Monday Morning Soapbox Moment

This is going to stray from the normal humor-injected ramblings that take place here on iBlog and venture more into the "angry man who doesn't understand the world" area.

You've been warned...

With my wife working in the medical field and being around constant shortages of care, budget cuts and finger-wagging about overtime, we've spent a lot of time discussing the allocation of finances a great deal and d'you know what?

We're screwed.

Hospitals can't find enough nurses to staff floors because they're all stressed, tired of working above capacity and having no help.

Schools have more and more students with fewer and fewer teachers, classrooms growing to the size of poorly attended university lectures.

But we've got a bunch of helicopters at the ready should anyone ever invade Canada!

While I understand both Canada and the United States' actions in propping up the automotive industry with billion dollar bailout loans, what kind of message does that send to nurses who spend every day trying to save lives or teachers who try to educate overstuffed classrooms of children?

Sorry, there is no money to better equip and staff your hospital, but we can dump a load of money into the car industry because they bring in a whack of cash each year. Saving lives is great, but if you could start producing a profit too, that would be even better.

We can't provide housing and care for the homeless, but millions can be spent in and around Vancouver so that for three weeks this coming winter, everyone can look and see the ridiculously expensive new buildings and roads and venues cost money that surely could have been better used elsewhere.

Yeah - that makes perfect sense, especially when you couple it with the recent push to get the homeless off the street.

The push isn't "let's find them places to live, help them get back on their feet and doing better" either. This is a "find anywhere you can to keep them out of sight until we give you the signal" type initiative to present the false image that Vancouver is a glorious place without the same problems that every major metropolitan area is plagued with.

There are millions of dollars to give the city a faux-shine, but not a dime for after-school programs to help keep kids active and off the streets.

Maybe we could start giving those kids rides in all the army vehicles we seem to build and produce each and every year?

Or we could just take a better look at where we're spending our money.

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10 Things I Learned This Week

1. You Can't Teach Work Ethic
It's been a busy week at Montana's and over the last seven days, it's become painfully obvious to me that there is nothing anyone can say or do to make someone work harder. For a time, maybe, but not over the long haul. Management is included in this sadly, as our new guy bailed when his shift was scheduled to end Monday, despite all kinds of people answering their phones and coming in to help him. The right thing to do would have been to stick around. But you can't make people do something they don't want to do.

2. Through The Wire
At least Season One so far. Honestly, without harping on the subject for too long, if you like cop shows with an edge and some realism to them, go find this show. Best Buy dropped their prices on the seasons - they're only $30 a piece now - so instead of having a beer and pizza night, make a sammich and go buy this show.

3. Silencing Critics Inside the Octagon
While I'm still pissed that I didn't get to watch UFC 87 last night, I know all the results and have to give a round of applause to George St. Pierre, Brock Lesnar and Kenny Florian. I picked against all three and the trio came out and fought the fights that everyone (myself included) knew they were capable of fighting en route to unanimous decisions for all three. Most impressive of the group is Lesnar, the one time WWE Heavyweight Champion who could soon be wearing a similar belt in the UFC.

4. Mixed Emotions for Next Sunday
A week from today, I won't be writing this column. Instead, I'll likely be sitting at the kitchen table stuffing my face with breakfast foods recovering from what is sure to be a crappy, wine-enduced hangover following our Engagement Party. Kind of torn on this one still. On one hand, it's going to be nice seeing the people who are coming that I haven't seen in a while. But on the other hand, there are a bunch of people who aren't going to be there that disappoints me. Funny how some people will go to great lengths to show their love while others won't make the smallest effort...

5. R.I.P. Bernie Mac
Everyone has their own opinion of Bernie Mac, the comedian who passed away recently from pneumonia. Sarah hated him. Me? I've been a fan for a while and will miss him. He fit perfectly in his supporting roles in the Ocean's Series and Bad Santa and will always be one of the Original Kings of Comedy in my books.

6. Radio Show Regular
A pattern is forming on C101.5 - Mohawk College Radio on Tuesday nights around 7:30 or so: the host and this cat who writes for a baseball website talk shop for fifteen minutes in between Canadian Indie Rock tracks. Tune in and enjoy my latest efforts in the shameless self-promotion of Spencer Kyte.

7. My Name is Spencer and I'm a Smoker
Still doing pretty good, but let's face it: I've smoked for 13 years and it's the one thing I use as a way of calming down, chilling out and dammit, I just plain like it. There is no way that I would get through the awkward interactions coming next Saturday without the occasional smoke and I would surely have snapped on someone at the Cookhouse by now if I didn't step outside for some unfresh air every once in a while.

8. Olympic Tragedy
I'm no tree-hugger, so I won't stump for the enviromental reasons why we shouldn't be staging an Olympics in Beijing, but the quickness with which there was an incident against American family members of a US Coach in the Communist country shows me that a mistake was made. I will never understand why decisions like this are made when there are less dangerous, equally willing and viable cities always interested in hosting the Olympics.

9. It Really Is Like Having A Kid
Being a dog owner really is a great way to prepare yourself for kids. At least, I would say so now that I'm a dog owner. Everything we do has the "Luke Factor" tied into it and he's been known to throw tantrums now and again for no apparent reason. Our little man is a total handful, but I wouldn't trade him for the world.

10. Operation: 185 Update
Starting Weight: 204 lbs.
Last Week's Weight: 198.5 lbs.
Current Weight: 198.5 lbs.

No change, which is better than going up. This week was actually a fairly crappy week Op-wise, as rain washed out a couple outdoor training sessions and the indoor replacements never go as well. Something about being outside that focuses me more. Probably because I don't have a dog licking at my face when I do crunches...

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