I was bored in my Accounting class tonight, so I put a list together of situations where a potentially well-intentioned comment can be taken offensively. I'm often easily misinterpreted when speaking, so I've had many situations where I've intented to say one thing, but I came across as saying something offensive.

5. "Would you like some gum?"
   • Bad breath?
4. Offering an elderly person a seat on the bus.
   • Some bitter seniors are offended by this.
3. Offering to pay for a friend who makes less than you.
   • Maybe they'll take it the wrong way? Maybe they'll take advantage of it.
2. "Honey, you're done eating already? And you're going up for thirds?"
   • No comment
1. "Honey, I think you should get a gym membership."
   • I don't know if this message can be delivered without being offensive ;) Mike, please comment.

Racism in the US has hit an all time low with the recent uproar by the media and senators on Capitol Hill. A United Arab Emirates company (Dubai Ports World) is set to purchase a British firm which manages some of the major ports in the U.S. Normally, a business transaction as such would appear under the business news, and wouldn't get too much attention. This story has shot to the top of US Media simply because an Arab country is making the acquisition.

Critics are attempting to use the name of "terrorism" to try to block the Dubai based company from operating US Ports. Many international companies operate ports in the United States and none have triggered such uproar in the past. According to CNN, companies from China, Denmark, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan operate ports in Los Angeles.

The level of racism in the U.S. against Arabs/Muslims is shameful. The picture the media has painted of Muslims leads a sheltered person to believe that all Muslims are bad. It has grown exponentially worse since 9/11 and there is no sign of racism slowing down. People just can't understand that there are bad people all over the world killing each other. Christians, Muslims, Jews. With all religions, there are a lot of good seeds and a small amount of bad seeds. Just because the media tends to tie terrorism to Islam, it doesn't mean that 1.3 billion Muslims in the world are terrorists. In general, the people in this world who target innocent civilians are generally impoverished, brainwashed and have been suppressed and lost all hope.

Terrorist has a new meaning in the post 9/11 world. Terrorism is used as tactic to gain consent for unlawful wars and to gain support for attaining almost any political goal. By definition a terrorist is "the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion". By my terms, terrorists include people who target innocent civilians, whereas someone fighting against an occupation is not necessarily a terrorist. The US Media doesn't draw this line anymore. The media will paint "anyone who is against us" as a terrorist. Visit Guantanamo Bay for proof of this.

Urine comes in different shades and colours, and I've heard in the past that deep yellow urine is an indication of bad health or consuming unhealthy foods/liquids. I've had situations that seem to contradict this theory, so I decided to take a further look into this.

I did some quick research and came across an article by Ron Kurtis entitled "Urine color as Health Indicator". As it turns out, clear urine is a result of drinking excess fluids such as water, coffee or beer. Deep yellow urine is a result of excess sweating and is a sign that you haven't been drinking enough liquids.

My conclusion is that the days that I've had a deep yellow colour are likely days that I've performed an excess amount of exercise and although I may have thought I'd consumed enough water, my body likely needed more water. The days I've experienced clear urine are days that I've either been consuming alcohol or drinking lots of water but sitting on a computer all day.

It all seems to make sense. Now I should get back to doing something constructive on my days off.

I took a few days off work this week to move into my loft. I've been sleeping at the new place for 2 nights now, and so far I'm loving it a lot. It's almost like staying in a hotel, but it feels more like a home. I'm very excited to get everything moved over here. My bar is going to fit very nicely in the living room, and I can't wait for the summer to have BBQ's on the front porch.

Some people have been asking me to see pictures, so here are some pictures I took this morning. I'm officially moving on Wednesday, so if you don't work 9-5 and would like some free beer, give me a holler.

Late on Friday night in the midst of studying for my Accounting exam, some Jewish kid called me to inquire about purchasing my Jeep. He then went off topic and told me that his father only speaks Russian and Hebrew. Knowing my last name, the kid thought I was Jewish so he asked me if I spoke Hebrew. I told him I'm not Jewish and I don't speak Hebrew. He then told me that his Dad heard me talk and that his Dad said that I sound like the type of guy that can't get laid. So to go along with his not so funny joke, I told him that his father is wrong because I was having sex when he called me. He then went on to tell me that his father said that even if I did get laid, I'd probably be the type of guy to leave my socks on when I'm doing it. After lots of patience on my part, he continued to repeat the same things over and over again. So I finally hung up on him (After repeatedly attempting to let him go nicely).

So the kid calls back a few times. I didn't answer, but since he still kept calling, I figured I'd have some fun with it. So I turned my speakers on full blast and went to this Arnold Schwartzenegger Sound Board website and had a little conversation with the kid. Here is an excerpt.

Arnold: Good Morning. Who are you?
Jewish kid: Hello?
Arnold: I'm detective John Kimble. What do you want?
Jewish Kid: What? Where's Jim?
Arnold: Stop it! You idiot.
Jewish Kid: Put Jim back on the phone.
Arnold: Stop whining. You son of a bitch. You lack discipline.
Jewish Kid: Where's Jim?
Arnold: Who is your Daddy and what does he do?
Jewish kid: Now you're starting to piss me off.

*click* hang up

So the kid tries calling me another 30 times or so throughout the night while I was studying. I think he might have called 2 or 3 times the next day, but I think he finally gave up.

I guess some people have nothing better to do on a Friday night.

This weekend I played in a hockey tournament, playing 3 games today and 1 game yesterday after writing 2 exams. I'm extremely exhausted both mentally and physically, and I could barely keep my eyes open while driving home tonight.

