Pogo's World

My Friend.

2007-03-17T15:46:00.000-05:00

Today Pogo died. I'll miss him. Longer notice to follow. J.

"Good night sweet prince, may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."

Pogo's Picks for Team Canada

2005-12-12T16:28:00.000-06:00

Pogo’s picks for Team Canada are as follows:

Centre:

Sakic – Pogo says, “He’s old and cagey, and would be a good checking center.”
Thorton – Pogo says, “He’s just really good.”
Lacavalier – Pogo says, “He’s a pretty good second line guy.”

Wings:

Heatley – Pogo says, “Few guys are playing better right now.”
Iginla – Pogo says, “one word: Captain.”

Pogo’s a cat. He needs a nap. More picks to follow.

P. S. I’m the new guy typing for Pogo. The old guy was taking liberties with what was being published here. Pogo is sorry for the bland writing. Pogo sleeps.

Memo To My Son

2005-08-26T16:53:00.000-05:00

There will come a time when you won’t listen to your father anymore. It’s inevitable. Even though I had your great-grand father as a father I still stopped listening. It’s what children do to their parents. But I promise you this:

I will tell you everything you need to know before you stop listening.

1. I will tell you to always carry your mother’s bags. This also applies to your girlfriend or wife. Things are always more pleasant when you have someone’s bags to carry.

Summary of the Bomber Game...

2005-07-10T12:38:00.000-05:00

I know what Kamau Peterson needs to do to improve his game. He needs to go into the locker room between quarters and beat off. That way his hands will be nice and sticky improving the chances he might catch something. I beleive that if you are a professional football player you must go above and beyond in your game preperation. Kamau should not feel bad about doing what he needs to do. I wouldn't look down on him if he had to take an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty between quarters. Sticky hands catch balls. After all, I'd rather see Kamau jerk off, catch balls and help win games, than see him not and just be a jerk off.

Today I Turned Thirty!!!!!!!

2005-06-29T20:22:00.000-05:00

That's all I really have to say about that. More to come. Probably later rather than sooner....knowing me.

First Annual Audience Participation Day!!! or Something So I Don't Have To Really Write Anything Much.

2005-02-04T15:56:00.000-06:00

So last night I'm watching the Happy Days reunion show and someone asks about Chuck. For those of you that don't know, Ritchie and Joanie had an older brother named Chuck. He appeared in very early episodes of the show. I've always wondered what happened to Chuck. They still didn't explain what happened to him. They just had the two different actors who played him come on stage with the rest of the cast. Everyone acted all excited but really how could they know the guys they were on for like two episodes. Still more mysteries of Chuck(s)

Anyway, it reminded me of a few weeks back when I saw an episode of That Seventies Show. It was a show from the first season. They showed Donna's younger sister. I didn't know she had a sister. She doesn't now. Yet another disappearing character. What gives? Are there more characters like these in the history of television? Is it real? Is it true? Is it literary? Are they Post Modern character assassinations. If so, why? If why, who?

Please forward all information pertaining to similar types of disappearances to me;

Pogo,
The PoMo Detective.
(PoMo=Post Modern)

Yes I Know What Day It Is

2004-12-03T18:06:00.000-06:00

Put This In Your Pipe And Smoke It

2004-11-17T18:47:00.000-06:00

Holy halleluiah I can't frickin' take it anymore, the bitching starts now.

For those of you who don't know, we in the province of Manitoba are blessed with a governmental position named The Minister for Healthy Living. Somewhere down the line the good people that form the government here figured out that I'm a complete idiot and incapable of living a healthy life without their help. Thank god.

In my best interests, one of the first orders of business for the MHL was to institute a province wide smoking ban. This in and of itself may not be a bad idea (as long as you forget the part about how in a free society a business owner may want to decide his own parameters for the operation of said business, but whatever). Okay, I'll be frank, I think it sucks, but since I don't really want to be inundated with arguments about how second hand smoke hurts everybody, lets just pretend I agree with it. My problem with the ban today has more to do with the fact that it is completely universal in its application no matter what type of business you run. Whether you are a bar owner, a restaurateur, a florist, or a tobacconist, the law applies. Wait a minute, did I say tobacconist? Yes indeedy I did. Even if your entire business is based on the sale of tobacco and tobacco related items, you cannot allow anyone to smoke in you store.

