Winter Ride

I went for a short ride today in the afternoon to the pathway of mostly frozen Bow river. Actually I didn’t want it short but although it was not very cold and I just had my cycling short and jersey on, my hands were goin' to be frozen. Everybody had winter jackets, pants and hats on, even cyclists and were gazing at me, surprisingly. Therefore I returned home early. If I get a pair of gloves, I’ll be OK. I lost mine last year in SAIT’s parking lot.

Have They Found Him?

There’s a rumor about capturing Usama Bin-Laden by Pakistani troops, somewhere around Pakistani-Afghan border. The news has been broadcasted by Iranian radio, Pashtun service!! They claim that Al-Qaeda leader has been captured months ago and the US and esp. George W. Bush is waiting for an opportunity to use him in the best way. It could be true. Like capturing Saddam is a winner card for King George the second, son of a Bush!! Americans deny that.
(Photo: A cartoon in Calgary Sun depicts the new rummer about Bin-Laden)

Bad Trip

The Flames had a disgusting trip to the East this week. The last game drove them to the 5th place in Westerns Conference.

Another Opportunity Is Gone

A lady from Edmonton called me last night and left a message. I knew it was about the last careers that I had applied. Therefore I thought I can handle the phone interview but when she started asking questions I get confused 'cause there were 2 careers posted, one in Oil and Gas industry and the other one in some kind of manufacturing! and I was not sure which one she is talking about. Besides that she asked if I know about 6-Sigma methods and I didn't lie and said no.
The bottom line is I have to do couple of more things to get a career here, in Canada:
1) Be more organized in career hunting. As my cousin, Dinosaur told me on the phone, today.
2) Pass ASQ's CQE and APEGGA exams.
3) Get more education on new Quality concepts like Lean manufacturing, 6-Sigma, QS 9000, New 7 Quality tools, etc. which means more money on education.

Twisted Scandal

10 days has passed since the Sponsorship Scandal is revealed. No one is charged or has been taken accountable except for Alfonso Gagliano, the Canadian ambassador to Denmark who was the minister of public work in scandal occurrence period. He has been pulled from the appointment. Nothing more yet.
Jean Chrétien the former PM was on a business trip to China when the scandal revealed. He was surrounded by reporters and asked what he thought of the scandal, when he returned and he answered: I don’t think anymore! Ask the government. I answered your questions for 40 years!
Sheila Fraser, the auditor general of Canada says because there’s no document and all transfers has been done based on verbal agreements, it’s very hard to do tracking and find out who’s responsible for what.
Some people, I don’t really know what percent of them, don’t believe that and say Martin is a liar esp. after he said that the veterans who were gassed in The Second World War will be paid a compensation amount of $24,000. Liberals' support has dropped sharply after the scandal. I was driving and listening to CBC Radio. One called and indicated that it’s ridiculous. Veterans are being paid after almost 60 years!! What’s that supposed to mean? Isn’t that something just to turn the people’s mind from what has recently happened? The other one said most of those men r gone now. The Canadian government is stingy. They r waiting for all of those men to die!

Independence

I heard about Alberta’s willingness to independence first when I came to Canada and used to live with D. H., the Bangladeshi guy. Seems they’re serious about it ‘cause it was on the news the day before, although I paid no attention to the detail.
As Alberta has rich sources of Oil and Gas (discovered in early 60’), in north of the province, they would like to get their independence form the Federal Government and be a self-directed state.
I read a funny letter in The Calgary Sun today. I bring it for you here.

Still In Touch

I'm still in touch with that pretty young Russian girl, Elena. She e-mails me everyday from a cybercafe, I guess. Although her English is not good but I understand her and I must confess that she's gorgeous.
(Photo: The last photo of Elena that I've received recently)

Sustainability

I found an interesting article in Quality Progress, the magazine of ASQ, which is sent to me by them, monthly, about Ford Motors Co. The article is written by Larry R. Smith, who has been working for the Company for 26 years and has held many management positions. He has three M. Sc. degrees, two from University of Michigan, in Metallurgical Engineering and Physics and one in Industrial Engineering form Wayne State University. He also has some responsibilities in the most important quality institutions in North America, which is not necessary to mention here, I think.
Once again the important point about a good career is that you must be persistent in your job. It leads you to higher levels and helps you to get promoted, esp. here in N. A.
The first thing stated in the text and I’ve never heard or felt as an Industrial Engineer who is interested in and fond of quality field and has worked in it for at least 8 years is that many engineers who rotate into quality function, just stay for a short time and use it as a steppingstone career(!!)

