Brad and I have been looking forward to this election, interested to see how it would all turn out, so yesterday we headed over to our polling station. All interest faded as we saw the long line winding out through the church door and along the sidewalk.
We could have skipped the line if we'd had a polling registration card or knew our polling station number but we didn't so we dutifully got in the cold line thinking, "How long can it take really?" 20 minutes later I was whiny and cold, wishing for a warmer jacket.
There was a nice looking girl in the line behind us who pulled out her cell phone and called a friend for her polling station (brilliant!) and I was just about to ask her to look up ours as well when she snapped shut her phone and headed in side. About 45 seconds later she was back, finished and on her way home.
Well now I was really frustrated, we were officially going to be late for our evening plans, voting is not supposed to take 45 minutes, there must be a better way. The brilliant idea to call my Mom for our polling station would have been helpful earlier but we finally got inside, found our station and cast our vote.
Moral of the story, next election we've vowed to go to the early polls and skip the unpleasantness of busy election day.
I hope you voted, and that you're experience was better than ours.
Shame on Canada for it's poor, poor voting turnout.
L
Showing posts with label Civic Duty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Civic Duty. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Pajamas, the Official Uniform of Thanksgiving 2008
It's possible I did something this year that I've never done before. Something that I think you'll all be proud of.
I was lucky enough to have two Thanksgiving dinners, one with my family and one with Brad's and they were both so different and so yummy!
Here's the amazing part, at both of those large turkey dinners I ate a very normal amount and came away feeling pleasantly satisfied, not ridiculously stuffed. I even remembered to save extra room for all the desserts at the Hudson's. I think it's a great accomplishment.
Things I’m thankful for this year
L
I was lucky enough to have two Thanksgiving dinners, one with my family and one with Brad's and they were both so different and so yummy!
Here's the amazing part, at both of those large turkey dinners I ate a very normal amount and came away feeling pleasantly satisfied, not ridiculously stuffed. I even remembered to save extra room for all the desserts at the Hudson's. I think it's a great accomplishment.
Things I’m thankful for this year
- Possibly the best part of the Thanksgiving season is that my favorite pie finally makes an appearance. I'm not sure who decided that it should only show up this time of year but every year the Pecan pie makes an appearance and I end up wanting more.
- The opportunity to vote
- Family
- Friends
- On-line Ticket to Ride
L
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
I Matter
I like voting.
It makes me feel important, my vote counts for something.
In my ward alone Dave Bronconnier got 7,053 votes. I’m one of those votes, I’m in that number. Without me and my vote he wouldn’t have been ahead by so much.
You go to the school or church that your ward is voting in and it’s filled with this sense of importance. Despite the posters on the wall or the trophies in the gym it feels transformed into this place where change can happen. I can make a difference.
I love that
L
It makes me feel important, my vote counts for something.
In my ward alone Dave Bronconnier got 7,053 votes. I’m one of those votes, I’m in that number. Without me and my vote he wouldn’t have been ahead by so much.
You go to the school or church that your ward is voting in and it’s filled with this sense of importance. Despite the posters on the wall or the trophies in the gym it feels transformed into this place where change can happen. I can make a difference.
I love that
L
Friday, September 28, 2007
Doing my Civic Duty
At Brad’s encouragement we’re attempting to be well informed for the upcoming Mayoral election. To help I’ve investigated the candidates (those that had websites anyway). I didn’t want my time and effort to be wasted, so to help all you Calgarians here is some info on the candidates and my opinions about them. I will warn you, this is going to be a fairly long entry.
David Bertram – Doing what's right for Calgary
Additional Info:
– Accountant
– Really crappy web site
Dave Bronconnier – Leading with Passion and Purpose
Additional Info:
– Far more info than I was willing to write down but I know that I like him.
Elizabeth Fielding – People First
– A responsive unified city hall is the most important change I plan to bring to Calgary.
– “The issues are not what any Candidate wants them to be, but what the majority of Calgarians feel they are. That’s just a dumb sentence
– “Respect each other, respect ourselves, this can prevent arguments, change attitudes, move mountains or at least remove road blocks!!!”
– Feels strongly about the poor treatment of Seniors and is focusing on that.
Additional Info
– Doesn’t look even a little bit professional. Really should have a better picture on her website. Really terrible photos
– Got sick and used allopathic and alternative healing methods
– “She is planning for a Positive Approach, Progressive and Unified City Hall that will set the Pace World Wide for Innovative Municipal Government.” Fairly certain she didn’t write this sentence at all, it’s far too good compared to the rest of the site.
– Seems a bit over ambitious. States a couple times that she wants to make Calgary world leaders in certain aspects.
– Random use of capital letters bugs me
Al Foster – A Move Forward
– Calgary is a Great City with a Proud History of Honest Hard Working People and it's time we gave The City back to these people. Apparently the city has become so crime riddled that it’s been taken away from the honest people? That’s just silly.
– Basically he says that Bronconnier is crappy. He notes how taxes have increased and supposedly 69% of Calgarians don’t like Bronconnier and I guess it’s him and his friends that run the city.
– “It’s time we had an Accountable Leader not a Politician running this city”
– “It's Time to FOSTER some New Ideas in City Hall” Heh heh heh, clever
– “A Vote for Foster is a Vote for Yourself a Vote for the Future”
Additional Info
– Grouchy Looking. Would look much more approachable if he shaved his beard
– He’s 55, been married for 34 years and has 2 sons
– Until he retired he worked at a pipe manufacturing plants doing inspections. He supervised and trained something like 133 people.
