A Contest

I found an amazing contest in last Sat.'s Calgary Herald and I'll participate. A travel story must be sent to the website and great prizes are offered for that. I've prepared my Alamut Castle trip with Fariborz years ago in Iran. I don't even remember what year it was but recall many detail. The story must be in MS Word format and not exceeded more than 2000 words. It should be attached to an e-mail and sent to contests part of http://www.travelandtransitions.com/. I also have photos from that trip but they are all at home. So I'll use a few selected photos that I've found them in the net. I guess the contest is offered only to only Canadian residents but check the website out for the detail. I may put my story here as well although it's not related to this part of the globe. The contest will be closed at the end of Aug. and winners will be announced by mail at the end of Sep.

Comments

I just noticed I have two comments on my post dated Mar.04 regarding Sikhs and the stupid behaviour of Canadian officials about other faiths and religions. The person has mentioned good points and I somehow agree with him or her but why s/he has withheld his or name? We could discuss over this matter and share our ideas. This blog is being written as a memoir but I always welcome ideas and would be happy to hear from people. I might announce my blog somehow in near future. That will work for sure. I just add a few lines in responce to what that fellow says:
He mentioned something about Bin Laden and other Islamic terrorists and extremists and complins why the US doesn't arrest them. Here's is the short version of my responce to your question buddy: Ben Laden and all those f**king animal Arab bastard criminals, which I hate them more than anything in the entire universe (I hate Arabs, Pakistanis and their followers generally) have been trained, supplied and supported by the US for a long time. I'll write about that later.

DynaVenture

I again applied for a position in Sasktoon, SK and that's a Quality Coordinator in DynaVenture, a kind of service company. The guy in position e-mailed me and asked when it would be convenient for me to attend a phone interview. I set today by calling him and leaving messages. Then there was a problem: How do I get today off?! I explained to Brian, my supervisor that I had to call someone in SK. He asked me to make the call after work and I told him that would be late because there's one hour difference between Alberta and Saskatchewan but he didn't believe that and denied! So what I did is I didn't go to work today and set the alarm of my mobile phone for 08:53 AM to be able to get ready for the interview by reviewing my resume, cover letter and the text that I made ready for my interviews.
But at about 09:00 AM the telephone rang and I noticed that it's them! I was right. they're one hour ahead of us. There were two guy at the phone, Earl and another guy and they only asked a few questions which didn't take more than 15 min. I was told that I would hear from them at the end of this week.
I then went to work and started at about 10:30 AM. When I told Spencer, the other supervisor and my buddy that SK is an hour ahead of us, he didn't know that either! Then Bev asked what was going on and I told her the argument we had. She knew that but was not kind of hundred per cent sure! So she called reception and they confirmed that. Imagine that all the said people were born in Canada and have been living here ever since!
I don't know what to say about the result of interview. I only know that they send people to manufacturing companies to establish quality system for them and have a project in hand which takes about 2 years as Earl said. We'll see.

D. H.

D. H. (meaning brave in one of the numerous Indic languages!) is my first friend in Canada and also the first landlord. I stayed in his place for almost six months and he helped me in anyway he was able to. Originally from Bangladesh and carrying three nationalities, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Canadian, he has been living in Canada for more than 20 years. He used to attend the same high school that William Shatner, who stared in the original Star Trek series used to go, in Montreal.
When I joined him in his house in Calgary, it was not a good time for him. He was separated from his wife, didn't have a job and fighting to get custody of his two sons, one with health problems which deprives him from talking. (I don't know if he's cured or not today) But regardless of all that, he was a big aid for me and a good friend as well. We had a fight over an American girl, Imari, from a Saudi father and French mother, few months later and didn't talk until a few weeks ago.
When I checked my Yahoo Messenger a few weeks ago, noticed that have an invitation from him. I added him and then we started leaving offline messages. He at first wrote me that he was in Japan and that surprised me. It means he's financially fine now. Then he got back to Calgary and left his mobile phone number. I remember he used to say how much he hated cell phones but that hatred came from lack of money! He asked me to join him at his house but I mentioned that I was not in a situation to be able to go and see him. Then today his offline message indicates that he'd leave Calgary soon again. He also mentioned that he owes me money and he wanted to pays his due!
Actually he owes me only $10 and that's because once I rented one of his old cars to drive Imari home and when I returned the car and gave him $40, he didn't give me that 10 bucks back because he was angry with me taking the girl away. Now I'm going to call him this week and meet with him to find out what is he up to. I'll write about Imari (Meaning The Two Moons in French) and D. H. 's wife, F. (her nickname) later.

