The story thus far

We decided on traveling to Vietnam last September. Things in our life moved in a particular direction that provided us with the time, money and ability to make the trip. We picked the beginning of March very intentionally - just after New Year so prices were lower, the weather isn't too hot here yet and we're escaping some of Alberta's winter. I have to admit, when I booked the ticket, I was thinking I also needed to book a trip to the shrink as well - 2 kids, aged 5 and 1. Kid1 has always been a good traveler (most days), but kid2 is quite young and will sometimes have a good scream in her car seat. So I really didn't know what to expect.

Well, the flight has come and gone and we've been 3 days on my wife's parent's farm in south central Vietnam, near the beach city of Nha Trang. We spent 37 hours going from the doorstep of my home in Red Deer to the farm. The Journey went... as good as it could have. We had a great route - flew from Calgary to Tokyo direct, spent 2 and a half hours in Tokyo, then direct to Saigon. Nha Trang is 450km's from Saigon (yes, its now known as Ho Chi Minh City, but Saigon is easier to type). You can take a 45 minute flight, 9 hour train ride or a 12 hour bus ride. Any guesses which option we took? We got into Saigon at 10pm, cleared customs by 11pm. Our flight to Nha Trang left at 6am. Dad met us in Saigon. And we waited at the airport for our domestic flight. So to sum up the result of the flight - we were all exhausted at end of it, except for kid1. He slept 7 hours from Tokyo to Saigon. Kid2 slept maybe 6 hours in two days. She's one, she'll usually sleep 12 to 14... So she's still catching up and still cranky sometimes. The stay in Saigon airport was better than I expected - there is quite a bit of space in the international terminal for one to find a large spot and run the kids if they don't want to sleep (kid1 played with his toys) or easy enough to find a spot to catch some sleep (kid2 managed to catch 2 hours). Kid2 did what I expected - on flight 1 (11 hours long) she was happy and friendly. She made some friends (there was a family sitting across from us also going to Vietnam). She slept maybe 3 hours On flight 2 she was a bit cranky and slept 2 hours on a 7 hour flight. By flight 3 she was done with flying and cried for 20 minutes of the 45 minute flight. But once we got to the airport and met with her relatives, she was happy again. Kid1 lived up to his reputation as a great traveler. He kept himself occupied, we played a few games together on the tablet and he watched a bit of tv (but he's not a big tv watcher). This isn't to say that kid2 is not a great traveler, she is just 1 years old and never flown before. She also really likes routine and that got thrown out the window of course. I'm sure as she gets older she'll be pretty good - if you keep her engaged and if she gets enough sleep she is a wonderful child, her normal demenour is happy and friendly and its unusual not to see a smile on her.

So now that we are on the farm, things are going good. The grandparents are LOVING the time spent with the kids. The kids have taken right away to their grandparents. Kid2 will play strange so we thought it might take a few days before she would go to the grandparents. She was good with them in the first 2 hours. On day 2 my wife and I went for breakfast and I don't think kid2 even knew we had left. But she is still quite tired, and is resisting naps. She sleeps for 9 hours at night though. This is only day 3 though - she has to still get used to things. This could still take a week or so to happen. Kid1 has  been quite low key and has put himself to bed at twice in a row - first night was at 6pm and second night (in which we had family over) was at 7:30pm. And yes, kid1 put himself to bed in the middle of a small party, and the family is not quiet. He played with his cousins for a good 2 hours though.

Its been 5 and a half years since I was last in Vietnam. First reaction - there is garbage everywhere. Its kinda disgusting. But things are getting more prosperous here. In the old farm neighbourhood my wife grew up in (and in which I lived a year in) has fewer wooden shacks, things just seem more prosperous. Its still the developing world, so things are quite poor here compared to the middle class existence we have in Canada. But I personally think that people are doing better here. So that is a good thing.

It is so good to see my wife's family again. I don't speak Vietnamese but (and I think because of) we get along quite well. Everyone is of course 5 and a half years older. Those that were kids (like my sister in law) are now grown ups and those who were babies are now kids (like my son). So far the kids around here are a bit shy and I think language is a bit of a barrier. But again, this is still early days.

Well this catches things up and sets the stage for future blogs. My wife and I are planning to head into Nha Trang tonight. Can't wait to see all the changes that have happened there.

Lets start blogging again - from Vietnam!

We are visiting my wife's family on a farm near Nha Trang, Vietnam. My son (age 5) was born here, but hasn't seen his grandparents for 3 years. This is my daughter's (age 1) first trip. Since I am living on a farm and not many people speak English around here, I might just be able to find some time to start blogging again. This also gives me a chance to record this trip, so we can look back at it years later. This is something I'm notoriously bad at. I took a year long trip 8 years ago and I think I logged 10 days of it. And I lost the log. Most things just fade into memory now.

