Anniversary

Yesterday, Nov.29.03 was the second anniversary of my immigration to Canada. 2 years ago I was dropped in Calgary International Airport by Air Canada and went to Super 8 Motel and stayed 2 nights there and the Persian-Canadian version of life began.

Also George Harrison, a member of the most famous rock 'n roll band of all time, The Beatles passed aways 2 years ago in such a day. There are songs of them that are still fresh and lovely and I sometimes listen to them. One of them is: Love me do. The song was recorded in Sep.11.62 and was number 1 on the all the USA charts for 1 week and was in the list of 100 top songs for 14 weeks. I believe that only Pink Floyd, the other British music band is the one which can be compared to The Beatles. Will write about Pink Floyd and The Beatles later.

As yesterday was a special day for me(!!) I thought better to give me a special gift 'cause there's nobody to give me such a thing(!!) So what I did is I stayed overtime for 8 hours(!!) Yesterdays speciality is summarized here: Woke up at 05:35 AM, drove to Anderson LRT station, took the bus, worked from 07:00 AM to 04:00 PM like a horse, had a break for half an hour, started work at 04:30 PM again and worked till 01:15 AM of today while had two ordinary break in between.

So you see that it was a real special day. Ahmad, my Kurdish friend drove me to the station and I drove back home from there. It was 03:00 AM, I guess, by the time I was home. When I checked my mobile voice mail box, noticed have two new messages. The first one was only a Beep-Beep and guessed it's my Mom. The second one was from Renay, the beautifully, young, Indian girl from Edmonton. The message says her mom is passed away. I was very sad. I have to call her today, although she left me without a word. She's very sweet.

(Photo: George Harrison, the former member of The Beatles who died in Nov.29.03)

M. J. in Trouble

Michael Jackson is in trouble for the second time in the last 10 years. He was arrested last week and is accused of child molestation. Police raided his ranch in Santa Barbara, CA and searched there for hours, while he was away. Jackson has built that place like a small Disneyland. Shorty after they arrested him and took him to court, handcuffed. He is freed now on a $3 million bail. We should wait and see what happens to this freaky boy!
I strongly believe that he's a loony! Does a normal person do what he has done to himself? Does he look like a human? Last year he dangled his kid, the youngest one, from a fourth floor balcony of a hotel in Germany. Just an insane man does that! After all, I also believe that he is a great pop star. His works like Thriller and The Ghost are astonishing. If it's approved that he's guilty, he will face 8 year in jail. That would be the end for the 45-year-old singer.
This happened to him exactly 10 years ago, in 1993 but the case settled privately. No one is aware of the detail. But seems he can't save his ass this time! Who knows?
(Photo: A handcuffed Michael Jackson is escorted to the court)

That's good Paul...Keep goin' !

Paul Martin, the next Prime Minister of Canada and the current Liberal Party leader critized Americans today, over Arar's case. Arar is a Syrian-Canadian who was arrested by Americans in New York's Kennedy Airport on his way to Canada and was sent to Syria, where he was born!!! The US alleges him of terrorist activities and link to Al-Qaeda network. He has been released by Syrians recently and said that he was tortured there in jail. Syrians accused him of memebrship in a banned group called Muslim Brotherhood!!!
We have to wait and c Americans' reaction to this angry criticism.
(Photo: Arar in press conference after he's back to Canada)

The Best in the Trip

The best part of my short trip or better to say the best reason for my short travel was visiting my relatives. I met my cousin and her family after almost 3 years. I was very happy to be with them. All of them were so nice and kind to me and I appreciated. It was Ray's 11th birthday in Sun. evening and there was a small party for that. His friends have been invited and they had fun. Koreans, Filipino, Canadian and Chinese boys.

Vancouver (2)

I didn't have enough time to see the city but what I say about my short trip to Greater Vancouver is it's a very nice city but expensive. There is two kind of taxes: Federal and Provincial which added to 14.5%. It's just 5% in Alberta, which is Provincial, I guess and t it's 15% in Ontario.

B. C. never gets as cold as Alberta, except it's north. When I was there the coldest was -1 C and one day after that (Sun.) It was warm and started raining. There's lots of raining there. It's a very beautiful place. esp. in summer but it's fall is nice too. The other problem is unemployment. There is not many jobs there. So if you wanna really go there, think, plan and then make your mind.

