Flashback (39): The Evening Cowboy

I have written about Cargill Meat Solutions before but I repeat here that I worked for the company for over 4.5 years! I'm looking back now at year 2006 and see what monster I used to be! That was the year I quit and it was August, 20 year ago! Four freaking years and a half is not a short time working a hard physical job and for a 6 days a week! I don't know how I did that but it proves how strong both physically and mentally I was or perhaps that is a source contributed to my Gout problem today!
Cargill Meat Solutions, in case you don't know, has a plant outside the town of High River in southern Alberta which when I started my job there back in Jan. of 2002, was 63 km away from where I lived! The company had established a sort of subsidized bus service to facilitate the commute of the labourers who came from far away distances, mostly Calgary. I would like to go to the plant one of these days and see how it operates and see if any of the guys I knew still are there. If I do, I will have a post. 
I remember I walked every cold morning form the place I had rented to where the bus would pick me and a few other ones up at the corner of 64 Ave. and Falconridge Boulevard. I don't remember how early it was but my assumption is that was probably 05:00 or 05:30. I can't recall. I then moved to Downtown Calgary which made the commute a little bit easier but not the job.
What I remember clearly and the scene is tattooed in my brain is the tall Caucasian guy who would wear a big Cowboy hat and walked down the street every Fri. nigh, probably just to go to a nearby bar, the closest being Cowboy Taphouse. I knew this guy worked in the slaughter house.  The plant is consisted of a few departments or sections:
1) Yard. Where the animals were kept and sorted before being slaughtered.

2) Slaughter House. Where the animals got processed initially meaning their heads, their guts and other non-edible parts would be separated.

3) Production. Where the animals were cut to little pieces and went for packaging

4) Packaging section. This was the easiest part which had most of the Caucasians employed. 

The Evening Cowboy, whose nickname resembles The Midnight Cowboy, the main character in the famous old Western starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman (which I haven't watched!) was such a nice and soft-hearted fella, always wearing a smile in comparison with some Caucasian Canadians who just hated your guts simply because you were a non-Chinese, non-(East) Indian, non-African, Non-Latino foreigner! 
I don't remember whether he quit or what but I never saw him after, perhaps, a few years but his image still is in my mind. I hope he's doing fine and is happy wherever he is because it's not easy to stay nice, kind and smiling toward others after a very hard physical work day but he managed to do that. A kind of Caucasian Canadian who can be found here in many communities in Canada while you may encounter the biggest jerks and assholes at the same time. I simply ignore the second group. 

(Photo: Voight and Hoffman in a scene of the movie Midnight Cowboy. Drop me a line about the film if you have watched it)

Stegosaurus (Dolomite) Peak Second Attemp

I really don't like it when places are named after similar places. For example I don't like it when they say the Venice of this country. Venice is a city in Italy. If this place has some resemblance, find a good name for it. I guess it's not easy but still possible. I wanted to know who has called this mountain, in the beginning of the Icefield Highway in Alberta, Dolomite Peak! First of all it is not a peak! It is a series of peaks! Secondary if this mountain has some resemblance to the Italy's Dolomite, that doesn't mean it should be named the same. That is why I like to call it Stegosaurus Mountain! 

I'm not Trump who orders left and right and renames place around the world but we all can agree that it is a legitimate and valid name change. I'm a little surprised that Google has accepted Trump's order because Google is not a government agency but perhaps I can start a petition and contact Google to make this change happen! 

I was determined this time and being a very nice and sunny September day with no rain and no wind and very mild temperature made me sure that I could reach the summit this time. I started at 09:00 while unlike the last time there were two cars parked there. When a path is not crowded but there are one or two guys it gives you the sense of security and competition but I didn't see anyone until I reached the same spot that I had reached the last time, after 3 hours! 

I'm thinking going up from the right side of these trees and reaching the center of the mountain next time I'm attempting this mountain. I know it will be hard but third time is the charm!

I tried to go up a tall rocky wall as I wanted to avoid narrow and exposed path near the big standing rock but I couldn't! I went back and took a few pictures next to the rock and was ready to go back because deep down I know I wouldn't go from the exposed area but decided to give it another try. Same result! That was when I thought that I had wasted enough time and decided to go back down while I was cursing myself! It was only a few meters down when I saw a young fells. He was coming back down from the top and told me he was the driver of one of the vehicles but there was no sign of the other driver. He took off after a short talk and disappeared in the valley! It gave me a lesson of bringing a pair of damn hiking poles. They're helpful. The main reason I dislike them is they break so quick. I remember this hike we went with Alphonse a few years ago and I used a pair. I had to threw them out after the hike/scramble but I'm going to definitely use that in my next hike this weekend, wherever it will be. I found a pair within my hiking gear a few weeks ago! I don't know if I have purchased them or someone gave them to me but I will certainly use them. 