Given that this is a public blog, I'm withholding my kid's names. Those that know them, will know who I refer to - my son I'll call kid1, and my daughter, I'll call kid2. Reference to Dr Suess is intentional. I don't know how much I'll be able to update this, but this gives me something to do while I have my Vietnamese relatives over and the kids are occupied. Feel free to comment directly on blogger or on Facebook.

Living a 'Prime Life'

Since I was 16 years old, I've been a 'theist' -  a word of my own making. A theist stands in opposite to a deiest. A deiest believes in God but believe that God created the world and then it was pretty much done. Maybe a few miracles now and again, but doesn't believe that God has much to do in our day to day lives. Myself, I've always believed that God has a lot to do in our day to day lives. I have many personal examples and I could fill my blog proclaiming all the blessings I've received. That's not the point of this blog though.

Since I believe that God does play a part in our lives, it can be hard to justify the crappy things that happen in people's lives. Crappy situations exist for everyone, but some people seem to have more bad luck than others. Now, for a while I believed that everyone gets equal portions of good luck (blessings) and bad luck (challenges) in their lives. It was the individual choice what they did with their blessings and challenges and that created their outlook on life. But lately, I'm not so sure. I'm still a very strong believer in free choice and I still believe that God has a place in our lives, but some people just appear to have undeniably bad luck while others seem to just walk into blessings after blessings.

Before I write anymore a quickish disclaimer. I'm no theologian. I'm also no quantum physicist. I've watched 'What the Bleep do We Know?' and a lot of that movie made sense to me. But my understanding of quantum physics is limited. My understanding of theology is limited to what little of the Bible I read and little pieces of sermons from some priests and preachers that make sense and fit into my own set of values. I'm not writing this to convert anyone, but I am writing this to share. And this still very much a work in progress.

As a wannabe creative writer there is an idea from quantum physics that has caught my imagination. The idea that there are multiple realities that exist paralell to ours. An atom could of bumped left instead of right. I could have went to coffee today or for a walk instead. I could have stayed in Canada and developed some opportunities here instead of traveling around Asia for 4-5 years. All these possibilities could exist. It makes for good sci-fi. But does it fit spiritually?

I believe that God plays a role in our lives, but God does so in ways that ways that we may not understand. God is infinite, all powerful and all knowing. We ascribe human attributes to God because that's the only way for us to understand it. I believe that one God exists across these all multiple realities. God lets us make our choices.

Now this where I start to get a little shaky. Since there might be an infinite different possible 'me' out there, I believe that there might be one that takes the experiences of all these 'me' and uses those experiences to create a Prime Life. A prime life is someone who appears to lead a blessed life. Someone who's bread always seems to land butter side up. Now I believe that blessings are not things like being rich or being a movie star. Blessings coming in the form little things that you live your life according to your values where you reach your own personal happiness. There will be times when crappy things happen, but this all informs us and helps us to make better decisions in the future. Whether it is in this reality or perhaps it somehow informs another realitiy. I think somehow the experiences of the many different realities somehow converge and this creates a Prime Life.

Since we have no idea where this Prime Life exisits, I believe we need to live our life now, today, as the Prime Life. We need to make good decisions as best we can and help people the best we can. We need to see people who appear to be having bad luck and learn from their life. I do hope that somewhere they are experiencing a Prime Life, but my life now may not interact with their Prime. But since I am living my life now as a Prime, I hope that my example will be a witness to help them in their struggles. I believe that we can help each other. And I believe that is what God wants us to do.

This idea is my own. I just wish to share my idea. Its not fully formed. I don't read Deepak Chopra, I don't stand on a soap box on the corner of Bloor and Yonge in Toronto. My idea just is. It changes, it shifts to fit my observations of this world. If you reject all I have to say, great. I plan on posting more on my own personal experiences of trying to live a Prime Life and other thoughts I have about my different interest areas. I'm always open to thoughtful discussion.

A new vision for the Blog

I've been struggling a bit to keep this blog up to date. While I am still interested in posting about Red Deer issues, its not something that motivates me everyday. My interests are quite varied so I am planning on changing this blog to reflect that.

I changed the name (yet again) and I am going to try and post around 3 central themes - Alberta Labour Market Information (Alberta LMI); The Prime Life (I'll explain more about that in a later post) and My Community/Politics. This gives me a wide range of topics that I can post on.

The biggest problem I am having is keeping motivated. My goal is to write a blog that people will read and discuss. But the topics I have been using the last few years have just not inspired me. So I hope that by unifying my interest areas under the theme of 'Seeking Truth' I can write something that motivates me and that people will want to read.

So I am going to experiment with the blog layout a bit. So every time you check back you'll see a different lay out over the next couple of weeks. Blogger is very easy to customize, so I'm just going to experiment a bit. I hope these changes will keep you all reading and feel free to leave comments!

Mr. Average Red Deer

So the official Red Deer census is out. Back in the Spring of 2011 we had 91,877 human souls living in Red Deer. Males and females were split almost half (.1% more females). The average age is 33 years old. Red Deer grew compared to 2010, by 1793. Did I ever mention that I like stats? All the details are right here!

