I'm very excited about my hockey season opener this evening in Hamilton. I've been off the ice all summer, and I'm looking forward to tying up my skates and getting back out there. Here is the press release from our team's GM Paulie. He's a funny guy: (Don't forget, this is a men's league hockey team - ie: Beer league)

Hot off the Canadian Press.

The Cavemen hockey franchise has come to terms with the fast & furious Jimmy Schwartz for the 2004-2005 winter season. In keeping with the team's policy, the terms of this contract were not disclosed.

A reliable source has contacted the Canadian Press. We believe the source may be Jim's paperboy. He claims the contract is full time hockey @ $325.00 like everyone else.

Ongoing conservations between the organization and Jimmy's agent finally put the icing on the cake last night. Jimmy was holding out for a few perks and benefits and finally he got what he thought he deserved. The Cavemen agreed, & incentives were hashed out, "he will play every third shift on a regular line this year". Said Paul Blain spokes person for the Hockey Club. Apparently Jim's agent loved the offer and agreed to a one-year contract.

Every few months or so, North Korea will make a statement to try to antagonize the United States. In a news release today, North Korea has claimed that they have turned the plutonium from 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods into nuclear weapons “to serve as a deterrent against increasing U.S. nuclear threats and to prevent a nuclear war in northeast Asia.”

Link

Over the last few months, they have been claiming that they are getting closer to having nuclear weapons. North Korea is talking big to try to scare the US into bribing them to give up their nuclear weapons. They are taking a big gamble. They could be provoking a war with the United States, but I don’t believe this is what they want. They don’t want any war. I would even be inclined to believe they are exaggerating their nuclear weapons claims to try to get the United States to intervene. All along they have wanted one on one talk with the United States, because they know that there is a benefit to the United States as well as North Korea if the United States intervenes and resolves the nuclear issue. The United States will get the publicity of being the country that led the Korean peninsula to peace without resorting to war. This would make up for some of the credibility lost when the US invaded Iraq in 2003, and might even make people forget the Korean war that took place over 50 years ago. It would benefit North Korea in that they will receive some perks in exchange for dismantling their nuclear weapon program, such as the possibility of financial aid, food, lifted sanctions, etc. North Korea currently depends on the international community to feed their country. Their army size is around 1 million people, and their Military expenditures as a percent of their GDP is 22.9% (2003). (According to the CIA World Factbook). Compare that to a peaceful nation like Canada, where our Military expenditures/GDP is 1.1% (2003) or even compare to the USA where it’s only 3.3% (Although I’m sure that has increased slightly since 2003). So North Korea is pushing their army to its limit, and I believe this is all part of the plot to scare countries into giving them perks, but also deter them from invading. If the United States decided to invade North Korea, it would be a much tougher battle than they have seen in Iraq, and I don’t know if the Americans or South Koreans want to take on this much risk and responsibility unless it’s absolutely necessary.

I predict that when the Iraq war is under better control, and the United States has more time on its hands, you will see them get more involved in this crisis. The United States can’t talk very tough right now because they are utilizing a large chunk of their military in Iraq, so it would be difficult to bargain with North Korea at this point. But when they do have more time and more resources, you’ll see the USA trying to engage a 6-way conversation between N. Korea, S. Korea, China, Russia, Japan and themselves to collectively resolve this crisis, and I predict you will see N. Korea getting most of their ‘asks’, dismantling their weapons, and of course you will hear about the Americans as the leader of the peace conversations. On the other hand, if things turn ugly and North Korea doesn’t get what they want, let’s just hope they talk tough, but don’t act as tough, because they could potentially start a major crisis or a major war, and it would be very ugly.

Instead of checking the weather forecast to see if it's going to rain, all I need to do is to look out my back window. My next-door neighbors occasionally put their clothes on a line outside. But they seem to do it only when it's either raining or when it's going to rain. It also seems that after the rain starts, the clothes do not get gathered up: they just leave it there.