Flashback (5): Filipinos

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Painful Beginning

Calgary started a road trip yesterday in Nashville which was a very bad opening. I don't know if that's their worst loss ever but I'm sure it's one of the them. They lost to Nashville 4-9! They survived the next game today in Minnesota though. A 3-2 victory. They will face Minnesota again on Tue.(!) and will have 3 more games before coming home in March.29 and play against LA. Nashville is one of the certain chances to move forward to Playoffs. So does Calgary, If they don't play like they did against the Predators!

The game I watched this week partially was Toronto at NY Rangers which ended to a 5-2 victory for the Rangers. Canadian teams were mostly awful this weekend!

(Photo: Two opponents are fighting during Calgary-Nashville game yesterday)

iPod

I bought an iPod last year, a 20 GB MP3 player from Apple. It's good but I haven't filled it up with my all favorite songs. It holds almost 5000 songs. I just have transfered about 130 so far. It also performs as a phonebook and carries contact information like addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses. I tried to active it as a hard drive and transfer the information I have in my PC to it but couldn't. Then there was another problem until today: I was not able to transfer new songs to my iPod and also the new version of iTunes, the software that acts as an interface between the computer and the iPod didn't work properly and didn't get updated. So today after a long time I decided to really fix these damn problems. I went to Apple iPod Support website and followed the instruction they offered step by step. It was not easy but I fixed it. I'll work on the issue regarding transfering contacts soon.
(Photo: I found an interesting photo of someone who enjoys iPod. You enjoys seeing her here. iPod is also available in photo and video versions)

City Cameras

Public services are mostly good here in Calgary and the other cities of Canada as well. What is important is people, their safety, their valuable time, their health and so on. Calgary municipality has good traffic services and I rarely have a problem in that area. Different services are provided through Internet including traffic cameras, payments, weather condition, schedules, etc. One of the interesting ones which was caught by my eyes is cameras. There're cameras installed in busy intersections and you easily can see how the traffic goes through your desktop monitor in your office at work or at home or if you're somewhere which wireless service is provided, through your laptop. City of Calgary website provides all mentioned services.

(Photo: Crowchild Trail and 24th Ave. intersection is shown here through one of the cameras at 22:31. Even the direction the camera looks at is noted)

The Idiot Is Back!

Stephan Harper is back to Ottawa after a 3 days trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is his first trip to a foreign country since he became the prime minister in last Jan. The idiot who did that to suck up to Americans, like what he does as a routine job, said that if Afghanistan is safe and secure, Canadian people will be safe and secure!!!
I totally disagree with him because that actually motivates the terrorist to attack Canadian civilians in Canadian soil or anywhere else round the world to retaliate. This is a simple fact that only a moron doesn’t understand. I remember that he even blamed the previous government for not participating American led invasion to Iraq. But I must confess here that I really like that invasion and the number of Iraqis who got killed and are being killed everyday. They deserve it. Only an asshole acts like that. Canada has several problems with health care, unemployment, global warming, low wheat and grain price and many more and that idiot sends Canadian troops to f**king Afghanistan. I hate him.

(Photo: Harper with Canadian troops in Afghanistan. I didn't know that he's a potbellied unless I saw this photo!)