Coming down was very painful and tiring and I don't know if it was because of my age(!) or I was tired because going up was fun and enjoyable. I perhaps wasted too much time up there deciding and trying to go beyond that dan rock and reach one of the towers. I think it was almost 17:20 that I reached the vehicle. One of the vehicles was still parked there so I'm hoping they were all right. With all these recent deaths in Alberta, you never know what might happen. Perhaps that's why I didn't want to rick that narrow path. I simply didn't want to become another statistic but know I think perhaps I shall approach the top from the middle of the mountain, next time, instead of going to the most western edge. 

The drive back was good until Canmore. I wanted to stop for a beverage but the McDonald's in the west side of the town was closed. I think they're building a new restaurant amongst a few more in the area. I then decided to try Tim Horton's which was a few meters away. What a bad mistake!

I'm going to share what happened in that Tim's as this was my first experience with this franchise after a very long time. While the staff was great and the store was organized, they charged me $3.50 for a damn medium Iced Coffee(!) and that is not all. I don't know if it was the ice, the cup or the coffee itself that it tasted like burnt cooking oil. It must be that they store one of these items next to a used oil container or something. It was awful. I have communicated this issue through their website. I'm hoping that they can fix the issue but for someone like me who doesn't eat out, it's not a major issue. It's just a horrible experience after a day out in the nature.

There was some jam on Highway #1 on the way to Calgary which I think was because of an incident. I only saw an SUV with with a deployed front air bag at the left side of the road and after nearly half an hour waste of time, the traffic flew but I didn't reach home until 20:40!  

(Photo, top: The same drainage that I followed more than two years ago in Jul. and led me to the same damn dead end/exposed area! This is the path that everyone takes. Perhaps it's the time to open a new one!)

Mr. Chretien's Great Response to Americans

Jean Chretien was the Prime Minister of Canada when I first moved to this country and he faced a real challenge in 2003 when the the US decided to cross into Iraqi border from Kuwait and give Saddam Hussein, his final lesson. He decided not to join the so-called " Collision ". Many said that would affect the US-Canada relationship in a very negative way but then Canada agreed to send its troops to Afghanistan and did. That helped to heal the wounds! 

Mr. Chretien was in Gander, Newfoundland & Labrador this past Fri., the 25th anniversary of the Sep.11 attacks at age 92 and gave a wonderful and powerful speech. That was the moment I really wanted to be a Canadian. I always admired Mr. Chretien. The Liberal Party destroyed itself using a self destruction device called Justin " The Silly Joke " Trudeau " after that but that's not the point here. The point is he really gave it to Americans but professionally and amicably. His speech could be easily on either CBC website (CBC.ca) or YouTube. His one sentence is pierced in my mind: Don't consider our generosity for our weakness.

(Photo: Jean Chretien, the former Prime Minister of Canada is seen here in this undated photo with his wife Aline. She passed away in 2020 at the age of 84)

Big Spring Hill Provincial Park: What a Waste!

I decided to go and see this park at the north west side of Calgary, outside the city limits, of course and close to the town of Cochrane, this past long weekend. What a mistake! I'm not too far so I got myself on Highway #567 and turned left at a sign, toward the south before reaching that town. I find myself in a quite large parking lot after a few minutes of driving. A few vehicles were parked there despite the weather being cloudy and rainy. I parked and looked around. Not many signs. I took a green path more towards the south side of the park. O-O! I didn't go into the castle as I was not playing chess(!) it was the end of the path. Barbed wire and sign saying it was a protected area. Okay. I understand. That's how it should be or it will be ruined like Banff National Park has been. 

I then went to the other end of the park, the north side and a sign over there says you can go up a short trail to a lookout. I took that. It passes by a nice waterfall and a few small bridges and then in 5 minutes you're there! You not only have reached the lookout but also the end of the damn park! Isn't this brilliant?! A park where you can go from one end to another in less than 15 minutes!! What a waste of money and of course resource: A paved road, parking lot, bathroom facilities, signs, stairs and small foot bridges all for people to be able to walk for 15 freaking minutes! 