I still haven't figured this out, maybe it's just a coincidence that it's raining every time they dry their clothes, and maybe they just leave it in the rain because they figure after the rain stops, the clothes can dry again.

I can't think of anything better than sleeping on bed sheets with the smell of Toronto's polluted rain.

Here is a link to some pictures I have posted from my East Coast Dirt Bike Trip.

Link

I took my puppy for a run on the boardwalk along Lake Ontario this evening, and as I look down the horizon, I see the silhouette of a crashed bicycle with a human body lying on the ground.

As I get closer, I notice it's a bum. The bicycle was still on the boardwalk; the upper half of the bum's body was in the sand on the beach, his head lying right in the sand. His feet were even still on the pedals of the bicycle. I thought maybe he was dead, so I clapped my hands and he opens his eyes. I guess he was riding along the boardwalk, decided that that patch of sand looks like a good spot to sleep tonight, so he crashes his bike into sleeping position.

Every time I think I've seen it all, something like this happens.

I regret not taking an MP3 player on my trip. Time goes by a lot more slowly on a bike when you don't have music. In general, after 2 hours of riding, I would start to go insane and I would sing outloud. Very loud too. I received some strange looks from cars passing by with their windows down.

Here was my playlist: Tom Cochrane - Life is a Highway, Whitesnake - Here I go again on my own, Counting Crows - Mr. Jones, Stompin' Tom Conners - Bud The Spud, and "In The Jungle" from the Lion King.

It took me quite a long time to get out of Fredericton. It was raining, and my cheap Wal Mart rain gear had gotten ripped and shredded after my first encounter with rain in New Brunswick on the way the to the East Coast. So I rode to the local Fredericton Wal Mart and purchased a new $8 rain suit. (Pants and jacket). The temperature was around 8 degrees, so the rain was very cold on the bike. After getting on the highway, I was dreading having to do a 600KM ride in this cold rain. I figured some people have it worse off than me, so I stuck with it. I had already booked my hostel in Quebec, so there was no way I was going to give up. The cold rain drops were pelting off my face like getting shot by a semi-automatic BB gun. This was the worst part about the rain, the rain pellets hitting my face below my goggles. It might not be a bad idea to invest in a fully closed helmet for my next motorcycle trip. 80 kilometers later, I exited the blanket of rain clouds and saw a clear sky that put a tear of happiness in my eye ;) But I think the temperature either got colder or I wasn’t thinking about the rain anymore, so I noticed how cold it was. Especially since I was now driving directly against the strong Southeast wind. My non-leather gloves were drenched, and my entire body was shaking from being wet and cold. I stuck with it, and 200KMs later, I noticed that the wind had completely dried my gloves, so that definitely helped to make it less cold. The bad weather I encountered in New Brunswick had affected my opinion on the province, and I will probably never forget about it.

I arrived at the hostel in the beautiful historic city of Quebec at around 9:30PM Eastern Standard Time. I was pleasantly surprised to remember that Quebec was an hour behind the Atlantic Standard time. So I gained an extra hour. The $8 rain suit looked like it was ripped apart by a bear. I was exhausted from my 7-hour ride, so I checked out a live blues band at a pub on Ste. Jean street and then hit the sack.

I wanted to leave for Toronto by 11:00AM, so I didn’t have much time to walk around and take many pictures of Quebec. I finally got out of Quebec around 11:30 or so and headed home. The weather was great, a warm sunshine, and the wind was behind me for the most part. So I rode over 800Kms back to Toronto. I arrived home around 9:30PM with my eyes half closed from being exhausted as well as from having my goggles pressed against my face for 10 hours. I thought that after this trip I was a seasoned highway rider, with a lot more skill than when I left 9 days ago, but while driving along the 401, with 8 lanes in each direction, I was a little bit nervous. But the Ontario winds will never frighten me again. Seeing Toronto was quite the site, it was as if I had been raised in a barn my entire life, then visiting New York City. The lights and buildings in Toronto looked five times larger to me than they have ever looked before. But it felt good to get home so I can get a good night’s sleep. The trip was amazing, and the only regret I have is that I didn’t take 2 weeks off work instead of 1.