Taxes

Canada is the country of different taxes and these taxes may apply to you. GST or Goods and Services Tax applies to every one. PST is Provincial Sales Tax and HST is Harmonized Sales Tax. We don't pay PST in Alberta fortunately but don't know who pays HST.
Regardless of all these, there's the main tax and that's Income Tax. Part of your income goes to the Federal Government through Canada Revenue Agency but at the end of each year everyone in Canada (and the US as far as I know) has to file his or her income tax.
In past 3 years I used to go to H&R Block for my income tax because they provide instant refund and that help people who are in need of cash. But that's usually very time consuming. So because of that and also because they haven't called me this year, I decided to file my income tax through a web software presented by RBC as I'm a RBC customer. That's QuickTaxWeb. There's a 25% discount for the filing fee. So I didn't pay more than $16 compare to $50 to $60 I used to pay and the time I used to spent in their office. But I should mention that was for a cash back.
That's not really difficult. You only have to have all your documents and information ready and follow the steps. They even provide help through a chat service! So when I had a question regarding the medical expenses of mine in 2005, I went to their help system and started chatting with a guy called Kumar (Probably Indian. They're everywhere!) and he helped me with that. You try for your income tax of 2005 . It's easy.
I hope I didn't make any mistake. Otherwise I have to file it again and won't get the money!
(Photo: The short chat I had with the Indian guy about my medical expenses through the tax software for 2005 income tax file)

Competition in Capitalist Way

Companies and businesses compete as hard as they can here. Auto industry is among the businesses which are suffering from loss as a result of high gasoline price and high competition. The three major auto makers in North America, as I mentioned earlier, are in serious trouble and there's no month that you don't hear news about closing a facility or laying off employees. Japanese manufacturers like Toyota, Mitsubishi, Mazda and Honda which all have plants in North America giving hard time to the three giants of the US, Ford, GM and Chrysler.

But no one is secure in this crazy world of competition, Not even Toyota of Canada. This week I received an invitation letter from a Toyota Dealer in my neighborhood. The card indicates that anyone who purchases a vehicle in that specific day will be:

• Offered a preferred pricing
• The first to see and order the new 2007 Camry (This one is really something! Just imagine what would happen to you if you don't see that first!)
• Received a 1.9% interest rate (This one is good. Mine is 3.9%, I guess)
• Offered a free extra value package which worth $400. (I like this one too)

If I was in a good financial situation, I'd use this opportunity and traded my 2003 Echo with a new 2006 anything, preferably a Prius. But I'm not. So I'm not going and I don't need refreshments and gifts! Let's them enjoy their time.

(Photo: The ticket that allows me to go to a Toyota party! A gift will be presented to every guest)

Excessive Coffee

Coffee is the most popular beverage here in Canada. I guess pop and beer come after that, consecutively. I drink coffee sometimes and also tea but can't drink every coffee I see. There're different company's and brands here and the most popular ones are: Starbucks, Tim Horton's and Second Cup. I can't drink any of them but sometimes drink A&W's and McDonald's. Last week I drank 3 medium cups of Java every day and my sleep period dropped to 5 hours per night with a few interruptions! The damn caffeine in that beverage almost killed me. I was so tired that couldn't stand on my feet but was not able to get relaxed and sleep. So this week I reduced it to maximum 3 medium cups a week. Tea is not that bad. The amount of caffeine is much less than coffee.

Firewall

It was a very busy day yesterday. First I went to Hojam to get my yogurt drink from him. What he makes is so refreshing and I love it. Then I got to SAIT library and studied for a few hours where P. M. joined me. Then we went and watched Firewall. I always liked Harrison Ford but that was not because of movies like Star Wars or Indiana Jones, although I liked them a lot. I like him in movies like Witness and The Fugitive.

I was surprised when the movie was ended. Not because of what we saw at the end. That was likely to happen. I noticed that Firewall was among the movies that I didn't feel bored and didn't look at my wrist watch every often! It happened even during a few other movies with bigger stars and names. But the movie has weak points like every other movie. For example there is a scene that the kidnappers' boss is sitting besides Ford's son while having tea and biscuit and talking to him. Then he offers the kid some biscuit and the kid asks if it does peanut or something like that in it and the guy takes a quick look at the cover and says no. The next scene shows the kid on the floor and the family gathers together trying to bring him back to life as he's hurt after having some of that biscuit. He's allergic to something. They look everywhere for the medicine that helps him in such situations and can't find it. Ford asks the guy to give him the needle and after a few seconds while the kid has almost gone, he gives them the thing and they apply it and the kid breathes and is back to life and everything is cool. Why there's a scene like that in the movie? I don't see any reason for that.