Vancouver (1)

I flew to Vancouver Fri. morning. When I left Calgary it was -17° C and was snowing. I went there by Wes Jet. It's less expensive than Air Canada. But it could be cheaper if I would use an Air Mile Card. I don't have one yet. The flight just took about 01:10. I was beside the left wing and enjoyed the beautiful scene of outside and took some photos.

Vancouver or better to say Greater Vancouver is comprised of downtown Vancouver, Richmond, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Surrey, Burnaby and Port Moody (And May be more! But they are the majors, I guess) My destination was Coquitlam so I had to take the bus from the airport to Sky Train station. Air bus is a very beautiful, nice and fast train that its track is above the city! I mean above streets, homes, everything. You can see all over when travelling around. I had to change the Sky Train at a station and take the other one and at the end take another route again to get to A. J.'s project site.

The weather was mild and the city is very beautiful. The interesting thing is people were very kind and friendly. When I was in the bus to Air bus Station, a very pretty girl with blue eyes asked if I need a help and when I was getting in to the Air bus a young man helped me to change my route and when I get the final bus the driver started talking to me and said that he knew the north of Iran is pretty much like Vancouver! and all of them were Canadian. You rarely meet such people in Calgary. I think because Vancouver is an older city compare to Calgary and foreigners went there and settled there years ago, Canadians are more comfortable with them. Like I know the first Iranian families settled down in Vancouver almost 40 year ago.

Camera Phones

Camera phones are rapidly getting more and more popular in Canada. The price - as far as I know - is not much more expensive than a regular one. But it's goin' to be banned in some public places like gyms, swimming pools, etc. Because you are able to take photo from everyone in every condition and people's privacy is in jeopardy.

The Date Is Set

Jean Chretien will transfer his authority to Paul Martin in Dec.12.03 which is less than a month from now. He has been Canada's Prime Minister for about 10 years. As I wrote before he was supposed to leave the office next year in Feb. but today he announced that they agreed on the said date.

Weather

According to weather forecast, it's goin' to be snowing tonight and continues till Sat. The temperature is also drops down to almost -19 degrees of centigrade. Among 12 months of a year, there are 8 months winter, 1 month spring, 1 month fall (autumn) and 2 months summer in Calgary. City of Calgary (Calgary's municipality) asks all Calgarians to clean their sidewalks. It's mandatory. The main street sidewalks is usually cleaned by small special vehicles or sometimes employees who are on contract with the City.

The End of an Era

Jean Chretien will no longer be the Prime Minister after Feb.04 and last night there was a tribute for him in Toronto and also there was a live show on CBC about him. He is taken over by Paul Martin as Liberal Party leader tonight. (More than 94% voted for him) Chretien was in politics for almost 40 years and has had many responsibilities in the Government. And it's said that the best decision that he has ever made is saying No to Americans. That's why I like him and I believe he did great job. But I can add that decision had a strong effect on US-Canada relationship. Canadians have to follow (or better to say obey!)Americans in many ways. It can be said, Canadians have to obey the US 'cause more than 80% of their export goes to America. Many of the businesses in Canada are ran by American company's. I just name some of them here and these are what you may in your daily life:
1- Wendy's (Fast food restaurants)
2- Esso (Gas stations)
3- GMC (Vehicles)
4- Safeway (Supermarkets)

The Flames Did A Good Job

The Calgary Flames blasted Chicago in their home last night and it's great 'cause Chicago is a very good team in Central division. A rookie was last night's key player: Matthew Lombardi (Sounds French) who scored 3 of Calgary's 6. The Flames is at the bottom of the Northwest division standing though! I'll present the last standing this weekend.

Is This Goin' To Dig Out Air Canada?

If you remember I wrote that Air Canada is in trouble and goin' to be bankrupt. A Chinese tycoon, who is a Canadian citizen too and lives in Hong Kong is goin' to by 31% of Air Canada's stock and help it to survive.

Rememberance Day

Today is Remembrance Day and honored all across Canada. People remember and admire the Canadians who lost their lives for their country. Most of people use a pin on their cloths, called red poppy.
(Photo: The war memorial in Parliament Hill, Ottawa, brighten with red poppies)

A. J. Insists on His Job Offer

A. J. called me Sat. afternoon in response to my offline message and asked me to go there and see what the job is. I'll book my seat as soon as I'm sure about my days' off. It will be kind of variety too, leaving Alberta after almost 2 years!

Quality Progress

It's about what I wrote Sun. regarding Quality Council of Indiana. I'm goin' to e-mail Quality Progress, the official magazine of ASQ and ask them whether or not they publish my essay on CQE primer. If they do, It will dishonor those bastards! Good.