Total Kms: 4712.5 – Motorcycle: 2000 Yamaha XT 225cc - Total Provinces: 5 in 9 days.

I arrived in Fredericton New Brunswick around 7PM Friday evening. I had quite an interesting ride there. It took me about 7 hours to get to Fredericton from Halifax, which is normally a 4 hour drive.

While I was riding, it struck me that I haven't checked my oil level. I thought it would be okay because I've never had to add oil to the bike before, so I thought it wouldn't be burning oil. But when I pulled into a gas station, I noticed it was very low. I bought some oil and filled it up. I hoped there wasn't any damage to the engine. I rode another 400kms after filling up the oil, and I hadn't noticed any problems yet. My bike has been great and she has treated me very well. But I deprived her from her oil, and I feel very badly about it ;) It's like starving your kid for 3 days.

Anyway, when I wanted to check my oil, I pulled into a Shell gas station. It looked like a legitimate gas station, but I didn't notice a cashier booth or anything. As I was taking off my helmet and gloves and grabbing the gas pump, I noticed a few young guys staring at me out the window of an A&W restaurant. I am used to young people looking at my bike, it tends to cater to teenage guy's tastes. So I continue to grab the pump to fill up my bike. Then I notice that the gas pump wasn't turned on, so I look around, and first I see the 3 guys laughing hysterically, then I looked over to the side of the building and I saw a sign that says "Shell Gas Station Opening Soon". I swear these 3 guys in the A&W might as well have been lying on the ground slapping the ground in a rage of laughter: they loved. I had a little laugh myself, got back on my bike, gave the guys a thumbs up and continued on my way. It makes me feel good to know that I made someone’s day. These guys will be telling their buddies this story for at least a week.

A few hundred kilometers later, I was on the Trans Canada Highway in New Brunswick. I knew I was getting close to running out of gas again, but I knew a gas station was coming up. So as I'm driving by an exit, I notice the gas station. I missed the exit. I didn't know what to do, I couldn't turn around, and I suspected there weren't any exits coming up anytime soon. About 20 minutes after I missed the exit, it was game over. I was empty. Luckily, I was only 3 kilometers from an exit. So I left all my gear on, helmet and all, and pushed the bike along the Trans Canada highway. It was very sunny and hot, so I was sweating intensely. Nobody pulled over to help, although a couple people did honk their horns. I did appreciate the honk. Thanks for nothing fellows. After arriving at the exit, it became apparent that there was no gas station at this exit. So I left my bike on the overpass and started walking while deciding what I was going to do next. Not 5 minutes later, a guy pulls up in an older Ford Escort. He suspects I'm out of gas, so he opens the door for me to get inside. The nearest gas station was a 20-minute drive, so this friendly lad offers to take me there. His name was Chris and he was in school for Forestry. It was amazing how helpful people can be to someone that they don't even know. In general I find that people are a lot friendlier in the Maritimes provinces than any other place that I've seen. So Chris also offered to drive out of his way to take me back to my bike. I offered him $20, but he would only accept $10. So I gave him the $10. I purchased a Jerry Can, filled it up, and from that point forward, I decided I was always going to carry the Jerry Can with me in case this happens again.

So I got to Fredericton and I ended up getting 5 star accommodations for free. My good friend Marijana ;) was nice enough to offer me her parent's couch for the night, and the hospitality was great and very much appreciated. Marijana (the J is silent) is in the process of applying to get into Dental school for another 4 years of schooling on top of her undergrad. Crazy! We got together with 2 of her friends; Steve and Kim for a night out in Fredericton. First of all, Steve is an extremely funny character. I suggested to him that night that he's a mix between Homer Simpson, George Costanza and Chris Farley. He concurred. Very funny guy. Throughout the night, there was at least 1 funny quote from each of those characters. The funny remark Steve made that sticks in my mind is whenever Marijana spoke of her friends, Steve would say "Ooh, I like where this is going". Just picture Homer Simpson saying that, that's what he sounded like. Very funny to me. Steve was also wearing one of several Hooters restaurant shirts. He was recently on a road trip from Alberta to Fredericton and visited every Hooters restaurant in between. Fine family dining ;).

