My Salvation Army Story

Employers reimburse some of the employees' expenses, if they are legitimate. Education and safety gear are some of them. This story is about what I made up and sold to our so-called Safety Manager and my supervisor about the safety boots I had purchased and it shows how naive these people are. I did it mainly because as I've said this before most of the Canadians feel jealous when they see a foreigner, particularly someone like me from that specific part of the world, purchases valuable and quality merchandise.

I went to a branch of Red Wings and picked a pair of safety boots for a little over $300. My main goal was and still is to use the boots mainly for hiking, not for work! The guy in the store recommended another pair but because that was very heavy I picked the one I thought would be more comfortable although now I think I need to change this to a bigger size that it feels too tight! Why did I not do that in the first place? The answer is very easy: I become a lazy fool from time to time! 

With that said, I put the box in a tote with a big Salvation Army written at each side. This was given to me by my Mom and I did not ask her where she had obtained it from. I showed it to my so-called supervisor and as soon as he sees that he smiles and I think he believes that I had purchased it from a Salvation Army store! I decide to play along and rake that to the Safety Manager and tell him that I had purchased it from a Salvation Army store. He looks at the boots which obviously had never been worn and confirms that! I tell him that the guy who purchased it got into an incident, becomes injured and permanently disable as a result of them. He then sells the boots to the store to cover part of hi expense despite the fact that he is covered by insurance! The boots which are normally over $400 are sold for a little over $300! The idiot buys it, despite the fact that the receipt says Red Wings Shoes clearly on the top! He then approves it, I take it to our manager and he approves it as well. I then send the Expense Report and simply wait for reimbursement and will enjoy the boots in one of the upcoming hikes soon! 

I used another pair of Red Wings boots in a beautiful hike to the summit of Maze Mountain with my buddy Stout a few years ago but I'm not in the same state of mind and shape these days. I'm older and mentally shattered but I will try to do as many hikes as I can this summer and not only compensate for the losses but also bank more. 

(Photo: One of a few Red Wings boots which are made for hiking. I cannot tell whether this one is also a safety boot or not but when I asked the fella in the shop the other day he didn't know anything about it. The previous one was tried once, as far as I remember and was not too bad. I will have to see how this one will work after I change it with a bigger size)

35 Times More Feces in F-35

I remember Canada had a plan to renew its aging FA-18 squadron back to the time Peter MacKay was the Defense Minister. It was just a short period of time that he was in the office but it finally didn't happen, fortunately. F-35s were considered at the time. So happy that the Prime Minister just announced that Canada will purchase replacement fighter planes from Sweden. 

A product cannot be judged by one single failure but everyone does that. Don't they? If you buy a faulty computer from a specific manufacturer, what would you do? You return it, if you could and then stay the hell away from that brand, as long as you can. It's proven that one F-35 was hit during the recent attacks by the US forces over Iran, by the air defense system in that country and that jet is supposed to be stealth and we know that Iranian military doesn't use much advanced equipment. What does that tell you about the US $82.5 million jet?! You would ask yourself whether you should spend that much money on such a piece of crap which could be hit by a few thousands of dollars ground-to-air missiles! 

The thing is the US $82.5 plane is just a basic model, I would say. Hundreds of thousands would come after that for spare parts, maintenance, training, you name it. One shall think what they get themselves into before thinking about this so-called stealth. 

(Photo: F-35 is seem to be taking off almost vertically here of maybe landing and it seems it is on an aircraft career. One thing is clear: It's not as advanced as they say and it's too expensive too!)

The 10 Years Anniversary

If I had stayed married, it would've been 17 years that we were in a relationship this June but that's not all. If I had stayed in the first marriage(!), it would've been 25 years now! You might think I'm either an idiot or an old ass! The reality is that I'm more of the first one when it comes to relationships with women. Not in any other areas! Now instead of celebrating the 17th marriage or 25th years marriage, I will celebrate the 10th year of a relationship-free life!
 The strange thing is the dream I had a few days ago during the week. It felt so real. Kissing my ex-wife and she kissing me back so passionately! The funny thing about this dream is it never happened in real life! I'm sure we loved each other to a certain level but it was not shown or at least I didn't show it in a way I should have. There's no doubt that it was my fault that she left but she was an idiot in some really serious areas! The question is would you prefer a sexy and beautiful wife or a smart one? These two rarely come together! Nevertheless, what's the point of digging the past. It will never come back. Let's not go back to the dark parts of the past and stay in the present and plan for the future. Let's plan in a way that the remaining last years are spent in a way we desire. 

(Photo: Instead of having the number 17 on the cake, I would have number 10 but without the bride and the groom and that Mr. and Mrs.!)

The Amazing Ladies of Alfred Hitchcock!