Tremendous Game

I was watching Hockey Night in Canada and there was Anaheim at Vancouver. The first intermission was with no score. In the second period Fedorov, the Russian player, passed the puke to a teammate and he shot from a long way and scored. It was a very nice shoot. Fedorov is the first Russian player in NHL who scored 1000 points.
Todd Bertuzzi is the right wing of Canucks and he’s a very tough player. He is sent to the penalty box off and on, most of the time for interference, roughing and other violations.
Tonight he bumped a Mighty Duck so hard that he lost his helmet! Then he shot the helmet away and went for the puck! When the guy went for his helmet after a whistle and picked that up, Bertuzzi bumped him again and he fell down! He was sent to the box again for that!
Every single game is a great and it has so much fantastic saves, shoots, rebounds, penalties and more. The second intermission ended with that incredible score but Canucks lost to Ducks, 2-1.

(Photo: Sergei Fedorov, born in Pskov Russia, started his career with Detroit in 1990, reached 1001 points tonight in his game against Canucks as a Duck)

Rockin’ Ain’t Walkin’ in the Park

The School of Rock is selected by few critics as one of the ten best movies of 2003. Among them is Newsweek magazine.
Although the movie is a comedy but if you get in to the detail, you’ll see it as the sad story of thousands of American boys and girls (Or anywhere else in the world) who try to be a music star, famous and rich. They spend their best years of life and most of them lose. As you see in the movie Dewey Finn (Jack Black) after being revealed that he is not even a certified teacher tells his friend: " Music is my life. What do you want me to do? "
And in another scene when kids come to his shared apartment and wake him up, he goes: ... see. I’m a looser. You listen to my advise, you’ll end up like me, with nothing.
But the director (Richard Linklater) doesn’t send the audience home sad and depressed. The two friends establish a real school of Rock in their apartment and start a good job as music tutors. Even Ned (Mike white) prefers to dump his girlfriend, give up a new job as a substitute teacher and join Dewey.
The story shows big Rock (or any other kind of music) bands don't get not famous overnight. They work hard and perform great and keep doin’ that. That’s why bands like AC/DC last more than 3 decades.
AC/DC was formed by two Scotland born Australian brothers who are both guitarists. It was Nov. of 1973 in Sydney when they started their career. The band has replaced some of its members since the establishment. The current members are:

Brian Johnson (Vocals),

Cliff Williams (Bass guitar),

Angus Young (Lead guitar),

Malcolm Young (Rhythm guitar), and

Phil Rudd (Drums)
(Photo: In July.30.03, AC/DC performed a live concert for the SARS benefit in Toronto for a crowd of 450,000. There were some other singers and bands as well)

Problems Keep Comin' to the New Prime Minister

It seems Martin does not have good and easy days as the Prime Minister. Auditor general issued a report on Federal Government advertising and sponsorship program which leads the opposition MPs question Martin as finance minister under authority of Jean Chretien if he knew about millions of dollars which was wasted between 1997 and 2003.

Let's get to detail. First of all what is sponsorship program? The program designed to increase the federal presence in communities across Canada by providing funds to support cultural events. The Government has spent $250 million in the said time interval for 1987 events. $100 million out of this $250 million was paid as commissions to some agencies!

One More Issue for Martin

A number of MPs has brought a new issue to Paul Martin. They ask how much money Martin's shipping line has earned through the contarcts directed to him by the Federal Government? The Government report says $137,000 but they claim it's about $161,000,000!!!! Martin transfered his company to his son months before he replaces the former Prime Minister.