Anyway, we had a good night out in Fredericton at a Patio bar. Everybody knew everybody, but I only knew 2 people. But I did have a guy come up to me that mistakenly thought I was Australian. I was talking in my bad Australian accent (That I picked up in Halifax while hanging out with the Aussies) to Kim and she was convinced that it was a bad Australian accent, and a mix between British and Australian. She said to me "You do not sound Australian", and shortly thereafter, this guy came up to me and asked where from Australia I was, because he had a bunch of Australian friends that he met while traveling in BC. (He definitely didn't hear the conversation preceding the events noted above).

In the morning I packed everything again to prepare to drive to Quebec City.

On Wednesday, I rode the ferry from PEI to Nova Scotia, it cost me $34 for a motorcycle. I can't believe people on bicycles only pay $16. My motorcycle is almost as small as a bicycle. But toll booth Susan told me that because it has an engine, it costs $34.

I arrived in Halifax around 6PM and settled into the hostel. The hostel was packed full, and I was fortunate to get a room on such short notice. I think I am the only Canadian in the hostel, most of them are Australian. But Australians are very cool and fun people, and they have a lot in common with Canadians, so it worked out well.

I ended up going out with a few Aussies named Jason, Stuart and Shane. Shane ended up running into his girlfriend, so it was just Jason, Stuart and I hanging out for the remainder of the night. The beer prices in Halifax are unbelievable. It was $1.25 for a glass of Keiths during happy hour at the "Split Crow". The second bar was the "Dome", which is an extremely large bar that has multiple floors and multiple bars within itself. It was a Wednesday night and it was packed full. Stuart asked for a pitcher of Keiths, and they didn't have any pitchers left so the bartender asked if it was okay if she gave us 4 glasses instead. We were very fine with that. She then told us it will be $6. So we were thinking it's $6 each, but it turns out that the Dome charges $6 for an entire pitcher of Keiths. Insanity. The local girls really love the Australian accents, and the ladies loved Stuart. I have multiple pictures of Stuart with the Nova Scotia ladies. The Aussies have taught me many Australian terms, such as standing in a Que (Also British), going to the bathroom to take a "slash", etc. Jason has been travelling Canada for a few months already, and he's going to settle in Halifax for a few months to do some fishing and save some more money. Stuart has been travelling for a while in Canada as well. He was actually in Toronto a couple weeks ago, and he was staying with the daughter of a man who owns "The Butler's Pantry". A bar that resides on Roncessvalles Ave. which is very close to my house. I told all the Aussies that if they ever need a place to crash in Toronto, they are more than welcome to take my couch at my house.

On Thursday during the day, I rode an hour outside of Halifax to visit the beautiful town of Lunenburg. Lunenburg is a tourist town that is located on the ocean in a bit of a bay. I did some riding outside of Lunenburg for a couple hours and I rode through many swerving roads along the ocean. The ride was great on a motorcycle. It wouldn't have been the same if I was in a car or on a bus. After my cruise, I went out on a lobster fishing boat. It was a tour that shows you how they fish for lobster on the sea. I wanted to go whale watching, but there wasn't enough people to go out, so I just went for the "Lobstermen tour" instead. I met a really cool girl named Kristelle. She was working for the Whale watching company. She is a very artsy girl, and she'll hopefully be recording her own music cd soon. I told her that when the cd gets recorded, I want her to send me some MP3s. She plays folky style east coast music, and since I've been on the east coast, I still haven't heard any east coast music. The Split Crow had a band playing, but they played mostly rock and roll, although they did play a little bit of Blue Rodeo which was great.

On Thursday night we went out to the Split Crow again, then we went to the Ale House to see another live band. They played a little bit of east coast music, but it was mostly rock and roll music too. I was actually fortunate enough to drink Stella and Leffe at the Ale house, so I was also happy about that.