Now, as I understand it, most businesses that deal in the sale of goods often allow their customers to test the wares they are considering the purchase of. Bakeries will have little dishes of cookies to try, clothiers allow you to try on just about anything (including underwear?), and you can even take that sports car you're never going to buy out for a spin. But if you're buying tobacco (which is legal if I remember correctly) and want to test before you buy, you're screwed. You are not allowed to smoke anywhere indoors.

Now this seems kinda silly to me. I've always figured that the reason we have a smoking ban was because people were sick and tired of unwillingly ingesting second hand smoke, thereby endangering there health. This seems like a pretty fair reason to have one. But I ask you, how many non-smokers really go into a tobacco store with enough regularity to increase their risk of cancer? How many non-smokers work or own a tobacco shops? Does little Jimmy's daycare really go on field trips to the Tobacconist's? You're probably getting my point, but if you're not, here it is:

Give these guys a break. Let them allow the use of their products in their stores. Don't impede their ability to successfully sell their product and make a living. Governments make these types of legal exceptions all the time. I don't see car dealers being forced to insure every car on the lot in case of a test drive. They get dealer plates, which can be moved from car to car, something no one else can do with their plates.

Anyway, I've bitched too long and I need a smoke so I'm going outside. I think that's not covered in the smoking ban.

If anyone still visits this site

2004-11-15T19:50:00.000-06:00

The last couple of months I haven't been posting anything. I would like to say it's because I've been "finding myself," but it is not so. I'm not nearly young enough to pursue such complicated endeavors. Mostly I've been reading, working and trying to figure out how to be a good dad, husband, and friend. Simple stuff, not hard stuff like "finding myself" (I wonder what Europe is like?). Anyway, I suck. Not because of the finding out how to be a good dad and stuff, mostly because I don't post shit lately. To the three people (sorry I exaggerate) that used to read my site regularly, I apologize, to the rest of you, you don't read my site anyway so I can tell you to screw off (guiltless aggression against imaginary non-readers is great). However, to the three important people (still exaggerating), relauch of this (insert adjective here) site starts December 1st. Now, that being said, I'm not know for my ability to stick to deadlines, but I'm sure if I don't stick to this one some unnamed Earth Monkey will...well I'm not going to get into it, she's one nasty GIRl if you break a promise. So anyway, long story short, new crap from my brain Dec. 1st, if not sooner. Take care all and remember, only lots more sleeps till Christmas, buy crap now, it gives you more time to return it.

At Least the Food Bank Isn't Locked

2004-09-16T23:04:00.000-05:00

So the NHL is kaput. How long is anybody's guess. Either way it sucks if you love hockey. Being Canadian, I have to say it sucks. No highlight reel goals, no bone crushing checks, no end to end rushes and most importantly, no hockey fights. To be a fan of a league who's players and owners can't seem to get together, not even for the sake of the people who put the money in their pockets, is pretty depressing. That being said, I can't as a fan, say I have it the worst. The people who have it the worst are the ones who make their living from hockey. Not the players or the owners, but instead the ones who sell the hotdogs, make the ice, serve the beer and generally make sure shit happens on game day and every other day of the year. The office staff, concessions people and rink attendants are the ones who truly suffer because of this. These are people with families to support, bills to pay and existences to eek out. They don't have million dollar balances to fall back on. They just sit there and hope to god it all gets worked out. Because if it isn't, they'll be the ones asking the charities the owners and players support for help feeding their families and clothing their kids. Fuck all the bastards that made this lockout happen, they're ruining lives to line their own pockets.

Best Life Ever

2004-09-08T01:39:00.000-05:00

The other day I wrote about children in Russia. I wonder sometimes how it is that I can think I don’t have the best life ever.

(Tomorrow I go back to my usual bitching).

Sometimes I Cry

2004-09-05T01:40:00.000-05:00

Children died in Russia.

