://bill.ingmedia.com/index.php?entry=entry070401-212650 2007-04-02T00:00:00Z 2007-04-02T00:00:00Z
So far so good. The one thing that is quite apparent is that I'm much more appreciative of Jordan for his ability to speak, play and do things for himself.

Whilst Laura is off sleeping, eating or getting a diaper change, there's a whole world of other things for Jordan and I to do together.

Recently a friend of mine who has 3 kids... one in her mid teens and the other two around the 5 and 8 mark, told me that a customer of his advised him a long time ago to enjoy them as much as possible.

Playing with them. Sharing your life with them. Telling them you love them. Not being irrationally critical with them. The more of it you do, the more likely they are going to feel involved, included, loved and the less likely they will be to feel lost and perhaps look for all those things to feel self actulaization from the wrong people.

I certainly grew up in a home where my father did play with us to a certain age and then I remember that things got a bit awkward.

The turning point, that I remember, I must have been 5 or 6 and my younger brother was getting a sideways ride between my dad's knees. I had some kinda of spinning toy, a gyrocopter, that you wound up and the blades surrounded by some sort of hula hoop circle. I brushed it against my dad's head for some reason and I guess he must've warned me 'cause at some point, he took the thing out of my hands and vented his anger on the plastic blades by bending it and tossed it away.

The helicopter part never flew right again since the blades were no longer balanced and I don't remember having a whole heckuva lota fun with my dad since.

I guess there was another point where rather than calling him "baba" or "father", I tried "dad" and he looked at me with a bit of a screwed up look. I shrunk back and continued calling him father. Even when he wrote notes to us on what to do when getting home if he was out and signed it "Your Dad", I never mustered up the courage again.

Either I was a timid kid or the environment of our upbringing was not supportive of such changes and ways of being. Or both.

Even with Erin, I've heard that my FIL got moody at times and you didn't know how to be or that he'd flip from being fun to being serious abruptly and confusing a kid.

Well, here's to hopefully more enlightened times and better relations with my children as we all grow and continue on in life.





]]> http://bill.ingmedia.com/index.php?entry=entry060729-232357 2006-07-30T00:00:00Z 2006-07-30T00:00:00Z
Oh well..

Anyhow.

A link in the previous post on how alcohol sales went up in Ontario since hockey and warm weather came back.

But of note is that craft brews have gained a 40% plus increase in the market which many are attributing to more sophisticated tastes.

For me, I think I feel somewhat vindicated by this theory.

Through my teens and into my 20s, I couldn't stand the taste of beer.

And by beer, I mean Molson Canadian, Labatt Blue and all the others.

They all just had this sickly floral bitter taste to them and when warm, reminded me of being around someone who puked.

It was actually when my godfather who introduced Heinecken that I could actually stomach the taste of but I never went out of my way to have it.

Into my early 20s, I worked at an attraction at the CN Tower and sometimes, we'd head to a pub on Front St. for wings. It was there and with an Aussie co-worker, Chris Lincoln, that I discovered Sleeman's Cream ale as well as having water with lime cordial to help tone down the heat of hot wings.

From there to some more product lines of Sleeman's, Keith's, Guiness stout and now, Mill St. Brews Coffee Porter. (The porter which at the time of this writing, can only be found in select taps and at the Mill St. Brewery down in the Distillery entertainment district.) ...grumble...

So, might it just have been that my tastebuds have merely changed over time?

Nope. I was at a party back in April and had to slowly poke down a Molson Canadian that was handed to me.

Bill, the discerning Beer drinker.]]> http://bill.ingmedia.com/index.php?entry=entry060615-194615 2006-06-15T00:00:00Z 2006-06-15T00:00:00Z Craft Brews make over 40% increase in sales

Father's want more family time

Yes, I think I know a few people where I suspect that fatherhood has driven them to drink, but no... not this blog entry....

More of a current events commentary.

Fatherhood:

Given everything I've seen and heard, I certainly don't believe I'm my dad in terms of parenting style. His style was certainly a product of his time where 'father knows best' and he brought home the bacon and occasionally got involved with his family's life on a social level.

I'm glad I'm not alone in placing a high value on wanting to be there with my family, taking in life together good and bad.

My wife had to go out of town recently to attend to an ill family member and taking our boy with her wasn't a good logistical option.

So after some consideration and sacrifice, she decided that it'd be just me and the boy alone.... for the first time... for an extended period of time.

Jordan's been quite wrangy in the evening as of late. We've attributed it to being over-tired so I wasn't looking forward to it all by myself. But the first night was pretty good. He'd been asking about raspberries and strawberries for a week now since Erin pointed out wild strawberries growing in a ditch by some land her family owns. I picked him up from day care a little early to go out picking strawberries at a local PYO farm. We had to walk about a kilometer to and from the field where the early season berries were ripe enough and he had a blast filling up his 2 qt basket and carried the thing filled all the way back to the farm store.