I'm going to pack up my goods and get ready to head for Fredericton shortly. So far I have done almost 3000Kms.

After arriving in Charlottetown, I spent around 3 hours looking for a cheap hotel since the only hostel in Charlottetown was apparently closed down a couple months ago. I searched like crazy, I even went to the University of PEI to see if they had any rooms.. No luck, and every decent hotel/motel/inn in Charlottetown was $100 or more per night. So I decided to ride outside of the city looking for something cheaper. Before I got outside of the city, I found a Ma and Pa Cottage/Motel. I told the nice chap I was looking for somewhere cheap to stay. He told me he couldn't help me out, but when I inquired about how much it was for the motel, he told me it was $55 a night. Considering how expensive everything else was, I thought that was a good deal, so I made a deal with him to pay him $55 cash. The taxes in PEI are 17%, so I wanted to avoid inflating the cost too much. When I checked out the room, it had a bed, couch, kitchen, etc. So I went back to the man and paid him for 2 nights. I was also satisfied with the location of the motel, since it was very close to the University, so I could walk to the stores and bars in 10-15 minutes.

On my first night in Charlottetown (Monday), I walked around looking for a bar that I could potentially watch the Canada/Finland World Cup of Hockey game at on Tuesday night. There was a bar called "Doolies" that is attached to an Eastside Mario's restaurant, and it even had a big screen TV. This was the bar that I was going to watch the Championship game at. I also ended up checking out a bar with a live band, and that was quite a bit of fun. I met a young lad that dropped out of school in grade 10 to be a fisherman. He said he has some friends who are going to school to be lawyers and doctors, and he was sensitive of the fact that they looked down on him and thought he wasn't going to go anywhere. A couple years ago, he managed to purchase his own 40 foot fishing boat, and he's doing very well for himself now. So he was happy about the fact that he was successful at the path he chose in life. He enjoys what he's doing, so to me, that's the most important part. The fact that he's doing well and possibly making more money than a lawyer or a doctor is an added bonus to it. Apparently it costs around $250,000 for a Lobster license, so he has a bank loan for this. I had no idea it would cost that much money.

I spent all of Tuesday cruising the island on the bike. I covered around 400Kms and I took around 70 pictures. The scenery in PEI is amazing. I rode around the East Coast shoreline of the island, pulling my bike to the side of the road every time I saw a picturesque scene. It is extremely convenient to be on an on/off road dirt bike when taking scenery shots. Every time I noticed a trail off the main road, I would ride through it to see where it leads. Since I was riding along the coast, every time I took a trail, it ended up at the Atlantic Ocean, and the pictures were always unique and beautiful. I kept coming across construction signs that said there was a road worker ahead with a Stop/Slow sign, but there was no person with a sign. I was thinking to myself that they were playing a joke on me. They were hiding in the woods, and when I got near, they were going to jump out on to the road with the stop sign in their hand, making me slam on my brakes and crash my bike. I was very fearful of this, and I always watched the woods for any movement. ;)

On Tuesday night, I headed to good old Doolies to watch the gold medal game. I was getting nervous that Canada was in trouble when Finland tied the game, but Shane Doan came through with the winning goal and Canada won the medal. It was a great feeling. I met a very distinguished fellow while watching the game. He was a very interesting character with an attitude and an opinion. He somewhat reminded me of myself for that. But anyway, he was a retired high school teacher and he writes novels now. He just keeps pumping out his stories/novels and he reviews them every year to see which ones he thinks are really good. He implied he was close to finding a publisher, although he didn't provide any details. But he told me a couple of his stories, short of the actual ending, and they were very creative and interesting. I'd like to read some of his work if it does in fact get published. I believe his name was Searle MacDonald (I'm not sure of the spelling).