A man of peace can move mountians, a man of war only buries the dead.

Summer Work?

2004-09-03T10:19:00.000-05:00

Hi all, I’m back. For the last week or so I’ve been on hiatus. During that time I’ve been spending the last of my vacation enjoying my family.

As of Tuesday next week, vacation is over. Now I have to go back to work. What does that mean? It means I must once again “take up arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them” (thanks to Bill Shakespeare for that one). As I said in previous posts, I do this by working as a teacher’s assistant. Us T.A.’s actually had to go back to work yesterday for an in-service day. It seems that since the school year has been shortened to 199 days we end up one day short of the 200 days our contract says we have to work. Hence we had to sit around and listen to speakers talk about a whole lot of crap nobody cares about. Yippy. (Actually I’m being a little harsh, the afternoon session I had was pretty good. It was about conflict resolution.)

What bugs me about the whole situation is that instead of giving us the day off, they had to make up some stupid ass reason for us to go to work. The teachers didn’t have to make up a day, why should we? I figure it has something to do with the fact that teachers are paid salary and we make an hourly wage. I guess the school division, in all its compassion for us, felt it would be unfair to take away one days worth of pay because of a change to the provincial school calendar. I sure am glad they’re looking out for me. Otherwise I would have to apply for some sort of government assistance to make ends meet. Oh wait, since they don’t pay me during the summer (unlike teachers who have money put away for them off each check to be used during the off months, which they couldn’t do for us because we only make 9,000 a year net) I have to go on Employment Insurance in the summer. Not getting paid for that one day wouldn’t have made any difference. I still would have got my 800 bucks a month (which incidentally doesn’t even come close to covering a month’s worth of living with a wife on maternity (she gets 55%) and a new son). Instead of trying to make sure we work all the days they promised us we would, why don’t they pay us what we’re worth. We do about half the work of a teacher, but we get paid about ¼ of what they do. If they paid us a living wage maybe we could put money away and not have to worry about a missing a day here or there or using E.I. in the summer. That’s the real problem, not how many days we work.

A Self Help Theory Inolving Tobacco

2004-08-24T21:58:00.000-05:00

There is a woeful song on the stereo, and I’m quitting smoking. So far it sucks. I’m down to 5 cigarettes a day. I had 6 today. One wasn’t mine so it doesn’t count. The first day I didn’t smoke any. I did have one hand rolled smoke. It was with some old Drum tobacco I found in the basement. I was desperate. I put it in the basement so it was okay at some point. Not when I smoked it though. I only had half. I don’t like this, but I have a family now. For some reason they seem to like having me around. So I’m quitting slowly, but surely. Now I don’t want to hear all this “you can do it pogo” in any responses. Cause if I had my way I’d still be trying to smoke. Also, I haven’t written anything cause I’m cranky.

An Economic Theory Involving Tobacco

2004-08-20T15:34:00.000-05:00

Recently Health Canada proposed large changes to the warning labels it places on cigarette packages. Although the incredibly graphic pictures of brain aneurysms and other health related problems associated with smoking seem to be “working well” in curbing the number of smokers in the general population, the text that accompanies these pictures seems to be failing. Apparently, the current labels don’t seem to be as effective in deterring adults with poor literacy skills from continuing to smoke.

Now, I have always believed that the government’s purpose for trying to get people to quit smoking was to raise the quality of life of all Canadians. Having people quit smoking is a pretty good way to do this. If less people smoke, less people get sick. This automatically raises people’s quality of life. Also, this inevitably leads to lowering the cost of health care. When you lower the cost of health care you can either cut taxes or increase the funding to other important social programs that have seen their funding cut because of the rising costs of health care. If you do either of these things, more Canadians will find it easier to eek out a comfortable existence.

As well, less sick people helps the economy. Since less people are getting sick, companies don’t lose as many man-hours to illness. This increases productivity, which increases profits. More profits means greater corporate expansion. More expansion, means more jobs, and after a long and arduous journey down a chain of events, people end up being better off. It’s the trickle down effect.

