Tonight my wife and I joined some friends and went to see The Bucket List at a nearby theatre.
For those of you who haven't seen the film, it's the story of two men who share a hospital room after finding out they have terminal cancer. Morgan Freeman plays a mechanic who is wise beyond his years (and who dreamed of being of professor) while Jack Nicholson is a callous billionaire business owner who, in fact, owns the hospital in which the men meet for the first time.
In his hospital bed, Freeman one day starts to write his Bucket List - a list of dreams he should fulfill before he kicks the bucket. Nicholson sees the list, adds a few of his own ideas (like skydiving and car racing) and since he has enough money for his own jet, takes Freeman off with him around the world to live life to the fullest.
The movie is not for everyone - I think you have to be 40+ to truly appreciate it. But as a guy who just hit the half-century mark it had many messages for me. Mainly, it reinforced something I've been giving a lot of thought lately - to live life and enjoy it while you can, health-wise.
That's part of the reason why we went on a European vacation in '06 and last year went for our first-ever cruise. In a few weeks we're going whale watching and in '09 we will leave on our first winter vacation to a tropical destination.
A friend of mine lost her husband (way too early) recently and regrets waiting too long to do all the things they wanted to do together, like travel. As a middle-aged guy with arthritis in both knees, I intend to do things as long as I can (and I can afford them).
Sorry if this entry is a bit of a downer. Perhaps I'll lighten things up with Jack Nicholson's Three Rules of Growing Old from the movie:
1. Never skip a bathroom
2. Never waste a hard-on
3. Never trust a fart.
Cheers,
Friday, March 21, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Your Driving is Dangerous to My Health
What is it that turns seemingly normal people into brainless boors when they sit themselves down in a moving mass of some 3,000+ pounds of fibreglass, rubber, plastic and (a little) metal known as a vehicle?
I live in Manitoba, Canada. We get winter - for several months every year and, more often than not, winter comes with snow which turns our streets and highways into skating rinks. Actually, try and picture a demolition derby on ice.
But put most anybody behind the wheel of a car and they act like they've just polished off a 40 of Five Star and gotten tasered for their efforts. But Manitoba drivers live by four simple beliefs each and everytime the get on the road.
Number one - they continue to drive at least 10 km/hour (6 mph) over the speed limit. These speed limits were designed with ideal driving conditions in mind. With the shape of our driving surfaces here, we never have ideal driving conditions even when the weather is perfect. Afghanistan has better roads. And the Manitoba government in all its wisdom is going to raise the speed limits on selected four-lane roads to 110 kmh (65 mph) because our neighbours (who have real roadways) are doing it. Yikes!
Number two - who needs to see? Why bother clearing the snow off the side or back windows? I'm driving an SUV and I can get through everything. And if I do hit something, it'll likely be smaller and the people riding in it will get hurt worse than me. Many people here think clearing the snow and ice from their cars means running the wiper off the front window. Great for the peripheral vision...
Number three - those signs aren't directed at me. Just the other day I had the misfortune of driving down one of our major two-lane highways just outside of Winnipeg. It was so foggy you could not see three car-lengths ahead but this young man in his Chevy Econobox pulls out to pass across a double-solid line. Guess he did not see the No Passing sign. Manitobans also can't interpret the signs with symbols indicating No Right Turn, No Left Turn, etc.
Number four - so what's this little lever on my steering column for? People here haven't learned to signal. There is nothing worse than getting ther green light and the person in front of you waits there almost until the light turns orange to make the left. It's like they're in the Bourne Identity and they don't want give any hints about where they're going to the people chasing them.
The Bourne Identity was shot partly in Paris. I've been there in traffic and they don't signal because they barely have time to take a breath while driving. Cabbies refer to motorcyclists in Paris as 'future organ donors' because of the traffic chaos with high speeds and poorly marked lanes. Montreal is almost as bad - their unofficial motto is 'if you don't like how we drive stay off the sidewalk.' And in New York people park by touch. London is sane, compared to those places, in spite of the reverse traffic flow.
Winnipeg has no excuse. We are not a big city. We're not even Calgary where there are more vehicles than people. There is no need to hurry here. Be like the weather and chill...
I live in Manitoba, Canada. We get winter - for several months every year and, more often than not, winter comes with snow which turns our streets and highways into skating rinks. Actually, try and picture a demolition derby on ice.
But put most anybody behind the wheel of a car and they act like they've just polished off a 40 of Five Star and gotten tasered for their efforts. But Manitoba drivers live by four simple beliefs each and everytime the get on the road.
Number one - they continue to drive at least 10 km/hour (6 mph) over the speed limit. These speed limits were designed with ideal driving conditions in mind. With the shape of our driving surfaces here, we never have ideal driving conditions even when the weather is perfect. Afghanistan has better roads. And the Manitoba government in all its wisdom is going to raise the speed limits on selected four-lane roads to 110 kmh (65 mph) because our neighbours (who have real roadways) are doing it. Yikes!
Number two - who needs to see? Why bother clearing the snow off the side or back windows? I'm driving an SUV and I can get through everything. And if I do hit something, it'll likely be smaller and the people riding in it will get hurt worse than me. Many people here think clearing the snow and ice from their cars means running the wiper off the front window. Great for the peripheral vision...
Number three - those signs aren't directed at me. Just the other day I had the misfortune of driving down one of our major two-lane highways just outside of Winnipeg. It was so foggy you could not see three car-lengths ahead but this young man in his Chevy Econobox pulls out to pass across a double-solid line. Guess he did not see the No Passing sign. Manitobans also can't interpret the signs with symbols indicating No Right Turn, No Left Turn, etc.
Number four - so what's this little lever on my steering column for? People here haven't learned to signal. There is nothing worse than getting ther green light and the person in front of you waits there almost until the light turns orange to make the left. It's like they're in the Bourne Identity and they don't want give any hints about where they're going to the people chasing them.
The Bourne Identity was shot partly in Paris. I've been there in traffic and they don't signal because they barely have time to take a breath while driving. Cabbies refer to motorcyclists in Paris as 'future organ donors' because of the traffic chaos with high speeds and poorly marked lanes. Montreal is almost as bad - their unofficial motto is 'if you don't like how we drive stay off the sidewalk.' And in New York people park by touch. London is sane, compared to those places, in spite of the reverse traffic flow.
Winnipeg has no excuse. We are not a big city. We're not even Calgary where there are more vehicles than people. There is no need to hurry here. Be like the weather and chill...
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