I've watched a few old fantastic Hitchcock's movies recently and can't stop sharing with everyone who might be interested in a few hours of good entertainment, rather than wasting money on a film about someone who was repeatedly charged with sexual abuse! Some very beautiful and talented ladies have roles in those movie. You see them all here:

Tippi Hedren. Had roles in The Birds and Marnie. Now live in New York City and is the grandmother of actress Dakota Johnson. She is 96. As per Johnson, I've watched Black Mass which is a good movie and the Peanut Butter something! I think the attention that Johnson receives is mostly because of her physique and beauty rather than her talent and art of showing a character in a story but that's a separate topic.

Eva Marie Saint had the lead role in another Hitchcock's movie called North by Northwest. Her performance is brilliant. She is currently 101! 

The beautiful Diane Baker also has a role in the Hitchcock's Marnie. She had a small role as a Senator in The Silence of the Lambs. She is now 88.

Joan Fontaine had a major role in the Hitchcock's Rebecca but she was not the Rebecca! This British-American lovely actress was born in Japan and passed away in 2013. 

The beautiful Vera Miles portraited the murdered woman's sister in Hitchcock's excellent movie, Psycho. She is currently 95.

Out After 10 Year (26): Prostitution in Japan

I met a young fella a few years ago when I worked for a branch of Refrigerator Supply Limited. He later was kicked out just before he was scheduled to be sent on the 2-day company training trip to another province! He was really pissed off! He even came back to talk to the branch manager about that! I'm sure it would have not resulted in any difference. I wondered why he did not know that.

He was not a bad guy. Just lazy and a little bit slow. I became more familiarized with Japan and Far East Asian Martial Arts during the short time I worked with him. He also told me about the Red District in Tokyo, a little bit. When I went to that city I had forgotten about him and his stories but I saw girls on the streets, I think it was in Shinjuku and read a little bit about the so-called Soapy Massage and other similar services, when I was there. I never dared try any of them! Who knows what would have happened! Lack of communication especially in a country like Japan cannot result in a good outcome.

Japan, despite being an industrialized country, has the same issues as other countries. Not to that extent, of course and not that obvious. Streets all clean, no homelessness, no crazy behaviours that you see from people in the US and Canada but people come to big cities for better life and trying new opportunities. I once met a Japanese young woman in an RBC branch. She was (and still should be) married to a Black guy, she told me. Below average look but very kind and slim! Not the attributes coming together very often! I asked her questions about my trip and she answered them all patiently, in writing! She told me she was from a small town and she had never had a Driver's License before coming to Canada! This is one example but other examples are the girls who go to the major cities there, mostly Tokyo and work as Masseuses and Escorts. This one girl I remember reading about had come to Tokyo from a small town and she was mute. In her profile, they were saying that despite her disadvantage, she has a high satisfaction rate. I wonder what else the poor girl could do and what the situation of her family was. 

I have written about Hotel Sagano, north of Osaka (which I'm hoping to go again). That hotel also provides services for men who need companions but here is the thing: The prostitution law is Japan is similar to Canada if I may say: Loopholes are there! So here's the final word for the one's heading to Japan and have sex on their mind: Be careful! It's not as dangerous as Thailand, not that I've been there, but language barrier and strict law could get you in trouble.

(Photo: Hotel Sagano in north of Osaka in a very beautiful suburban place which I intend to go in 2027, hopefully, again, if my plans go right!)

Ali G. and Mercedes

This story is a short one that Ali G., my buddy told me about the jealousy of Canadians, years ago when we used to hang out, back in the early 2000's:

Ali G. purchased a used Mercedes for $,5000 for his daily commutes and everything else. Mercedes is a very reliable and good car, until it isn't. Barely needs any service. I think his was a 190 e. We went to Banff and Lake Louise with that and basically every time we hung out, he drove it. He told me that his colleagues (Canadians, all) always made fun of him and said stupid thing about driving a luxury car, although it was used, by a foreigner and he always ignored them. The car eventually stopped right in the middle of the road! People helped him to push it aside and he never drove it after that. He then bought a brand new 2006 Acura, I don't know what model but I do know it was considered a luxury car at the time. I don't know the stories about that car but I know he moved to Lerthbridge after that , to work for Pepsico.

(Photo: I and Ali G. used to hang out for a few years back in the early 2000's as I wrote above but never were close friends in a way to take pictures together or anything like that. Beside camera phones and digital cameras were not as popular as they are now and everyone takes pictures of everything including the time they have an intimate relationship and sell it, so there's no picture of his Mercedes but I believe it was something similar to this, above. The interesting thing is this car at the time it came out of the assembly plant was available in two colours: Black and Metallic Black! My grandfather had a Mercedes too but that would be, probably, the subject of another post)