However, what confuses me about Health Canada’s label changing plan is that it seems to fly in the face of real world evidence that trickle down initiatives don’t work. Reagan proved that in the nineteen eighties when he cut taxes for the rich believing it would inevitably help the poorest Americans, yet many of them ended up worse off today than they were before do to the effects of Reaganomics.

You may say that this comparison is apples and oranges, but I beg to differ. Any economist will tell you that large scale social or health initiatives can’t help but effect the economics of the nation which implements it. This is where Health Canada is wrong.

If you really want to increase the quality of life in Canada, wouldn’t it cost less, and produce quicker results to teach the people who can’t read the warnings on cigarette packages to read, rather than go through the hassle and the cost of changing the labels. Maybe they could get jobs. And I wonder what that would do for their quality of life?

This all stresses me out. I need a cigarette.

No Rock On Capitol Hill?

2004-08-19T16:34:00.000-05:00

I woke up at six this morning. I had no idea why until I went to get coffee and a newspaper. Faulty arguments were afoot. My stupidity signal must have roused me from my sleep. As I read the entertainment section the reason for my atypical morning alertness became clear. Alice Cooper is a bigger idiot than he is irrelevant in today’s music world.

Apparently Alice thinks that rock stars campaigning for John Kerry are committing treason against rock and roll. “Rock should never be in bed with politics.” Interesting opinion from a guy who goes to basketball games with Republican Senator John McCain.

The first thing that bugs me about this type of piousness has to be Cooper’s short term memory. As long as rock has been around, politicians have been either crucifying it or trying to use rock stars for their own gain. You can’t tell me all the press surrounding Elvis’ induction into the army had nothing to do with some politician thinking it might help improve the country’s opinion about the draft. “Look at Elvis, sure we hated his gyrating hips and told you he was luring youth down the devil’s path (by the way thanks for electing us to stop that), but he loves his country and can’t wait to fight those commies in…Germany”. Like the powers that be accidentally put him someplace nice and safe. How would the kids have reacted to the war if Elvis got his ass shot up in some jungle? It's clear to me who dragged who into bed.

Another thing that kind of bugs me about Cooper’s statements is the hypocrisy. Isn’t he the same guy that tells anyone who will listen that he’s a card carrying republican. You’re telling me he’s not trying to influence anyone’s voting decisions? You can’t say it’s wrong and then do it yourself. At least the Kerry supporters in the rock world are honest about it all. Instead of saying it’s “treason” Cooper should grab his fellow motor city mad man Ted Nugent, pick up some NRA approved automatic weapons and force some of those socialist pantywaists to vote for the right choice.

It all seems like a pretty stupid thing for Alice to be spouting off about in a world where it’s hard to tell the politicians from the rock stars what with their sex, drugs and al-co-hol. Politics and rock music go hand in hand. After all, if it wasn’t for School House Rock, a lot of people wouldn’t even know the difference between a bill and a law. I know I wouldn’t.

(Thanks to the Winnipeg Free Press and Tim Hortons for providing the inpiration for today's topic).

Something I Woke Up With

2004-08-18T13:41:00.000-05:00

Some time ago I woke up with a rather large headache. The kind that thumps like that guy in the apartment next to me, with his vacuum and his furniture. Maybe it’s a lady, I don’t know. I don’t like outside my apartment much, it’s scary out there. With all the people and the talking and the screaming and the pitter-patter of feet behind me and around me and in front of me. It’s scary.

I figure my head hurts cause my back hurts and like most people, my back doesn’t like to do things alone. I’m like that too. I don’t like to be alone, but cause my head hurts and my back hurts I stay in my apartment.

It’s not like back hurts so much that I can’t walk or anything, or that my head hurts so much that all I can do is sit in the dark, but like most people, I like to put my best foot forward, so to speak. I want to be perfect when I see everyone.

I want to be perfect when I see all those people who don’t call, who don’t leave messages and who don’t drop by for a cup of tea.

