I watched the movie Sicko the other night, and in my opinion it surpasses Bowling for Columbine as Michael Moore's best film. In this film it is apparent that Moore has matured as a documentary filmmaker and his ability has evolved from tabloid-like cheap-shots into an essay-style documentary.

In the past, Moore resorted to distorting facts and introducing controversy simply for the sake of creating controversy. Instead of asking rhetorical questions, showing out-of-context quotes and not providing any real solutions as he has done in previous films, Moore has travelled to other countries in the world to find a better solution to the profit-driven health-care system in the United States.

He brought us to Canada, Britain, France and Cuba to show that a Universal healthcare system can work. Why should a Doctor have to make a choice to save someone's life based on how much money they have and whether they are insured?

He asks a very good question in the movie. Why are healthcare companies getting rich by denying patients the treatment they need? Is it not a conflict of interest for insurance companies to be profiting when the end result is people not receiving the treatment they need? (Sometimes even to survive). The sole purpose for these companies to exist is to benefit people's health, but since they are Private, profit driven organizations, saving people's lives has a cost; and like any other private company, cutting costs means more profits.

Greed hits an ultimate low when people's health is deteriorating while profits are rising and CEOs are becoming richer. I agree with Moore when he says that certain things should be socialized. Schooling, parks, land preservation, fire services, libraries and healthcare are things that should be controlled by the government, a proxy for the people.

It's unfortunate that the corporate lobbyists in Washington play such a significant role in government decisions; because it would be extremely difficult to socialize healthcare while the insurance companies are making such significant profits.

Labels: healthcare, michael moore, movie review, sicko

The other week I was sitting on a bus in Chinatown preparing to depart to Niagara Falls for the day. Out of nowhere, a group of 50 or so completely nude cyclists rode right past us, while being escorted by uniformed Toronto Police Service cyclists.

It was a sight to see; people of all shapes and sizes racing down Spadina Ave. You know what Jerry Seinfeld says about naked people: There's good naked and bad naked. This definitely fell under the "bad naked" category. I think the only way it could have been attractive is if an attractive nude person was riding a bike slowly with grace. These people were pedaling as fast as they could, so you could just see parts bouncing around everywhere. Not cool Timmy. That is not cool.

At first it was shocking to see this spectacle, but I learned after-the-fact that this is an annual bike ride officially known as the "World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR)". These nudists are raising awareness about automobile pollution and the dangers faced by cyclists and pedestrians.

Maybe some day you'll see me let it all hang out and take part in this bike ride.

Labels: cycling, naked, nude biking, world naked bike ride

Ever worked in an office with an office jerk? I read an article today where they described 6 types of "office jerks". The article didn't describe these jerks well, so I've added my own commentary.

1. The Loud Phone-Talker - The loud phone talker thinks that the person on the opposite end of the phone is at a live concert. At times I've feared I'm the loud phone-talker, but then again there are people far worse than me.

2. The Hang-Arounder - We all know this guy. He's always distracting you from your work and simply never leaves you alone. Even when you are walking away from him after telling him 5 times that your girlfriend is waiting downstairs, he still fails to acknowledge you're leaving and keeps talking to you even when you're 30 feet away and walking in the opposite direction. Does it sound like I have experience with this? ;)

3. The Idea Stealer - The idea stealer is a rare creature; found mostly in large corporations where politics are part of every day work life. There are two sub-species in idea stealers. One thinks that every good idea is his own; he hears your idea and thinks that it is a voice inside his head telling him what to say. The other sub-specie is the idea stealer who simply loves to brown-nose the boss and knowingly takes your idea and pretends it's his own. (In consulting it's our job to put the ideas into the heads of our client so that they will shine. That's why they pay us the big bucks).

4. The Meeting Monopoliser - The meeting monopoliser rarely lets anyone else in the meeting speak and loves to keep everyone in the meeting for the full amount of time the meeting was booked, regardless of whether the full meeting content was covered in the first 10 minutes.

5. The Bully - This guy has issues with himself and loves to bully on others to make himself feel better. We've all seen him before.

6. The Boss - The Jerk Boss can make everyone's life miserable. Nobody wants to work for a jerk.

In my cubicle at the bank I used to have the unspoken language of the office posted on my wall. These are great tips to get rid of getting rid of "the hang-arounder". The febreze method is my all-time favourite (And actually does work).

Labels: office jerks

Anytime I travel to the US of A, I always receive strange looks when I ask where the "Bathroom" is, or where the "Washroom" is. Down there they know it as the "Restroom". Come to think of it, none of these names really make sense.