On my ride to Charlottetown on Monday, I almost ran out of gas twice. The first time, I was cruising on the Trans Canada Highway, and my engine started choking. So I switched the valve to use the Reserve portion of the tank. I rode 20 kilometers on my reserve tank before coming across a gas station. I was very scared, but I now knew that I could make it at least 20 Kms on the reserve tank. The second time, I knew I was almost out of gas, but there were no exits, no gas stations, nothing for miles. The engine started coughing again, so I switched it to the reserve tank. I rode 30 Kms before there was even an exit on the highway. I took the first exit that I saw, I was shaking because I was so scared that I'd have to push my bike along the Trans Canada highway. The hills were very steep, and this wouldn't be fun. So I get off the highway and the sign says the gas was both to the left and to the right. So I turn right. I ride for approximately 10 kilometers and nothing! I'm not really starting to panic. Do I turn around, or do I keep going. So I bite the bullet and turn around and it turns out there was a gas station 1 kilometer past the exit where I turned right. I rolled in, thanking god that I made it ;)

I'm now going to go to the laundry mat to wash all my clothes, and then I'm going to head for the Ferry to Nova Scotia. I'm going to head to Halifax this afternoon and settle in my hostel for 2 nights of Halifax. I have met several people that have given me many suggestions on good places to go out in Halifax. I also hope to do some sea kayaking and whale watching while in Nova Scotia.

Total KMs so far: 2600. Total cost of gas so far: approx $90 or so. Fuel is expensive out East. 96.9 to 99.9 cents per litre for 91 octane fuel. (Regular fuel is 87.9 to 89.9)

I finally arrived in Charlottetown PEI after 2 full days of riding. I left Montreal around 12:00PM yesterday, I was planning to get to Fredericton by 9:00 or so, but after around just over 500Kms of riding, it was pouring down pretty hard, it was dark out, and I seriously felt like my life was in danger. So I threw in the towel and stayed at the Days Inn in Edmunston New Brunswick. When I arrived at the hotel, I took my riding boots off and poured about 20 ML of water into the toilet. It felt good to take a warm shower and get a good night's sleep.

I woke up bright and early this morning 7:30AM New Brunswick time (6:30AM EST). I left around 8:30AM and rode all day. What a beautiful ride. The sun reflecting off the water with the mountainous terrain in the background is a beautiful thing to see. The natural beauty from Quebec all the way to PEI was amazing.

When I crossed the PEI Confederation Bridge, I thought I was going to die. The wind was so powerful that I was actually getting blown almost out of the lane. I actually pulled the bike over to the side of the road to let the other cars go by, then I continued as slow as I possibly could. I was getting blown to the left, while the wind was blowing to the right. I think the wind was actually bouncing off the barriers. Most bridges have a side-rail made of bars and the wind can blow right through it, but the rail on this bridge is actual concrete barriers, so the wind just goes crazy when it bounces off. I'm going to take the Ferry over to Nova Scotia when I leave. You couldn't pay me enough to do that bridge again.

I'm trying to find a place to stay in Charlottetown right now, I'll probably stay here for 2 nights and check out the scenery during the day.

So far I've ridden over 1800Kms. I rode a total of 600 kms today.

I arrived safe and sound in Montreal around 8:30PM yesterday evening, after 9 hours of riding my motorcycle. The motorcycle ride was quite different than what I had expected. My back and buttocks were very sore when I first started out. After around 350Kms, I ended up adjusting my backpack, and that made an astounding difference. It almost felt like I had no backpack on after this much needed adjustment. It took me around an hour just to get out of Toronto, and I took Highway #7 all the way through Ottawa to Montreal, so it was a very long hike. 650kms in total. I actually needed to stop every hour and a half or so just to stretch my legs, it is very sore to keep your knees in a bent position for a long period of time. Each time I stopped and then got back on the bike, I felt like a whole new man.

On the way, I received a wave from a motorcyclist that was passing me in the same direction as me. Why is it that it's awkward to wave at someone as you're slowly passing them? When you're driving in the opposite direction, it's a quick wave, and the person is gone. But when they're driving in the same direction it just seems awkward when he waves, then he's still there, then he's still there, then slowly he leaves. It's similar to saying goodbye to someone while walking in the same direction, very awkward. It's much easier to say goodbye then walk in opposite directions. Also similar to riding an elevator and ending a conversation, then waiting for the elevator ride to finish. There's those few moments where you're both standing there staring at the elevator digital numbers praying that those doors will soon open to end this awkwardness.