They’re pretty important, those people. They’re pretty really important. Without them, the Gap wouldn’t be in business and all those clever advertising people would be out of work and then all that child labour would be out playing in the parks in those third would countries. You know, the parks with all the land mines that said children would set off and blow their own legs off if they weren’t working for the Gap and producing clothes that those clever advertising people are selling to those pretty really important people.

So you can see my dilemma. I don’t want to set off some sort of rebellion by going out with my sore back and headache and not being at my best. You know, perfect. Cause then all those people would be looking at me and thinking, “well if he’s not at his best, why should I be?”

You know what would happen then? Anarchy. Complete and utter ripped shirt, torn jean, crooked hat, something on your teeth, right in the middle of those orthodontically corrected front ones anarchy.

So I think I’ll stay here. But then again, I’ve been sitting here since Tuesday. Granted, it is only Wednesday, but it’s not really getting any better. My headache and my back, I mean. Maybe I should go to the doctor. I’m only a five minute walk from a five hour wait at the hospital.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about the wait when I say that. Cause as it is with the very important people outside, if it took less time, the people trying to get elected in this or that election wouldn’t have anything readily available to promise about and would have to pay idea men (and women) higher than usual salaries to think up new things to promise about. This would cause those, previously elected officials to vote themselves higher than usual pay increases causing civic taxpayer unrest.

And what would that be, Anarchy. Complete and utter tax break asking, vote split rigging, Preston promising, frozen food eating, once again getting something stuck on you teeth, right in the middle of those orthodontically corrected front ones, anarchy.

So what am I going to do? Ah hell, fuck it.

First I’m going to the deli down the street for a sandwich and a chamomile tea, to relax my nerves as the anarchy begins. Then I’m going over to the hospital for an hour or two and bitch and complain and make a real nuisance of myself, maybe stat a rally or two, until things get better so I can really get the anarchy ball rolling and crushing people like that bug I just squished with my glass on the floor. And if I feel up to it I’ll sit up for a little while at my window and watch the cars in the street burn and the people run around looking for a mirror to get that thing out of their teeth, all because of me and that headache I woke up with some time ago.

Ah hell, Law and Order just started. I can’t let those Nielson guys down too. It’d cause…you know, low ratings. Maybe tomorrow.

A Student Wore a Shirt

2004-08-17T17:01:00.000-05:00

I got my letter from the school division today about where I’m going to be posted next year. I’m moving from a junior high to a high school. It got me thinking about what I do and what I want to do. It also made me think about something that happened last year.

Early in the year a student wore a shirt with a Bad Religion no cross symbol on it. I thought it was great that a student would be listening to one of the most socially responsible bands out there. If this kid paid attention to what this band was exploring she would learn how to ask questions. And isn’t asking questions one of the fundamental skills needed for a person to educate themselves? As a teacher’s assistant wasn’t I suppose to reinforce this behavior? She was told by the principal to cover it up and not wear it again. It had offended Christian students. The girl asked me for help. I told her I would try. I told her that I would write the band and ask them where the symbol comes from. I thought that if I got information about the symbols origin, I could give it to the girl and she could find her own argument to defend the shirt. She could fight her own battle with information, not emotion. And maybe the powers that be might recind their decision in the face of educated dialogue. But I forgot to send the email. I failed to educate.

Later in the year a student was asked to take a piece of art down. Another student had made the same no cross symbol out of toothpicks and tissue paper to put on display in the art cabinet in the foyer. He was mad about what had happened with the shirt and decided to protest with his art. He took up the cause I forgot to. But as I said, it was taken down. It offended.

Again there was no dialogue, just decisions. Why is it we couldn’t have the two groups of students get together and discuss the problem? Decisions are what make bombs go off in train stations. They cause bitterness. We should be more responsible than I was when I forgot to send the email. We should have taken this moment to educate the students on how to discuss the issue. We needed to educate these students on how to find a way to solve the disagreement with information, not emotion. But since we didn’t, we have no business asking why kids today are the way they are. Why the world is the way it is. We are responsible for teaching them to be better people. To learn from our mistakes and make the world a better place because they learned to listen as well as speak. But we don’t. We teach them make unilateral decisions, just like us even though we know it doesn’t work. We don’t engage them in actively learning about whatever the opposite side of the argument is. Nor do we teach them to find out the origins of why the other party feels the way they do and help them explain why they feel differently. If we tried this they may actually surprise us and fix things.

