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I just got back from an environmentally friendly earth day tour to Meaford for brunch. I took my rental SUV and drove to Ted’s Range Road Diner for a lovely omelet with ham, cheese and mushrooms. B and S, the card shark, enjoyed the salmon and eggs with hollandaise sauce. S, the wee lass from the valley, had her usual steak and eggs. Lots of coffee, tea and a couple of jugs of water washed it all down. Mmmmmmmm.
As we were standing around in the parking lot afterwards making seeya later noises, the card shark mentioned that she had taken a detour on a nearby road that has an inviting sign saying “No Winter Maintenance Beyond This Point.” My ears perked up, and I told everyone that my car is a four wheel drive and best of all, “it’s a rental!” We bailed into the Jeep Compass, and headed back to investigate the alluring prospect of a serious tour.
We were not disappointed. Just head north to the top of the hill from Ted’s driveway, and turn left. The good road leads to some upscale cottages, and about a km further on, the no maintenance sign beckons. The road narrows to a single lane (or less) and the ruts and rocks are in evidence. We bounced down the road looking out for rocks that might not like the gas tank and oil pan. We avoided most of them, and got a nice coating of dust and mud for our trouble.
The road looks passable for the most part until you hit a fairly sizable mud-hole. We walked a bit ahead to test the depth of the water in the mud-hole and figured that we had better wait until another time to take a vehicle down again.
We backed up and I made a 7 point turn to point the jeep in the homeward direction. We laughed and said that next time we are going to take B’s Honda Civic down instead. The Irish Mountain lookout at the top is worth stopping for if you aren’t brave enough to take your car into the rhubarb. Just make sure you’ve had a good hearty brunch at Ted’s before starting out.
We took the little fugger up to the Oak Ridges Moraine this afternoon. It was grey, but pleasant to go for a drive in the country. The trees are starting to bud, but there’s little else that’s green yet. While we were out, we stopped to see Grendel’s pals. Del, and Jack, two golden retrievers and Archie the horse were delighted to see him.
Del came over with his favourite rock and leaned on my leg, while Grendel and Jack bounced around the barnyard with Archie. Del is getting on in years, and he’s not the bouncy type anymore. He’s content to sit on the sidelines while the younger dogs do the scampering. What he lacks in energy, he makes up for in charm (and odour).
Grendel has a nifty tactic to deal with bigger dogs. When he’s being chased by Jack, Grendel will quickly come to a stop at the end of a slight shift right or left, while Jack will continue hurtling forward. It will take an extra second for Jack to realize he’s overrun his quarry and turn around. In the meantime, Grendel will have darted off in another direction. In this way, Grendel can run with the big dogs and still stay in the game. It’s all about agility and timing, not size.
We all retired to the kitchen for a cuppa tea, while the three dogs and the horse carried on in the yard. At the end of it, we grabbed Grendel, and headed back to the city. It was a rousing event for Grendel, and he got a chance to be a free range lapdog for a few hours. It’s always fun to see the little fugger getting on with the two dogs and his biggest friend, Archie. It’s difficult to fathom that a chihuahua and a horse could get along, but truth is stranger than fiction.
If only Harriet would give him as nice a reception, but that’s another story.
I’m gettin’ irritated again.
Anyone following the news in the USA lately will have likely heard about a guy named Don Imus. He’s a famous talk radio host who is known for his provocative statements on air. Not long ago he covered a story about a women’s college basketball team. Rather than celebrate their bold, but ultimately unsuccessful bid for the championship, he opted to take a really cheap shot. He had the gall to call them a bunch of “nappy headed ho’s.”
He has since been censured and fired from his job with NBC, and he has attempted to swallow his pride and issue a half hearted apology to the young women he insulted. He has admitted that he has gone too far (this time). As a “shock jock”, he has used the airwaves to insult many women in the past. He has just been called on it this time. Unfortunately, Don Imus is only one of many radio personalities who uses the airwaves to hurl excrement.
Another similar story comes to mind. A women named Kathy Sierra is noted for her software design skills and her business acumen. She has a widely read blog and appears as a keynote speaker at technical conferences. I say that’s commendable no matter what gender you are, and especially so for a woman. High-Technology has been a largely male only domain with a few notable exceptions. Any women who make it to the top have to be pretty good to rise above the testosterone and bravura.
Apparently, Ms. Sierra’s blog has had some rather unsavoury photo manipulations posted in her comments section. Someone took a photograph of her, and placed a hangman’s noose around her neck along with a juvenile death threat.
WTF?
Some other bloggers have told her that this is a trifling matter, and she should just dust herself off and carry on. Understandably, Kathy Sierra has thought otherwise. She has cancelled some upcoming appearances, and departed the blogverse rather than engage in debate with people who use the anonymity of the Internet to spout venomous bullshit. There’s nothing wrong with her being upset by this episode, and wanting to keep her distance.
These two stories are similar in that they are both examples of a common disregard that we hold for strong and succesfull women. It also is wrong.
Women have been struggling for decades for equality in the workforce and respect for their efforts wherever they may choose to apply them. It appears there are still a lot of people around who don’t necessarily believe that successful women should be held up as positive examples. And worse still, the quality of public debate has hit rock bottom when the likes of the famous radio guy and the anonymous blog-commenter try to get away with crap like this. These are just two examples, and I’m sure I could dig up many more to illustrate my point.
I was just a kid when the feminist movement got into full swing. The sixties were interesting times for a lot of people, and I quickly found that it was easy to agree with the tenets of feminism, despite my gender. I don’t think I’ve ever been threatened by women who just wanted equality. How hard is it to realize that we can’t continue to treat half the population as inferior? It rankles me to hear misogyny rearing it’s ugly head time and again.
The worst part of it all is that the quality of discourse is plummeting. Rather than make a thoughtful argument in favour of their own points, the male chauvinist pigs of the world would rather attack with unsavoury comments and thinly veiled threats instead. I’ve just cited two examples, and those are just the tip of the iceberg.
People may counter my argument by spouting nonsense about freedom of speech. I agree that we should be free to express our opinions, but we should also know where acceptable discourse ends and hate speech begins. We have the right to free speech, but we should also think about the responsibility to speak the truth. It’s obvious, but not obvious enough for some I guess.
Like Spiderman says: “with great power comes great responsibility.” We could all think about this.
I had a bit of good luck yesterday. I went to my regular group pilates class, and everyone else, except for the instructor was missing. As a result, I got a private session for the price of a group class. It’s nice when that happens.
The instructor is a jovial fellow named Paul, who I really respect. He has been my regular instructor most Wednesdays, and he’s also made a mark dancing with Danny Grossman’s company. He’s no slouch when it comes to a knowledge of movement.
He took it upon himself to work on a hip opening technique that really hit the mark. It’s one of those things that is basic to pilates. In an ideal situation, you should be able to isolate an individual muscle or group of muscles without straining or activating others. What I’ve found in recent times, despite all of my teachers best efforts, is that I’ve been straining my quadriceps and gluteous muscles when they should be relaxed. These larger muscles are overworked, and the muscle that should receive the benefit is neglected as a result.
My hips feel quite different after this brief session, and I’m certainly glad I had the personal attention to figure out what I was doing wrong. It’s nice to revisit the basics once in a while. The more elaborate stuff gets done properly when the fundamentals are in place.
I think I should pick up my horn and practice some scales or somethin’.
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