And zzzzz goes what limited audience I already have.

What I found most interesting is the average age. 33. I'm the average age! I've never been 'average' at much of anything. I'm below average height, I make below the average household salary, I married a minority, and I studied sociology/history in University. Even my own mother calls me a wee bit eccentric. But if I take a closer look at the people I meet in Red Deer, I do see that I have a fair bit in common with others that live here.

By 33 a lot of men have started their families. On Canada Day at Bower Ponds you'd think the whole city was run over by kids under the age of 5. I personally have a 4 year old and we are expecting another. Having such a young population means that there are a lot of kids. With so many kids, it means the parents tend to hang out at similar places - the playgrounds, Collicut Centre, attend the same events like the City Market or Canada Day, etc. Given that Red Deer isn't that big, you even start to see the same faces now and again.

At 33 years old, you tend to be fairly healthy, but not perfect. I've been for some minor treatments and while most of the people I see in the hospital tend to be my parents age or older, you do see the occasional younger face. But we don't overtax the health system. I was with a cousin this weekend at my parents house and he's the same age as I am. When our parents were 35-45 we remember them to be fairly heavy smokers and drinkers. Neither my cousin or I smoke. Our drinking is a couple of beers on a hot day with friends or family. My cousin runs half marathons (none of our elders are competitive in much of anything but the couch potato games), and I try to hike a mountain every now and again. While we both have a small gut, I think we do lead healthier lifestyles than our parents.

Another interesting thing is the age spread. Males tend to outnumber females until the age of 55 (except the 15-19 year cohort, they are almost exactly even) and then the ladies consistantly outnumber the men. I think this really speaks to our economy. While not every oilfield job is exclusively filled by men, there is certainly a domination of the Y chromosone in that industry. And that industry does tend to dominate the economy in this town.

I once heard a demographer say that statistics explain about 70% of the story. I agree with this. The quantitative side tells a good part of the story, but the qualitative side rounds it out, finishes it. While I am Mr Average, its my story and everyone else's story that makes this city so darn interesting.

A Big Black Cloud

On Canada Day, if anyone was outside after 6:30pm in Red Deer and area you couldn't miss the big black cloud that came from an oilfield transport company fire. Some people went to watch, but I decided to let the fire department(s) do their job tried to find out more information from home.

I access most of my news from the internet. In theory it should be the quickest way to get information out and ready to read. I don't bother with TV unless its a big national event and I only listen to radio in the car. I subscribe to the Advocate but I only have time to read a few articles a day. Call me ADHD but the internet satisfies my need for news.

So, there was plenty of pictures and broadcasts on Twitter and Facebook. But I couldn't get the full story. While social media is great for getting the news out, it not really accurate. This is why there is still a need for traditional media. We need professional reporters who are able to investigate a situation and give us an accurate portrayal.

There has been a lot of lamenting about losing the TV station. We've had a number of radion station fill the void, but they are music centred and I find that their news departments are lacking. Its also very hard to check like 8 different radio stations. The Advocate has moved to a pay format for local information but I didn't get any information about the fire until the next morning when I got the paper. Maybe I didn't check back late enough. This fire didn't even register a hit on the national media.

Its hard to find out what is going on in Central Alberta. This saddens me. We have a drawing area of close to 200,000 people. In Canada, this is not a small population centre, although it does get dwarfed by the two 1 million people centres to the north and south of us. There is a lot of things going on here in Central Alberta. But very little is being said about it. I wonder if an all news/talk radio station would work for Red Deer and area. As a news/political junkie, I would listen to it. I wonder if anyone else would.

Paying for quality

The Red Deer Advocate, the local daily paper announced last week  that it was making its online local content available by subscription. Paying for internet content has always bothered some people. After all, we pay our internet bill like our cable bill and we have to put up with advertising right? But the internet is different than traditional media. You still have to pay the staff, and you have to pay them competitively. In order to pay staff, you need to make money (and lets face it, profit is also a factor) and paying 5cents a hit in advertising doesn't exactly equal a lot of money.

So I will pay for online subscriptions. Its like a traditional magazine. And internet subscriptions tend to be substantially cheaper than magazines. But I think the most important thing when it comes to paying for internet content is that it has to demonstrate quality. Since there is so much competition with free sources, the paid source needs to be substantially better than the free source. I see a lot of internet sites that ask for subscriptions or 'donations' and I give to very few. The truth is that the free sources out there are of just as good of quality.

So the Advocate has just raised the bar for itself. If it wants to attract readers (and not loose the ones it has) it has to make sure that the local news that is available online is just as good, if not better, than what is in print. And to be honest, most of their online local content wasn't that good before it went subscriper based - it was better in the newspaper. Other media sources in town are already boasting that they will keep their local online information. The gauntlet has been dropped. So what I hope is that the Advocate will rise to the challenge and Red Deer will see better online information available.