I don't know what these guys of the Provincial Government were thinking! I don't think they were thinking at all! My guess is they either had some budget to blow or there was a dispute between the ranchers and lot owners in the area and in order to permanently settle that they said: Hey! This land, this little piece of sh*t land belongs to none of you. We're going to blow thousands of dollars and make it a park that people are only expected to spend 15 minutes of their visiting time in it! 

There are many parks in and outside The City of Calgary, beautiful and lovely parks which I never tired of going to. This, however, is a silly joke and a stupid mistake. I will never burn fuel to get there again. What a stupid waste. 

(Photo: This entire area to those hills are a protected area and separated from the park boundary using barbed wire and signs which is the right thing to do but the government of Alberta did not have to spend thousands of dollars on the facilities of the 15-minute long park!)

Fool Proofing for a Fool

I studied a little and wrote about Fool Proofing many years ago. I posted about it back in 2004. Something happened after 22 years that made me not only to practically implement that but also write about here, not hopping that anyone does anything about these fools! 

This story starts with ABSA, The Alberta Boilers Safety Association, a provincial organization which watches over the manufacturing, assembling and installation of pressure vessels to make sure they are safe by complying to the applicable standards. ABSA deploys Authorized Inspectors to the facilities and sites which deal with pressure vessels to perform inspections and reviews regularly and charges them a good chuck of dough! I had to deal with four Authorized Inspectors since I have started this new position and one is funnier than the other: 

1) Caucasian fella who always was very friendly. Always smiling and chatty. I've written about my encounter with him regarding my trip to Japan. He got axed for lack of work ethics and being sloppy! He later contacted the team leader of ours who was kicked out later(!) and said that he wanted to start an Inspection Company. Never heard of him since.

2) An Indian Punjabi guy. This guy was a bit of nutcase. A narcissist like most of the Indians are and a sort of person who thought he knew everything and never was ashamed of abusing his power. Common within eastern culture, in general and Indian sub-continent culture, in particular! He got into heated argument with two of female employees of the company and got banned! This moron, was sent back to the company months after the incident because ABSA didn't have anyone else and this time he approached me and asked me to fix something on one of the products. When I asked him which one it was he said he did not remember exactly what serial number it was and got busy with one of his own people who works for the company! What a fool! 

3) Another Caucasian fella who seemed to be more mature, understanding and knowledgeable at first. But not completely as it appears later! This guy says things that either forgets or don't care about them, later! If there're issues within the products that he finds, he never officially sends a message. He always hands a small piece of paper, usually a Sticky Note or says it, although I think they note it down as they have a sort of log-book which they update it after every visit.

One of my interactions with this numbnuts was the concept of recycling which I never even bothered to mention it to him, like any other things that he had an issue with and fixed it myself! The company has provided both a trash bin and a recycling bin in every room, including the room the so-called Authorized Inspectors use. I realized that this idiot throws the papers that he does not want into the trash bin while there's a blue bin (recycle bin) just next to it. The concept of recycling is ignored by millions and millions in Canada and all over the world. They just simply don't care but there's a bin, why don't you use it? What I did was just switched the spots that these two bins had been placed and got the recycle bin closer to the desk if the so-called A. I. I didn't work! Then I removed the trash bin and placed it at the other end of the room because I knew this guy was so lazy that he would not walk to the other side to throw something in the bin. I then just placed the blue bin so close to him that he wouldn't even have to move. All he has to do now is to extent his arm and get rid of the piece! That's how you fool proof a task!

(Photo: A very simple and basic example of fool proofing, mistake proofing or its Japanese term, Poke Yoke)

The Caps on the Fence

I've been to Highway #22 several times and by that I mean the south part of it where it takes you to Crowsnest Pass and the US border and I realized, every time that on one of the ranches on the right side of the highway, the west side, baseball caps are placed on the top of almost every and each fence post. I never knew what that meant and there was never anyone to ask.

I did a little search and I found out what this means, today! I was supposed to go to north, this weekend for some hike but the weather has been cloudy and rainy in almost every part of the Province of Alberta, from south in Coutts to north in Edmonton. So I'm writing this now with the hope that I can get out around noon to get a few things done, not that anyone cares.

The story is about a 90-year-old rancher near Longview who had been to Yukon Territory and had seen caps on the fences and decided to do the same thing in his ranch. He nailed, perhaps, nearly hundred caps to his fence posts. There's a full interview with the gentleman who originally is from Calgary and according to him was born in 1930 in CBC back in 2020. Now 6 years later I hope he is sound and well despite the fact that these caps mean nothing but a way of spare the time and create curiosity within the travelers who drive by! 

(Photo: Property fence on Highway #22 in Alberta, south of Longview)