Mouse

I wrote this over 5 years ago and haven't looked at it since. I'm so glad I wrote this when I did and thought I would share it.

Jan 25th 2000,

I attended Melissa's memorial service today. It really shook me up because as I looked around the church I couldn't help but ponder on my own death. Ridiculous questions such as "How many people would be at my funeral" were entering my mind. I looked around the room and realized that it could have been anybody in the church that had been killed. It all happened in a moment of time that is quicker than an every day giggle.

Melissa was my first crush in life. She lit up a room so vibrantly and seductively. She was the girl next door; beautiful, sexy, smart, funny, loving and most of all passionate about everything in her life. I will miss her even though we she hasn't been an important person in my life for the past 2 years. She will always be an important part of my past though. I know I will never be able to put my finger on it, but she has influenced me in a way that will be constant in all my future endeavors. Good-bye Mouse.

To Do List Update

I was reading my journal tonight and decided it would be good to review my "To Do List in 2006".

Here's what I said I would do in 2006:

1) Vistit Europe or South America - I went to Costa Rica in Central America for 10 days. Close enough.
2) Complete the Can-Fit Pro certification - I need to get signed up for this
3) Buy 3 more student houses - I bought my own loft and am going to get 2 instead this year
4) Move out of Falwyn - Like I said I bought a loft and take possession April 28th
5) Be serious about someone - I've been working on this one quite a lot and think I'm actually ready for another serious relationship. I know I won't be as selfish in my next relationship and will be able to put the other person first.
6) Read 2 books per month - I've read one book in 4 months. I've got to start working on this one.
7) Continue to write in the blog - I took a 4 months off but damn it feels good to be back.

New Additions:
1) Learn an instrument - either the harmonica or guitar. Not sure yet mabe both.
2) Start taking French lessons again - I need to speak with my boss to get them to pay for the classes then practise with Martin in Montreal.
3) Make 2006 the best year of your life! So far so good.

The Raccoons

I was at work today and could hear a commotion going on outside my office. I went out to take a look and to my surprise there were 4 employees staring at a skid full of product. I asked what was going on and everyone told me there was a raccoon trapped in the skid.

I got a knife and cut the shrink wrap off the skid. Another guy and me pushed over a box with a shovel so that the raccoon could run away. We realized right away that it wouldn't be going anywhere. It was a mother that had just had a litter of 8 babies. They couldn't have been more than a day old and were born inside a trailer.

One of the girls there called the President's assistant and asked her to call a trapper. Her response was "It's going to cost $400 so just leave them". Let me back up here for just a second. I work for a 12 Billion Dollar organization that was voted "America's Most Admired Company" in 1992. I couldn't believe my ears.

I went down to see the assistant and she said the same thing to me. I convinced her we had to do the right thing here and help them so we both went looking for approval. Apparently she wasn't in the position to make a call like that herself. It wasn't "Her job." So we went to finance who passed us along to logistics, who passed us along to maintenance who couldn't help us. Everyone was very clear that it wasn't "Their Job".

I have always been a critic of corporations and the very concept of limited liability. They are faceless, emotionless, non-humans that under the law pocess virtually all the same rights as a person does. Today I realized that a corporation is only as good as the sum of it's parts. It's people. People are what make these corporations faceless, greedy and most of all INDIFFERENT. Not the logo or the commercials, the people.

This indifference is what angered me the most today. I would have had more respect for someone who said "You know, it's only a raccoon, I don't like raccoons and I'd rather them be terminated" than "It's Not my job". That indifference sickened me. That oulook on life that says "How is this going to affect me?" The total indifference to anything outside your own hierarchy of needs.

Another girl and I stayed later today and payed a trapper ourselves. He came and took the raccoons and is going to let them loose in a forest nearby. It felt good to do the right thing. I wish my company could have stepped up to the plate. But I'm not blaming a corporation today....I'm blaming it's people.