But I wanted to mention one thing I noticed while showering with other men at hockey this weekend. When you shower with other guys, there is an invisible buffer space that exists between each person. Silent acknowledgement and compliance by respecting this buffer space confirms that one's sexual preference is a woman or gives the appearance that their sexual preference is indeed a woman. This doesn't include those individuals who comply to this rule for the sole purpose of deceiving people into believing that their sexual preference is a woman when in reality they are actually into men. These individuals are known as "in the closet" homosexuals.

For example, if person A is drying himself and also standing close to Person B's shampoo, and Person B needs to walk over and grab his shampoo, the unwritten rule is that Person B will give Person A a firm warning that he needs to grab his shampoo near Person A. Person A must then move at least 3 feet away from Person B and from the shampoo while Person B bends over and picks up his shampoo off the floor. After Person B has full possession of his shampoo, Person A can then go back to the initial spot where he was drying himself.

You want to avoid all situations that present the possibility of any sort of "brushing" or "skin on skin" when walking past each other, so the rule stated in paragraph 2 above helps to avoid any misinterpretations or "incidents".

Police are warning all men who frequent clubs, parties and local pubs to be alert and stay cautious when offered a drink from any woman. Many females use a date rape drug on the market called ...Beer. The drug is found in liquid form and available anywhere. It comes in bottles, cans, from taps and in large "kegs".

Beer is used by female sexual predators at parties and bars to persuade their male victims to go home and have sex with them. A woman needs only to get a guy to consume a few units of Beer and then simply ask him home for no strings attached sex. Men are rendered helpless against this approach.

After several Beers, men will often succumb to the desires to perform sexual acts on horrific looking women whom they would never normally be attracted.

After drinking Beer, men often awaken with only hazy memories of exactly what happened to them the night before, often with just a vague feeling that "something bad" occurred.

At other times these unfortunate men are swindled out of their life's savings, in a familiar scam known as a "relationship". In extreme cases, the female may even be shrewed enough to entrap the unsuspecting male into a longer term form of servitude and punishment referred to as "marriage". Men are much more susceptible to this scam after Beer is administered and sex is offered by the predatory females. Please! Forward this warning to every male you know.

If you fall victim to this beer and the women administering it..... There are male support groups where you can discuss the details of your shocking encounter with similarly affected like-minded guys. For the support group nearest you, just look up "Golf Courses" in the phone book.

(This email came from our good man Rob H.)

Former NHL hockey player and assistant coach for the Phoenix Coyotes Rick Tocchet has been implicated in a gambling ring that allegedly exceeded $1.7 million in wages on Football and basketball games. According to mainstream media, it would seem that Tocchet wasn't really aware of the seriousness of the allegations.

Wayne Gretzky's wife Janet Jones has been named in the investigation but not charged, and newspapers have reported that she bet $500,000 during the 3 month investigation.

After listening to Wayne Gretzky's statement, I'm confident that Wayne Gretzky is telling the truth that he has never placed a bet with the alleged gambling ring, and that he only gambles when he's in Las Vegas and on the occasional horse race. I don't think Gretzky would take the risk of being involved with any type of gambling since the result of him being involved would mean he would need to resign his post as Executive Director of Team Canada's hockey team and the head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes.

But Gretzky's statement did seem to indicate that he was worried about his wife and his friend Rick Tocchet. I'm not sure what the laws of gambling are in New Jersey, but I know that as far as the NHL is concerned, players and coaches are only forbidden from legal gambling on hockey games, but they are free to legally gamble on other sports.

I think Tocchet will get charged and get a slap on the wrist. State Trooper James Harney who allegedly operated the ring while Tocchet financed it will likely receive more than a slap on the wrist, and possibly some jail time.

Gambling is such a grey area. Gambling is legal in so many states and in so many ways. I know people who place large bets in gambling rings in Canada, and it just seems to be one of those accepted things in our society. The authorities in Canada normally turn a blind eye to it, but if the money is used to finance organized crime, I can understand why the authorities would pursue it.

One thing that has frustrated me in the last while at work is the amount of emails that get sent every day. The amount of time it takes to go through emails is very substantial when you consider the average benefit to actually receiving an email.

On a normal busy day, I will easily receive over 100 emails. Most of which are FYI type emails that are good to have as a reference, but don't necessarily require a response from me. The amount of time it takes to go through the emails, respond to them, archive them, delete them etc. is overwhelming. When you consider an average day, I spend more time going through email than doing actual productive work.

I've accepted the fact that a big part of my job is responding to issues, and most issues are dealt with through emails. Instead of complaining about having to deal with too many emails, and asking for a job with less responsibility, I'm going to write about ways that people can deal with the issues I'm having.

I plant to write an article and submit it to some newspapers. My ideas to tackle what I call "over-emailing" involve the use of technology, business processes and practices. The vision is to present more effective ways to communicate with team members and avoid drowning people with information that isn't necessarily important to them.

Some of my solutions do require a rather revolutionary change in business practice, and cooperation between all team members is vital. Teams can be much more efficient and productive if they adopt some of my recommendations, but best practices and procedures will need to govern and enforce the process.

If the newspaper article is successful, and if my ideas work for people, then perhaps a book could follow. I'll post the article on my site once it's complete. I'd love to hear your ideas for tackling this issue.

In a drug raid in Columbia in 2005, officials found 10 Labrador drug dogs with heroin in their stomachs; used to smuggle drugs into the United States.

Look at how cute these puppies are:



This reminded me of another part of the world where my friend was backpacking China and he came across a fresh meat market. Below are 3 pictures he sent back from the market.

It seems dogs are used for different things around the world. Here in Canada I use my dog as a pet and a companion.