Movies

I finally went to movie theatre and watched Alien: The director's cut in Paramount Chinook. There were less than 10 people in the cinema! Paramount Chinook has 16 cinemas and each has seat for at least 200 audiences, I guess. It was cheaper than the previous that I watched there. This costs me $11 while the others were $13.95.
The third part of Matrix is in theatres too but I didn't go to watch that as the second part was nonsence. It's said the third part is sold 45% off. Good. They deserve it.
The very popular movie of todays is Scary movie 3. I have seen the first part but not the sequels. It's a good comedy. There was also the commercial for Alien vs. Predator. It will be in theatres in Aug.06.04. I'll catch that.

A Disgusting and Uncertain Source for Quality

I used to work in Quality field for at least 7 subsequent years in Iran and took 8 related courses here in Calgary at SAIT and studied different materials in this subject and I'm not like somebody who's in the dark. But this CQE primer by Quality Council of Indiana is awful. There are lots of grammatical, spelling and the most important, material errors and mistakes in it.
I mentioned some of the mistakes in my mail to the council. They accepted some and didn't some other. (mostly the material ones) This time what I'm doin' is I'm studying very carefully and reviewing all the sections (There are 11 of them) and jot down every single mistake and then will send a mail to the council and will give them a tasty, big piece of shit!
For this reason and also shortage of time ,I contacted ASQ and asked them to reschedule my exam. They did that for June.05.04, which is almost 6 months from now!!
So if you wanna study for quality, never go to that damn Council of Indiana. I think I should have bought ASQ reference. Although It's expensive. About US $580, if I remember. Which is almost CND $780!

More on Hockey (2): Sport is a Big Business in North America

whenever I say (I write!) hockey, I mean ice hockey. Calgary is not a good team in NHL, compare to the other Canadian teams. Can say it's the weakest. Don't know why. They didn't go to playoffs in past two seasons. (2001-02 and 2002-03) Edmonton is a bit better. It was present in playoffs last season but lost to Dallas in the first round. But they have a a key player: Jerome Iginla. He was the score leader of NHL in 2001-02 and also a member of Team Canada, (Meaning Canadian National Ice Hokey Team, I don't know why they call it that!) that beat the US in 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.

But the point here is hockey and also other sports like football (Not soccer!), baseball, golf and basketball are big businesses in North America.

More on Hockey: Hockey Night in Canada

Sat. is Hokey Night in Canada. There are two live games in CBC. Tonight's are Edmonton at Toronto and Minnesota at Vancouver. Edmonton lost the game (I'm upset) and the second game's 1st period is over and Minnesota is beaten 3-0 so far. Wow!!
Vancouver is a very strong team. They lost 2002-03 Western semi-finals to this team! (4-6) I watched some of the last games and It was great. Ottawa. They were in 2002-03 Eastern semi-finals too and unfortunately they were beaten by Philadelphia. (4-1).
Right now the TV is on and I'm watching the second live game while writing these lines. The Wilds just lost a juicy opportunity, a one on one. (A Wing against the Goalie) It's a great game tonight. But sometimes actually most of the time it's tiring to watch the whole game. It's long. The whole game comprises of 3 period and each period is 20 pure min. It means all the dead times are discarded. So a game usually takes about 2 hours on TV. if you add commercials too.
Holy Mother of God!! Another score for Vancouver now! It's min. 12 of the second period and it's 4-0 Vancouver.
...Yes I was saying that it's tiring to watch the whole game. I don't know how people sit on their asses for that long! Last year I was goin' to watch a game with Andrew but just a couple of days before we go he canceled it. I may go this year. The ticket price is different. Depends on where you sit.
Will write more about the Coolest game on earth soon.
(Photo: Hockey Night in Canada's logo on CBC)

Battle of Alberta

Ice hokey is the most popular sport in Canada and they believe that It's invented by them. I believe so as well. There are only 6 Canadian team in NHL out of 30 all. the others are American. Best Canadian players mostly play for American teams because they are paid better. Before former USSR, Czech Republic and some other Eastern European countries let their players out, majority of big NHL players were Canadians. Roman Turek, the Calgary Flames net-keeper is Czech and there are many more in all NHL teams.

