We Live in a Paradise
Our title this week is a recurring theme in my newsletters. Not because I think my life is better than any of my readers. Not even close. This is not an "I ended end up driving a Maserati in Monte Carlo" story ... but it does have a happy ending. I'm not rich, I have a small pension, a few bucks in the bank, and no debt. To give you a feel for our finances, we ended up just short of money to travel. That five or ten (or twenty) thousand to take a trip every year or two will not be in our cards. If you can do that, then you have a little more money than us. I'm fine with that. In fact, I find myself ridiculously happy? The reason I start this week on this tack is that I talk to people. SWMBO constantly says, "Do you know that guy?" I talk to folks at grocery stores, gas pumps, parking lots, sidewalks, you name it. A surprising number of them are not happy. In fact, they are the opposite of happy? They seem to be pissed about something. They are "as mad as hell and not going to take it anymore". I simply cannot understand why? Here are three examples:
1) The separatist movement in Alberta is gearing up for a big summer campaign. They are afraid that Carney is going to fix their long-standing grievances before they can join up with Montana and enjoy some good old-fashioned gun violence and no healthcare. What for?
2) The hatred for our former prime minister has always mystified me. I wasn't a big fan, but I just checked again and we live in the fifth best country on this planet ... according to any metric you care to use. 5th out of 195! That's up about four spots in ten years. The U.S., to which so many seem to aspire ... is twenty-second? Down from 9th in 2016. I wonder what year Trump first won his first election? If the people waving obscene flags on overpasses were to be believed, you might think we had dropped thirteen spots in ten years? Not so much.
3) Last, a friend of SWMBO's had suggested that their neighborhood had changed beyond all recognition. They didn't feel safe anymore. Was that true? It could happen. I walked the streets of Acapulco twenty years ago at night. It didn't seem crazy at the time? These days, I wouldn't go there in broad daylight escorted by Seal Team Six with an Apache helicopter overhead!! Neighborhoods can change. So I looked up this one. They have charts, maps, and online crime statistics. I think politicians generate them to placate us, and there have been lots of car thefts in the news. What I found is that almost every satellite city in southern Ontario has low crime rates. I mean Thunder Bay, right downtown Hamilton, Moss Park in Toronto are comparatively bad. But if you are not right in the middle of those neighbourhoods, you are probably in one of the safest places in Canada? What is going on with people's perceptions?
I have taken some comfort lately in Scott Galloway. He is a successful professor of business, best-selling author and podcaster who postulates on a variety of topics, but to me, they all come down to happiness. I started following him last summer and find he has a fresh voice on several issues. He is ruthlessly apolitical and pisses off both the left and the right simply by holding a bright light up to society's current ills. He focuses on what used to work. What did we break? How it might we fix it? Here are some of his most famous memes:
- This follow your passion mantra that Oprah and her ilk have been spouting for years, is sending a generation of young people down the road to ruin: "Anyone telling you to follow your passion ... is already rich; and the guy telling you to do that, probably made his money smelting iron ore! If your passion is some sexy vocation like travel influencer or professional poker player, you had better be seeing some large flashing green lights suggesting you are going to be in the top 1% of that industry. Everyone else is unemployed. Follow your talent. Find what you are good at, become the top person in that field, get that first million behind you, then you can think about what makes you happy."
- We have created two generations of young men who are involuntarily celibate. They can't get a job, can't get a date, can't find a mate. "Increased frustration about their lack of life choices and greater jealousy stoked by the images of success they see on their tiny screens will push underachieving men further toward conspiracy theories, radicalization, and nihilist politics". Sound familiar? Tell them it's the immigrants. Give them face masks, tear gas and assault weapons. Send them into suburban neighbourhood to root out illegals. See what happens?
- He talks about how we immerse ourselves in this self-replicating echo chamber online. "The blood sugar level of billionaires now decides which content we consume or don’t consume with no guardrails. Facebook “intentionally drives our society apart” by “deepening users’ beliefs and magnifying outrage.”