Anyway, back to the trip. I ended up hooking up with some friends of a friend and they took me out to a bar on St. Laurent. The girls I was hanging out with are Ryerson Fashion graduates. They were cool and fun to hang out with, and some of their boyfriends were there too and they were also fun to hang out with. Montreal is a very laid back place and people are very easy going. Most people just like to have a good time, smoke their cigarettes and drink a beer.

The hostel turned out to be in a very good location, on McKay street, and I shared a room with 2 dudes from Paris, and 1 guy from Brazil. I said my goodbyes to them this morning, and now I'm going to book a hostel in my next undetermined location, and then I will be on my way. I'm thinking about hitting New Brunswick, and Fredericton is probably the closest city in New Brunswick. It will be one hell of a ride. 750 kms or so.

Until next time ...

Documents have been released that show that President Bush ignored a direct order from a superior officer, causing him to lose his status as a Texas Air National Guard pilot because he failed to meet military performance standards and undergo a required physical examination. (Yahoo - Link)

This will cause the White House to once again defend President Bush's military record. I understand that a President needs to do his best to hide things that might tarnish his image to the public, but it seems Bush is doing this too often. He always seems to be changing his story, and altering his reasons for doing things. One might think he is attempting to cover up certain things, but this is just conjecture with no evidence to back it up.

During the build-up to the Iraq war, Bush stated many different reasons for going to war, and those reasons changed as new evidence was released. For example, when people started to realize that Saddam wasn't a close ally of Al Qaeda, Bush started pushing more on the Weapons of Mass Destruction as reasons for going to war. When it became known that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction, Bush started implying his reason is the war on terror, and Saddam employed terror in the past and needed to be removed.

A University Student named Devon M. Largio did a thesis called "Uncovering the Rationales for the War on Iraq: The Words of the Bush Administration, Congress, and the Media from September 12, 2001 to October 11, 2002.

[Link)

This thesis outlines all the different reasons for going to war that the White House used leading up to the war. The thesis is not "Anti-Bush"; it merely details the reasons that the White House gave to the public for justifying going to war. It is quite apparent in this essay that the reasons changed many times over the year.

I suppose there are people working full time determining what the general public wants to hear, and the argument that will raise the moral of the public is the argument that will be pushed at that time. I do have respect for people that have a reason for doing something and sticking with it, regardless of public ratings. Bush did stick with one thing, the fact that he wanted to go to war, and he was going to do whatever it took to go to war, and he was going to do whatever it took to get the public to back him on his war. A lot of people respect the fact that Bush has a backbone and stuck with his word on going to war, but in this circumstance, I can't agree with these people, as I have always thought the war was wrong, and the reasons for going into this war were wrong, and the deaths of the innocent people in this war is wrong.

Regardless of who gets elected in November, I believe both of them will stick it out until the job is done, but once the job is "done", nobody really knows what that means. Does that mean a new puppet President gets elected? Or does that mean that a new dictator gets elected? Or will there be a civil war? Nobody knows the answer, and I'm afraid it will probably be a very long time before there is peace in that country; even long after the US pulls out their troops.

I have developed the first revision of my ambitious plan. According to this revision of the plan, I will be traveling a minimum of 3,969Kms, and spending a minimum of 1 night in each of the following cities: Quebec City QC, Saint John NB, Halifax NS, Charlottetown PE, Fredericton NB, and Montreal QC.

I'm almost all prepared for my trip out to the Maritimes this coming weekend. I have purchased a Swiss army knife, a saw, a raincoat, a tarp, a tent, saddlebags (for my dirt bike), granola bars, dried fruit and power bars. I have ordered new tires for my dirt bike, and I still need to change the oil in it.