There was a game between the Flames and Edmonton Oilers two weeks ago and the Flames beat the Oilers in their home, 4-2. The game is always called Battle of Alberta and sometimes it's really a fight. In the last game the Oilers were very angry because they had lost the game in Calgary and were there to beat the Flames in Edmonton. But anger didn't help them and regardless of 3 fights (Between two opponent players) they lost the game. Fighting is ordinary in ice hockey. The referees usually ignore the fight in its first 5 or 10 min.!!! And after the players are beaten up(!!) they step in! It's part of the game and fans like it and cheer and clap for fighters!! The guilty players (Both of them are!!) will be sent to the penalty box for 5 min. Sometimes there are more than two and one team uses Powerplay.

Royal Secrets Are Revealed!

A book has lately been published by former princess Diana's butler. The book's called A royal duty. It's said that the Royal family is very irritated by the book.
I'd like to add this: Last weekend I went to a Chapters bookstore. I guess it's the major one in Canada. You can find small bookstores in the city too but they usu. just sale used ones. It's like every other businesses! Big companies run mostly everything. There's a Starbucks coffee-shop in every Chapters and people come in and drink and read and then the put the book back and leave!! That's how they motivate people to read. Books are usu. expensive. I just have bought one non-text book since I came to Canada so I'm not very familiar with the prices but text-books are really costly. I bought a book about Eng. drawings, last weekend and It cost me almost $82. You can buy your 3 weeks grocery with that much money. That time was not my first time to Chapters but just wanna say that you can find any book from any category there and you may also order it online. Like I found more than 5 books with the title of Star Wars!! another good thing, for folks have no where to go on Sun. Evenings!! It's open till 09:00 PM.

Stampede Photo

The above picture is one of the photos that I took in Stampede this summer. Stampede is the biggest show in Western Canada and thousands of people from around the country and the US come to see this event. The photo is shows how Indians prepare their food: Meat and bread. Indian is the phrase used for aboriginal people in North America. When Christopher Columbus discovered the new continent in 1492, he thought he's in Asia. So he called the aboriginals, Indians and this name still being used everywhere in Canada (and the US too) although everybody knows that's not correct! I wonder what kind of people they are. I mean, Americans and Canadians. They have been using a wrong phrase for more than 200 years!! The funny thing is they call the real Indians, East Indian!! And it comprises Indians, Bangladeshis, and Pakestani people. And this one is true 'cause these countries used to be one!
It reminds me of 1492: Conquest of Paradise. The movie is a fall for it's producers. The theme song is very beautiful one By Vangelis. It was shown in Iran (I didn't go to watch it) and I heard on that time that they completely removed Sigourney Weaver who acted as Isabella, from the movie!
Imagine the reaction of Weaver when she finds out what has happened to her role in the movie!

Upredictables!

I received a responce mail from Mahsa, my former colleague in EIED (A devision of OIEC) after almost 7 months! I sent her a Norooz, e-card and also a birthday one but haven't received answer till yesterday. She's a pretty girl, very straightforward, energetic and cleaver. She's majored in Industrial Eng. from Elm-o-San'at University. She finished her M. Sc. in the same field in a branch of Azad University, when I still was working for EIED. She has a twin sister who is somewhere in Canada. She must be in Toronto for sure. Like most of Iranians!

A Job Offer From B. C.!

I called A. J., my cousin's husband, in Vancouver, Sat. and he offered me a job as a Construction Coordinator or something like that! That's good but I can't trust him. He wanted me to go there and see the job. I told him that I'd be there this weekend. I must take the following Mon. off. If I fly Fri. evening, will spend Sat., Sun. and Mon. there and I'll be home Mon. night. I should go. Haven't seen them for 2.5 years, I guess. Don't remember exactly!
It's -12˚ C now and there's a light snow. Vancouver never gets this cold and have snow, not often.

Saeedi Sirjani

One of the girls that I used to talk to on the net or phone, among many, was Saye Saeedi Sirjani. She lives in Davis, CA. Once I read a short article in Gooya news, written by a woman called Faranak Irani. As her e-mail address was there I sent her a feedback about her writing which was about Zahra Kazemi and her stupid behavior in Tehran!
She replied back and revealed that she is Saye the daughter of Ali Akbar Saeedi Sirjani who was murdered in Tehran (Refer to this article for him and others who were murdered) years ago. She gave me her phone number and insisted me to call her.
I was very happy to find such a girl but after I found she was married, I was upset. You never know girls and never be able to predict their behavior!
(Photo: An undated photo of writer and poet, Akbar Saeedi Sirjani who was murdered in 1994)