(Photo: Ford at the desk while two kidnappers are watching him in a scene of Firewall)

This Stupidity Drives Me Crazy!

The Supreme Court of Canada just allowed Sikhs to carry their traditional daggers, Kirpan, to the classrooms of high schools! It took 5 years to settle the case. I don’t have any problem with Sikhs and Sikhism although they are very racist (Right now one of `em is sitting beside me wearing long beard, a black turban (Black turban is for extremists and enthusiasts. Once I saw a female Sikh wearing black turban in Lake Louise), bracelet and smells like a kitchen while something strange is being cooked! I’m writing this in SAIT lib today) but that’ll lead to demands of other minorities, communities and religious people.

I really don’t know what the hell is in these stupid people’s mind!? That was their stupid Citizenship Test I just described in my post of Feb.07 and then argument over adding Sharia (Islamic law) to Canadian Law and now letting people to have a blade in the school!! That happened in Montreal. Now Muslim community of that city demands allowing them to wear their headscarf!! One Canadian said something really good about this stupid behavior on radio:

…We’re fed up with seeing people coming from outside and doing what they want.

He or she is absolutely right. When you go to a foreign country or even another province (Like here in Canada) you are obligated to obey the laws and regulation provided in there. You f**ing can’t say: " This is in my f**king stupid religion from thousands of years ago (and obviously a stupid useless idea!) and I would like to practice it here ". You have to give it up. For example if you're a woman and you go to Saudi Arabia you have to cover your body from toe to head and roam around like a crow! Again when you’re in f**king Saudi Arabia, land of suicide attackers and f**king murderers, you can’t drive a car if you’re a woman. And several similar examples like that. Can you say that you want to live life the same way you used to, back in Canada or the US? No shit! And don’t tell me that’s the difference between a western democracy and a Muslim or developing or third world country ‘cause that’s not the difference!

I’m pretty sure that if Canada doesn’t stop this now, they have to pay for that later and the price would be huge. And that’s especially because the population of immigrants grows much faster than original European settlers. I’m goin’ to write this issue to the new Immigration and Citizenship Minister and warn him. And finally let’s have a look at what I just found about this:

...Orthodox Sikhs, who make up about 10 per cent of the estimated 250,000 Sikhs in Canada, are required by their religion to wear the kirpan at all times.
It symbolizes the fight for justice, but there are religious prohibitions on using it as a weapon.

Let’s review what we have: A dagger which is considered a weapon is called a symbol of justice and according to religious beliefs can't be used as a weapon!!! Having a sane and simple interpretation it indicates: Infinite stupidity!!

Strange Job Offer

When I checked my voice mail box today noticed that have a new message. There was a guy with a very bad accent introducing himself as Dr. Bani Jamali from a company called Petro-EX Canada in Toronto. He said it's regarding a job in Libya! I've never applied a job from such a company and of course not in Libya! I decided to find who they are because most of the companies involved in oil and gas industry are located in Alberta. I knew from before that many countries find the professionals they need, here in Canada as I faced a few offers earlier but regardless the fact that I can't leave the country, few more things led me to suspect this phone call:

1- Sounds like someone's trying to fool me or make fun of me. That accent is very odd.
2- The website of the company is a very strange one as well. I've never seen such a thing.
3- Why would a Dr. call me for a position? Don't they have a HR department?
4- I checked their career section and there's not an opening matches my resume.
5- Most of the oil and gas companies and related recruiters are located in Alberta, as I mentioned earlier. Why on earth are they there?
6- Even the name of the company is a stupid name!
7- After all I've never applied for the job. How did they find me?!

Anyhow I'm not goin' to call them although I have a bad feeling for not returning someone's phone call. If he calls me again, I'll tell him all I just brought up.

Upset

Canadians are very upset over what happened to men's hockey team although women won gold for the second consecutive Olympics and there's a high chance to repeat it again in Vancouver 2010. Wayne Gretzky accepted full responsibility for the loss right after they lost to Russia in their last game as Team Canada's executive director. He might not be serving the team in the next Olympics. Canada had three shoot-outs, all 0-2, in the tournament out of six games they played!

(Photo: An upset fan reacts over Team Canada's results in the recent Olympics. I don't know why he covers his face!)