I'm very excited for this trip, and I think I'm going to check out Nova Scotia, PEI, and New Brunswick if time permits. I still need to map out somewhere to set up camp on my first night of traveling. It will be Saturday, September 11th, and I will probably leave around 8AM in the morning, and most likely ride until around 5PM. I will probably be somewhere in Quebec by that time, my buttocks will probably be severely sore, and I will be looking for a place to relax.

I plan to arrive in Nova Scotia on Sunday, September 12th, at which time I'll be looking for another campsite or hostel. I will then spend the entire week traveling around the Maritimes provinces, taking as many pictures as I can. I hear the scenery is magnificent.

This trip should give me time to think about life, read some books, take some pictures, meet some people and it should be quite an adventure. If the dirt bike doesn't make it, I may need to try to sell it and hitchhike my way home, or catch a plane or a train.

Hopefully upon my return I shall have some good stories to write on here. I'll keep you posted (literally).

Early Sunday morning, a 21 year old was murdered in cold blood while driving along the 401 in the latest drive by shooting. Although police are revealing very little detail about the motive, it appears that the killer knew whom he was targeting.

Many of the murders that have plagued Toronto in the last few years have involved guns. The black market for guns in Toronto is becoming a very large problem, and guns are much more easily accessible than ever before.

Apparently two thirds of all guns seized in crimes in Ontario come from home break-ins and store break-ins in Canada. The remaining guns are smuggled into Canada from the US. An average of 2,020 guns are seized in Toronto every year.

The thing I can't understand is that in Ohio and Florida, there are gun shows and flea markets that allow you to purchase a gun, and the seller isn't required to register the buyer's name. The other thing I can't understand is why it's legal in the US to manufacture semi-automatic assault rifles that would never be used for hunting, and are obviously designed to be killing machines. Have they not realized that guns are a huge problem, and something needs to be done to put some control on gun accessibility? I also don't buy the whole "self-defense" argument either. Having a semi-automatic gun for self-defense will only increase your chances of accidentally killing someone.

Here is a huge list of gun shows in Ohio for 2004: Link

It looks like the NHL and the NHLPA may not come to terms on Player's contracts. I’m going to be very upset if a lockout happens.

Hockey is the one thing I look forward to in the winter. With the extremely cold weather, there's nothing better than sitting inside a warm house watching a hockey game and drinking a cold one.

I think the NHL Player's Association needs to accept the fact that salaries have ballooned over the years and are much higher than they should be.

If a lockout does occur, it's only going to drive fans away, and the teams will end up making less money, and the players will end up making less money. It won't do any good for the sport unless another league is created and they compete with each other. This may also not help anything either, as the prestige of professional hockey may decline in this scenario.

Hundreds of innocent children have died, and it looks like many more will die. I can't believe how sloppy this situation was handled.

I would have thought that 2 years ago when the terrorists took over the movie theatre, and the Russians deployed poisonous gas inside the building killing over 100 people, they would have learned their lesson.

There must be an easier way to get people out of a building. Isn't there some sort of gas that can knock people out without killing them? And obviously storming the building and battling the terrorists face-to-face is going to cause many casualties as well. It is a very tough situation to be in, I really feel for the person who has to make that decision. But I guess if there are 1200 people taken hostage, you want to save as many people as you can, and when you're dealing with dirty terrorists, there is a cost associated with saving lives.

I'm very appalled at the tactics used by these sick people. Strapping suicide bombs to their women, taking over a school consisting of mainly innocent children, and threatening to blow up the entire school. These are very weak and desperate people.

As I type this, I'm regretting writing this posting. The terrorists are seeking attention. They are seeking publicity. They want it to be known to the world their purpose for pulling such a sick stunt. This is exactly what we are giving them.

Wars breed poverty. Poverty breeds hatred. Hatred breeds more wars. Preemptive attacks on mainly innocent people breeds hatred. When people are suppressed from living normal lives, they only want revenge.

Let's all lose the egos and step back and look at reality. War should be a last resort, and only a last resort. How can we avoid war? Share the land.

Peace