Bathroom implies that there is a bath in the room which is never the case in a public washroom. Washroom implies that the purpose of the facility is to "wash". Although washing is one function of this room, it's not its primary function.

Restroom is probably the most ludicrous name out of the 3. Who goes to the washroom to rest? The only time I come close to resting is when I'm taking a number two; but even then I can't possibly enjoy any sort of R&R because I want to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible because of the smell and the general unsanitary condition of some public washrooms.

After an exhaustive (30 second) search for a better name for washroom, I've settled on "The Shaking hands with the wife's best friend" room. This keeps the Urban Country in line with the "Elevator Ride" post from back in February and "Defecating Room" is just a little too raunchy.



(Photo compliments of Novel TP)

PS: This is the Urban Country's 500th article.

Labels: bathrooms, defecating, restrooms, washrooms

In September 2005, my environmental conscience finally convinced me to give up my gas guzzling Jeep that I had owned for 5 years. It was a tough decision, but I knew it was a responsible decision both from the environmental perspective and a financial perspective. For the last 2 years the '98 Acura has been treating me well, but many times (especially in the summer) I reminisce about the fond memories in the Jeep.

I could chat your ear off for an entire night with stories about the Jeep so tonight I'll share a few of them. One of my favourite moments was when a friend of mine in college had a really freaky Halloween mask that resembled the mask from the movie "Scream". The mask in itself wasn't what made this funny; it was the fact that he had these oversized green plastic clown glasses that we wore on top of the mask. Just picture a bright red Jeep with no roof and no doors driving beside you and the passenger in the Jeep is wearing a freaky mask with oversized clown glasses. I don't know if we passed anyone that wasn't visibly freaked out. Everyone did the double-take and some people's heart rate probably increased at the very sight of this.

We spent a great deal of time trying to freak out other drivers, and it always seemed to work in the Jeep. I used to have a life-sized cardboard "Mini-Me" (The Austin Powers character). It was hilarious when Tom and I used to strap Mini-Me in the back seat of the Jeep. If people looked when they drove by, they always did a double-take. Words can't express how funny this cardboard Mini-Me looked in the back seat of the Jeep while driving by; you'll have to take my word on it.

When Mark and I took the Jeep down to Myrtle Beach in the spring of 2002, we met a couple surfer dudes who would do anything for a laugh. We made the one guy a friendly bet that he wouldn't get completely naked and ride his skateboard down the strip and do a hand-stand on his skateboard while riding by. The deal was that there had to be cars driving by at the time. So he jumped in the Jeep and I drove him to the starting line. He proceeded to go behind a bush to take off his clothes and then he ran as fast as he could (with his little knickers bouncing all over the place) and he did a full hand-stand on his skateboard completely naked.

Another fond memory was when I used to take the Jeep off road through some trails and end up only metres from the runway at the Hamilton airport. Nothing is more relaxing and exciting than reclining the seat and feeling the wind of 737s Westjet planes approaching the runway not far above your head. I used to go there sometimes alone and just read a book, get a tan and watch the planes land.

I'll leave you with some pictures of the Jeep in its prime:

Labels: Jeep YJ

As a long-time information technology worker, I'm very disciplined in creating passwords and cautious about who has access to my computer. I don't like to take any chances so I always create strong passwords that would be extremely difficult to crack.

A key relationship issue came up recently after I installed Windows Vista on my home computer. Vista has some cool features that I wanted to take advantage of. Not the least of which is extensive support for multiple users. My suggestion was that Han and I could each have separate accounts. That way she can have her own settings and I can also save all of my passwords (for e-mail, Facebook, etc.) and not have to worry about anyone going in there.

A debate ensued about whether couples should have full access to each other's computers and e-mail. I don't personally like knowing that my significant other can view all of my e-mails, dating back several years. I talk to friends about personal issues via e-mail and I don't have a lot of comfort knowing that my girlfriend can go back and look at conversations I had 3 years ago with my ex-girlfriend.

The problem is that she does most of her conversations with friends over the phone and not through e-mail, whereas I prefer chatting through e-mail rather than on the phone in general because of the convenience of answering the e-mail when you have free time.

I'd like to hear your opinion about whether you think a couple should be so open that they would share their e-mail accounts. Or do you think that couples should be allowed a little bit of privacy as long as they aren't hiding things?

Labels: e-mail, spousal privacy