Any point of conflict is the most important point of all. It is the one time we have the ability to teach kids the problem solving skills we always complain they don’t have. I don’t claim to know everything about what we should do in situations like these. But I do know that if we try to get kids to learn, ask questions and try talking things out and then make decisions, maybe we can finally teach them some things they really do need to know.

For other matters of school related idiocy please check out this fine site: Zero Intelligence.

You Don't Have the Right Piece of Paper

2004-08-16T15:34:00.000-05:00

So I'm sitting on my couch, and no I won't tell you what I'm wearing. It's scandalous. Anyway, I'm on the couch. Anyone familiar with me knows this is how I generally spend my summer days. I don't like outside my house much. You may wonder how it is that at 4 in the afternoon (cst) I'm at home and not pushing paper or pursuing some other soul sucking endeavors related to work. It's because I'm a teachers assistant and I get the summer off. If you don't know what that is I can best explain it as education related photocopy expert (teacher's bitch). I generally photocopy worksheets and complete said worksheets for the shitty little kids I work with (they don't do the sheets because they don't want too, but I get in trouble from the teachers if they aren't completed, so I finish them cause I don't want to deal with it, and you can never know too much about decimals and fractions). I love my work. And as always sarcasm brings me back to sitting on my couch.

Today I had purpose. Today I had a cup of coffee. Today I would look for a new job. How hard could it be. I have a B. A. I have years of experience working with children and youth. Hell I even worked in a drug and alcohol treatment centre looking after the kids the parents couldn't see in between fixes. I also have many other qualities that make me job worthy, but this space just isn't big enough to list them all (plus I actually want people to read this article so I must keep my self serving to a minimum). How did it go you ask? I'm still on the couch, and I miss my coffee.

Yup that's right, not a sniff. No work for me. You know why, because I don't have the right piece of paper. I have a B. A. Good enough to teach school in the States and Overseas, but useless to me here in the best country in the world ( I mean that, Canada is the best country in the world, except for the rising child poverty rate and slow deterioration of our vaunted social programs). I even began looking at jobs that don't involve working with kids. But still, wrong piece of paper.

I found jobs all over the place I could do, but you need certification to wipe your own ass nowadays. Did you know that there is a master's program to be an archivist. You can't even be a shelf monkey without an M. A. Even base entry level positions like secretary require a ticket of some sort. I can type and make coffee, I did it today (no offence to secretaries I know you do lots). I think it sucks that people are so often not given the opportunity to perform a task well within their abilities because of society's reliance on certification. Certification does not equal competence. Simple concept, but well beyond most human resource departments.

A perfect example of why this reliance on paper sucks is me. A better example of this is my grandfather. He dropped out of school after grade 6. Yet when given the opportunity, he became one of the most respected heating and cooling specialists in the city. You can't get your furnace fixed in this city without having it done by someone who has either been trained by or heard of my grandfather. He learned to do what he did as he went along. He gained experience on the job. He wouldn't have a job if he was starting out today.

You may say it's different times, things are more specialized, skills and techniques need to be standardized, but since when does that mean not giving someone a chance to succeed inspite of no formal training. Doesn't everyone say experience is worth more than schooling? But then again, who has time for experience with our noses stuffed in training manuals.

That's my news from the couch.

Spring is Like a Perhaps Hand

2004-08-14T17:28:00.000-05:00

Spring is like a perhaps hand
(which comes carefully
out of Nowhere) arranging
a window, into which people look (while
people stare
arranging and changing placing
carefully there a strange
thing and a known thing here) and

changing everything carefully

spring is like a perhaps
Hand in a window
(carefully to
and fro moving New and
Old things, while
people stare carefully
moving a perhaps
fraction of flower here placing
an inch of air there) and

without breaking anything.

E. E. Cummings

A Test of the Emergency Blogging System

2004-08-14T16:48:00.000-05:00

Is this thing on?

Poke poke...