The next day, I thought I'd continue the physical activity and decided to walk him to and from daycare with various stops here and there, running, singing, playing and generally goofing around.

Again, a great blast of a time together and both nights he went down to sleep easily for me and very little longing for the arms and long hair of mummy.

I may have noted some child-less friends and acquaintances talking down on parenthood and how life ended when you've got kids. I gotta say that when they start to emmulate you, engage you and give you the sense they look up to you interested in all the ways in which you engage the world, life is truly just beginning.

...a round of beer for all! 8)







]]> http://bill.ingmedia.com/index.php?entry=entry060615-191807 2006-06-15T00:00:00Z 2006-06-15T00:00:00Z Jeffrey Baldwin wiki

I've been meaning to blog about this local case for a while because every time I hear more details about what bit of life he had before dieing of malnutrition, I imagine my own son and the way he is but being locked up in a room and forced to live and die the way Jeffrey did.

I'm sure I speak for other parents to say that guiding a child into life and watching them take steps forward is more than just rewarding. It touches the very core of our being to see that through a parent's guidance and nurturing an infant turn into a toddler and then into a kid who discovers the world and embraces it.

I'm just amazed and overwhelmed every time I watch him change, pick up a new skill, learn new words and ways. that something like my son who gives me great joy, pleasure and the odd occasional bit of pain, can come of the life I've led up to this point.

With Jeffrey, I recently read how his sister who successfully potty trained and thus left confinement, went out to watch fireworks and then come back to tell him under his locked bedroom door about it.... that being one of the only and few highlights of his short and miserable life.

All that just pisses me right off and the 20 and 22 year jail sentences for his grandparents, who are in their late 50's makes me think that they're getting off easy. At least they'll be fed and clothed propperly.

Then there's the Catholic Children's Aid Society. From what I've heard, I can imagine their checklist of criteria to become foster parents being ridiculously bordering on the religious right nut job.

- Are the couple Catholic?
- Views on homosexuality in line with Catholic church?
- Be suspicious if they are of child-bearing ages and want to only be foster parents or adopt....
- Will they instill Catholic values upon child?

Boy, with the amount of people realizing that the world is a big place and that you can't go about it with values from the dark ages, it must've been refreshing for them to have come across a couple who at least scored favourably to the first three questions and criteria. Regardless of being known child abusers and with criminal backgrounds.

Anyway.... rambling on too much.

Though it is rare, it's still disgustingly horrible. A guardian that would run a home like a nazi concentration camp and a system that is supposed to over-see foster parents letting shit like this fall through the cracks all deserve to be stood infront of a firing squad.

No... they deserve to be nailed spread eagle to a tree, be given some minimal but disgustingly dirty food and drink daily and then see how long it takes for them to die.

]]> http://bill.ingmedia.com/index.php?entry=entry060610-023211 2006-06-10T00:00:00Z 2006-06-10T00:00:00Z
1 year and 9 months since my dad left us.

2 years and 10 months since my paternal grandmother passed.

3 years and 5 months since my uncle (dad's brother) went on...

Uncle David was in the ICU of Scarborough General when he passed. Grandma had an anyeurism and life support was stopped in a hospital in New York city. Dad was up at Markham/Stoufville's palliative unit for only a little over 12 hours.

Paco, was at home hooked up to an oxygen machine... but at home nonetheless. Actually, what I remember was that the oxygen machine was causing his airways to get dry and bleed. He seemed like he was breathing blood into his lungs and his wife, son, daughter and daughter-in-law were there by his side, expressing their love, comforting him and encouraging him to rest as they decided to unplug the oxygen machine to get rid of that incessant hum.

My godbrother's kids were outside in the back with my son, my wife and I. They were playing and laughing. The late afternoon sun shining on us all, birds chirping close by.

The afternoon palliative doctor who came by shortly afterwards made note of all this as we were all in grief and commented that Paco sure seemed to have lived a very rich life with alot of people who cared about him. His death happening surrounded by alot of wonderful things.

I tried to appreciate it at the time but more or less noted it in my head to think about later.

Today, after having visited a client up near Stoufville and a highway exit away from Elgin Mills Cemmetary where my dad is, I stopped in and had a chat. It's the first bright and warm day that I had a chance to go up there and noted the birds chirping and fresh air.

I came back down to my mom's house where my son, nephew and neighbour's son were playing, laughing and whooping it up and that's when it struck me how wonderful the sound of children playing happily (emphasis on the happily part) is.

The memory of that autumn afternoon came flooding back as well as the other passings and I think at that moment, I truly felt and appreciated what that doctor said.





]]> http://bill.ingmedia.com/index.php?entry=entry060410-201005 2006-04-11T00:00:00Z 2006-04-11T00:00:00Z