I’d like to start out by thanking Quebec Premier Pauline Marois for first inspiring the column I published last week in Métro. All the recent talk about religious headgear worn by soccer players made me decide to publish it. During the last provincial election she relied heavily on identity politics with her talk of a creating [...]
Category Archives: Random thoughts
Seek immediate medical attention…and then wait eight hours!
A few weeks ago I was visited by an old friend: a kidney stone. That little sucker, pictured above, was my third experience with one. For those who haven’t had the pleasure, the pain of a kidney stone can best be described as more or less like shoving a crowbar into your scrotum and pulling [...]
This is not a garbage can!
A few years ago, as I was walking into a shopping center, I noticed a large sign on a door. The sign was a large green neon sign with an arrow thick enough to hide a loaf of rye bread. Underneath this arrow, in 100+ point font, were the words: Porte Brisé (Door broken). To [...]
This year I resolve never to write about resolutions
I can count on three media requests each year. In the summer, I will get a request to comment on the importance of summer vacations. During the holidays, the pre-Christmas request is to discuss loneliness and/or stress. This is soon followed by the standard “Hey, why don’t you write about resolutions?” Well, as Weird Al [...]
Genes trump Dad. So does Facebook.
If you have more than one child, or if you have siblings, you will be struck by how different they are. Same basic genetic make-up, radically different personalities. While siblings can be remarkably similar in many ways, just a few subtle differences – a little more of this trait, a little less of that one [...]
People categories
Here is something I had sitting in my computer for a while. I was hoping to expand the list but finally decided to submit it. It is a short list of how I categorize people and was published today. Feel free to add you own categories in the comments. People categories SVP Voir plus bas pour [...]
My fifth and a half sense
One of the most inspiring yet frustrating tendency people have is to listen to their guts. This is because we can learn a lot from our gut feelings but we can also be led to believe some pretty crazy things. Indeed, our feelings can often inform us when something is amiss. Unfortunately, how we interpret [...]
The relentless pursuit of …um, you know…stuff
One of my childhood heroes was George Leigh Mallory. I remember reading about his attempts to scale Mount Everest. What made the story so fascinating was the mystery surrounding his death. He and fellow climber, Sandy Irvine, were last seen going for the top but were never seen again. No one knows for sure if [...]
Amy and the Duke
Here is something published in today’s edition of Métro: Mon cadeau de Noël préféré. My favourite Christmas gift For my last column before the holidays I decided to write about my favourite Christmas gift. Unfortunately I sat for quite a while and couldn’t think of what it was. I considered a few possibilities such as [...]