Seconds of Delay

Most of important events here in North America is broadcasted live on TV channels and sometimes on radio. That's why cable TV is common here. I don't have cable. Therefore the only channels I access to are CBC, CTV, A-Channel (Which covers Calgary and area) and sometimes Global. CBC is very good esp. its evening news, The National, which is broadcasted every night except Sat. and Sun., Hockey night in Canada and many many other programs.Most of these are live. This week 2 events happened which made broadcasters put a 5 and 7 seconds of delay on their live airings. Janet Jackson exposed her right tit in Super Bowl half-time show last Sun. Also Don Cherry said sth. in a Hockey night in Canada program which made CBC to put a 7 seconds delay on his program since after. What he said is kind of offensive to French and European players of NHL. Cherry usually talks like that and is often aggressive.
(Photo: Don Cherry the most famous NHL commentator in a Hockey Night in Canada of CBC)

Your Turn

CBC has an interesting program tonight. Some people have been chosen from across the country to ask a question from the Prime Minister. There was an Iranian physician from Vancouver who asked: Why we (internationally educated physicians) are not allowed to practice even when we pass Canadian evaluation exams?

Poor People Are Similar in Life Everywhere

A Canadian soldier was killed in Afghanistan last week in a suicide attack. Cpl. Jamie Murphy who was from a small fishing village of N. L.
As you see the sad story of poor people is similar. No mater where you are from. Canada, Iran, Japan, Europe, etc. N. L. is a province in the east with a high rate of unemployment. Most of the people who don’t have a job go to other provinces to seek for a work. Alberta is the second home of many Newfoundlanders. Most of them are roughnecks in oil and gas industry in Northern Alberta in cities and towns like Edmonton and Fort McMurray. Andrew, My friend, whom hasn’t been seen for months, is originally from there. He was born in N. L. but most of his family members live in Edmonton now, including his Mom and Dad as far as I know. Canadian Armed Forces is a choice for unemployed, non-educated Newfoundlanders. Therefore what happens is they join the army and are sent to dangerous parts of the world like Bosnia-Herzegovina and Afghanistan.
Today there’s a new story: The suicide attacker is the brother of Khadr who was in American’s Guantanamo Bay camp as an Al-Qaeda suspect and I wrote his story here months ago. This is what AFP announced today and Canadian officials are working on this with Afghan police and AFP.
(Photo: Cpl. Jamie Murphy in Kabul, Afghanistan)

Supplement

I was goin' to summarize It doesn't take the hero here and write interesting parts as a supplement to the blog but found there won't be enough time. Then I changed my mind and I think I can write some. Here's what I chose for today:

First of all Schwarzkopf is a German name and indicates that he's originally from there, of course. Secondly, I didn't know that the book is not just about Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations, which led to freedom of state of Kuwait. It's an autobiography. The book basically begins with the beginning of the Second World War, when his father goes to Iran to manage a process of supplying Soviets against Germans. The title of book comes from what he said in a TV interview:

It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.

Bad Luck

Last Hockey Night in Canada was a bad one for Edmonton Oilers. They lost to LA Kings while they were winners until 01:10 min. to the end. Look at the scoreboard:

1st Period
Los Angeles 19:53, Brad Chartrand 2 (Eric Belanger, Jon Sim)

2nd Period
Los Angeles 2:34, Trent Klatt 13 (Esa Pirnes)
Edmonton 17:34, Brad Isbister 8 (power play) (Cory Cross)

3rd Period
Edmonton 3:19, Georges Laraque 1 (Mike Bishai)
Edmonton 4:56, Fernando Pisani 6 (Shawn Horcoff, Cory Cross)
Los Angeles 18:50, Joe Corvo 6 (Jaroslav Modry, Trent Klatt)
Los Angeles 19:54, Jason Holland 3 (Jozef Stumpel, Luc Robitaille)

That was an unbelievable game.

Relief

After one week of freezing cold, it was sunny and very beautiful yesterday and also today, showing almost -14 ºC, which is warm(!) in Calgary. People ran to parks and trails for hiking, running and walking with their dogs but I didn't see any cyclist. I wish I could go but was too busy although didn't study enough. This part of f**king CQE Primer which I'm studying now is DOE and is explained as bad as possible, like many other parts of this damn reference. So what I did today was I started reviewing Thechnicomp DOE application guide which was taught in SAIT (Silly Attractive Institute of Trickery) but that's another piece of shit. It's nothing. Even the video which we watched in the class was not good. I have to resort to Juran's Quality Handbook and finish it until I get another reference, If necessary.