Beach shots

group shot Calvin enjoying the waterHobbes and his frisbee

Whats in a name?

As the owner of two border collie's, I found this article very interesting...

One hundred years ago, in the border country between Scotland and England, the border collie was the humble shepherd's best friend. The dog is still blazingly fast and super-smart. And those are the only facts many fanciers can agree on. The border collie is now at the centre of a David-and-Goliath struggle for rightful registration -- and job description. On one side is the Canadian Border Collie Association (CBCA), the only group allowed to register the dog as a purebred in Canada, with maybe 500 members and one stubborn criterion -- to judge border collies on their sheep-herding abilities. On the other is the 25,000-member Canadian Kennel Club (CKC), which represents almost all purebred breeds in Canada, but not the border collie. The CKC has now been asked by some of the breed's aficionados to bring it into the fold, which would, however, mean dogs being judged solely by CKC standards of looks, agility and obedience, and not sheepherding abilities -- something the CBCA says will ruin the breed.

The current tussle is due to the efforts of a group of border collie owners who want their pets to take part in agility and obedience competitions, which they currently organize privately. Miffed that such contests are anathema to the CBCA, and that they can't show their animals at CKC events, they demanded that the CKC poll its membership about taking in the border collie. If the CKC does so, it would be in a miscellaneous grouping, which is not full recognition. But that would mean border collies not only being allowed to take part in CKC sporting competitions, but also pretty, so-called "Barbie collies" being shown in so-called conformation classes, where dogs are judged only on their beauty and correctness of form. That will spell the end of the border collie as a working dog, says Amanda Milliken, an owner of champion herding border collies in Kingston, Ont. Nonsense, says Paula Elson, an obedience petitioner. Already the battle is "nasty, nasty," Elson says, citing a number of accusatory emails from someone called "The Shepherd." And when the polling ends on April 15, it's bound to get worse.

In Vancouver, UBC psychology professor, dog lover, and author Stanley Coren, while admitting that judging certain breeds on conformation alone had ruined them, gets irritated when he is presented with such an exclusive view. "Dogs exist for a whole bunch of reasons," he says. "We have working dogs, service dogs, pet dogs; we can create whatever the hell we want, and we do." It is important that border collies be registered with the CKC, he says. If they're not, "their visibility drops and fewer people get to know about them and that, to me, is a sin."

Article courtesy of Barbara Righton, Apr 9, 2007, McLeans Magazine. To read the full article, go to: http://www.macleans.ca/homepage/magazine/article.jsp?content=20070409_104108_104108

The teacher and the student

You always look up to those you admire most...

Puppy Diaries

One week without any accidents in the house! I think we can say Calivin is officially toilet trained. The house has been cleaned and the furniture restored to its rightful place. And a form of sanity has returned to the household, what a relief!

Happy 10th anniversary

Today the wife and I have been living in the Beach for 10 years! It all started with a tiny one bedroom apartment on Queen street. And when I say tiny, I mean it was really only 2 rooms, a bedroom/bathroom combination and a living room/kitchen combo (the kitchen was so small our fridge was in the living room). There was a great deck which over looked the lake in the winter, but in the summer when the leaves filled in the trees that great view of the lake disappeared. Unfortunately we could only use the deck in the summer. That place lasted a year. Then we moved into the house next door. Two bedrooms, a dining room, living room, separate kitchen and a sun room to boot! Too bad the landlord turned out to be one of the biggest slumlords in the area. But we did live there for four years until they tried to evict us because they wanted to raise the rent. That was the best kick in the ass ever. Because of those scumbags, we were forced to move. And move we did, into the house we bought down the street. And here we have lived happily ever after since 2001. Happy anniversary to us! As far as I'm concerned we couldn't of picked a better neighbourhood to live in for the last 10 years! Here's to 10 more years!!

The Insurance company IS NOT your friend

The windshield on my 2000 VW Golf cracked this weekend. So on Monday I looked into getting it fixed. I called one of the more well known places that repairs and replaces windshields and was quoted $330. I decided to call my Insurance company to inquire how much it would cost if I went through them. And because its the Insurance company, nothing is easy. I had to give them my policy number and then was told it would cost me $300 to go through them. The $300 was my deductible. The guy on the other end of the phone then suggested I do it myself and to call around as it would be cheaper. He then informs me that because I had called the Insurance company, he would have to put a note on my file indicating I had a damaged windshield and that my rates would go down $28 a month until I got it fixed. WTF?!
So, that same day, after calling around, I was able to get my windshield replaced out in Mississauga for $230. Done in an hour, home in two, saved myself $100. I call the Insurance company up when I get home and say the windshield has been replaced. They say great, now we need proof. Since I paid cash I know where this is headed. What kind of proof I ask? You can't take my word for it? No they say, we need a receipt. Now I am annoyed. Without proof they will not take that note they put on my policy off. Fine!
The next day I drive back out to Mississauga, pay some more money and get a receipt (not so much of a savings anymore!). When I get back home I call the Insurance company up and ask where can I e-mail a copy of my receipt. We only use fax machines they reply. What is this the 80's?! I convince them to give me an e-mail address and I send it off, glad to be finally done of this mess.
The phone rings, its the Insurance company. They now need to send an adjuster out to take a picture of my windshield as further proof. I lose it. Are you kidding me? I have to jump through all these hoops just because I called to ask a question? How utterly ridiculous! If I had just gotten the windshield repaired myself, payed for it out of my own pocket (which I did!) and had never called the Insurance company in the first place, I would of been sitting on the couch Monday afternoon enjoying a cold one. Instead, because I called the Insurance company up to ask a question I get mired in the bureaucracy that is the Insurance industry. You want to know why our rates are so high? Because of stupidity like this. Gimme a break, you are forced to pay all this money to "protect" yourself, and then avoid using it when you need the protection the most because you get penalized for using it. And in the end I finally convinced them they did not need to send someone out to check and to restore my policy to its original state. Two days of frustration! What a great system we have here! Its enough to make you pull out your hair!

Lenin and friends

I'm tired of seeing snow covered landscapes, enough with winter already! Here's one of my favorite shots. Where do you think it was taken? Somewhere in Russia? Eastern Europe? How about Gerrard and Coxwell in Toronto. The bust of Lenin behind us is a movie prop sitting out on the sidewalk in front of a army surplus store. Even cooler is that this photo was taken Sept 9th, 2001! Wow where does the time go?!