So for my happiness, I constantly check what I am reading and what is being fed to me. I find my first impressions are embarrassingly wrong about 20% of the time. I almost always start forming any opinion with a quick dive into Google. Then I check my work. Where does my town stack up against other cities for quality of life? How many crimes are being perpetrated by foreign student workers? How many thefts? How many murders? Did Justin Trudeau's stricter mask and lockdown policies result in a lower death rate in Canada than in the U.S. during COVID? I think you all know what I found and keep finding. Canada is a great place to live. Foreign students commit almost zero crime. Not one murder. Trudeau should get a medal for leading us through COVID. Putting Katie Telford (Trudeau's COVID Czar) in charge of the U.S. response by Trump would have saved half a million American lives and prevented billions in spending. I think there is a case that could be made in The Hague for the mass murder of his citizens by a president? Trump wins re-election. We had truckers marching on Ottawa, wanting to burn Trudeau at the stake. It makes no sense to me? So, I humbly invite you to say it with me every morning when you open your eyes. Every evening when you close them. And if you are not already, then try to be happy ... like me.
Every day is a gift.
We live in a paradise.
Our Optimum Week
I tried those new Cavendish onion rings. They were OK but only buy them on sale. Not much in the bag. I also tried one of those PC pre-cooked porchettas. SWMBO is not a big pork fan at any time, but it looked like a real time saver for a busy weeknight. It's a little fiddly to cook. Completely thaw it. Unbox it, save the instructions, and put the sealed package in the fridge for a couple of days. The day of, unwrap it, put it in a roast pan and let it come to room temperature. Then, follow the instructions on the box (which you saved?). I tried to cook it from frozen and it was a bit of a disaster. Remember, they already cooked it, so you can lower your food safety concerns. It makes fantastic sandwiches the next day.
I found it difficult to untangle the miasma of competing specials this week, but it was worth the effort. I ignored the competition. Nobody is beating these deals. Spend $300, save $30 and get 100,000 points. I broke things down into four specific approaches and liste3d them in order. I have cycles for this stuff, you may not? Pick the ones that fit your schedule and grab what you can. I would also encourage you to check your flyer as there may be items that I have not listed that will appeal to your family.
First - I got a Spend $40 for 10K from Shoppers. That's an easy one for us and only takes ten minutes. Milk, bread, eggs, ice cream, cottage cheese. Take your clicker, spend just over $40 before tax and get a straight 25% off items that seldom go on sale!
Second - I did not like these Moredays Events when they were introduced. I am slowly being converted. Normal extra points come in the ten or fifteen percent range (e.g. spend $15 for 1500 points). These are much more lucrative! I have ignored some of my anti-U.S. rhetoric where there are not realistic Canadian sourced alternatives.
Third - The normal treasure hunt through the flyer and Optimum offers.
Fourth - Overall continuity at $250 for an extra 10% back in points.
What I'm Reading
Liu Cixin
What We're Watching
Nuremberg - A thinly veiled shot at the current state of U.S. politics in a historically accurate account of the trial of senior German officials following the Holocaust. Can false narratives and the lure of nationalism suborn normal people into committing inhuman acts? It's happened before. Watch this movie, then watch the news coverage on the ICE raids in the U.S. See if your skin doesn't crawl? Great cast, great movie. Five stars.
One Battle After Another - I don't quite get the Oscar buzz for DiCaprio in this movie. I think folks are just surprised that they never see him with his hair slicked back in a tux? The revelation here is Sean Penn as Colonel Stephen J. Lockjaw! Terrifying, lizardly and twisted, he steals each and every scene he is in. My Oscar money would be over in that direction. Four stars.
Shocked I Say
Authorities have announced that the successful bidder for an exclusive contract to mine a major state-owned lithium deposit in Ukraine has gone to Ron Lauder, a billionaire cosmetics heir. Oh, and he is a buddy of Trump's, a member of his club and a big proponent of his Greenland strategy. What a surprise?
The reviews for the new Melania documentary are in!
"One of the best movies ever made if you want to get rid of an unwanted erection."
"A 104 minute perfume commercial for gold-plated despair."
"Melania's documentary was our in-flight movie. People got up and walked out"
"Watching Melania's journey from Slovenian prostitute to First Lady is like walking through a field of Lego blocks with explosive diarrhea (Ebert.com)"
... and finally (an Olympic update)
Two coaches and an equipment manager on the Norwegian ski-jumping team have been suspended for 18 months for allegedly adding extra stitching to the crotch area of their athletes’ suits to make them slightly bigger and hence make them fly further. I used AI to add some little wings. It has begun.
Mitch & Maddie