– Ran for Mayor in 2001 and 2004
– “Al believes in the health, welfare and safety of all Calgarian's and again if elected is pledging 25% of his salary to local charities and community programs.” Very cool
– Thinks the Tusina Nations dispute would have been solved if Dave hadn’t bullied them
– Doesn’t think we should be paying for Highway 22x improvements, it’s a provincial road
– I guess Dave is arrogant and has poor negotiation skills
Harry Heck – We can...
– Focuses on the standard issues. Taxes, Transportation, homelessness, all the basics.
– Has a lot of great ideas but doesn’t mention how he plans on following through.
Additional Info
– Wow, he’s the same age as me
– Marketing Consultant, Real Estate Agent (basically a bunch of random jobs)
– Seems really honest. Isn’t afraid to show people his failures and how they’ve made him better. Seems a little young to be mayor though
Sandy Jenkins - Expect More, Calgary
– Build LRT Subway Downtown – Would cost $600MM
– Open up the Taxi Commission, get cabs on the street
– Discontinue Market Value Assessments after 25 years of ownership
– Legalize all Secondary Suites
– Move West leg of LRT to Mount Royal College
– Campaign Finance Reform
Additional Info
– I expected Sandy to be a girl
– Has a blog, I appreciate that
– Looks like a good candidate
Jonathan (JJ) Sunstrum – ABC, A Better Calgary
– He had a link on smoking so I got excited thinking maybe he’d want to really get rid of it but he’s just saying there should be ash trays to avoid cigarette butt trash.
– The graffiti in this town “is really lame, and you know who you are”, sounded like he was 17.
Additional Info
– Also has a blog
– Uses a lot of really crappy quality video to tell about his issues. It’s hard to hear what he’s saying over the loud wind.
– His site was a pain to use so I didn’t actually read about all of the issues he’s addressing, it took to long. They’re all on their own page, with their own crappy video.
– Site quit on me and I didn’t care enough to restart it.
Jeremy Zhao (JZ) – Didn’t have a campaign theme
– Taxation
– Environment
– Affordable Housing
– Transit
– Homelessness
– Infrastructure Maintenance (spelled wrong)
– Voter Apathy
Additional Info
– Very cool website
– Daily updated blog
– You can easily add him to your Face book account, yay! (there’s sarcasm there)
– Only 19
– “All streams of media decided Jeremy Zhao was not notable enough to be discussed. Therefore Jeremy has decided to re-announce his intentions to run again. I am very excited to re-announce my plans to run again,¨ says Jeremy. Failure in getting a good head start has forced Jeremy to look for other methods of spreading his campaign, including Facebook and YouTube.” A little sad
There was one more candidate, Alnoor Kassam. His website wasn't listed on the City of Calgary page so I didn't look him up until just now. He has a very nice website but I've already made up my mind about who I'm voting for so I didn't feel like cutting and pasting. If you want to check out Alnoor is website is here.
Happy voting!
L
David Bertram – Doing what's right for Calgary
Additional Info:
– Accountant
– Really crappy web site
Dave Bronconnier – Leading with Passion and Purpose
Additional Info:
– Far more info than I was willing to write down but I know that I like him.
Elizabeth Fielding – People First
– A responsive unified city hall is the most important change I plan to bring to Calgary.
– “The issues are not what any Candidate wants them to be, but what the majority of Calgarians feel they are. That’s just a dumb sentence
– “Respect each other, respect ourselves, this can prevent arguments, change attitudes, move mountains or at least remove road blocks!!!”
– Feels strongly about the poor treatment of Seniors and is focusing on that.
Additional Info
– Doesn’t look even a little bit professional. Really should have a better picture on her website. Really terrible photos
– Got sick and used allopathic and alternative healing methods
– “She is planning for a Positive Approach, Progressive and Unified City Hall that will set the Pace World Wide for Innovative Municipal Government.” Fairly certain she didn’t write this sentence at all, it’s far too good compared to the rest of the site.
– Seems a bit over ambitious. States a couple times that she wants to make Calgary world leaders in certain aspects.
– Random use of capital letters bugs me
Al Foster – A Move Forward
– Calgary is a Great City with a Proud History of Honest Hard Working People and it's time we gave The City back to these people. Apparently the city has become so crime riddled that it’s been taken away from the honest people? That’s just silly.
– Basically he says that Bronconnier is crappy. He notes how taxes have increased and supposedly 69% of Calgarians don’t like Bronconnier and I guess it’s him and his friends that run the city.
– “It’s time we had an Accountable Leader not a Politician running this city”
– “It's Time to FOSTER some New Ideas in City Hall” Heh heh heh, clever
– “A Vote for Foster is a Vote for Yourself a Vote for the Future”
Additional Info
– Grouchy Looking. Would look much more approachable if he shaved his beard
– He’s 55, been married for 34 years and has 2 sons
– Until he retired he worked at a pipe manufacturing plants doing inspections. He supervised and trained something like 133 people.
– Ran for Mayor in 2001 and 2004
– “Al believes in the health, welfare and safety of all Calgarian's and again if elected is pledging 25% of his salary to local charities and community programs.” Very cool
– Thinks the Tusina Nations dispute would have been solved if Dave hadn’t bullied them
– Doesn’t think we should be paying for Highway 22x improvements, it’s a provincial road
– I guess Dave is arrogant and has poor negotiation skills
Harry Heck – We can...
– Focuses on the standard issues. Taxes, Transportation, homelessness, all the basics.
– Has a lot of great ideas but doesn’t mention how he plans on following through.
Additional Info
– Wow, he’s the same age as me
– Marketing Consultant, Real Estate Agent (basically a bunch of random jobs)
– Seems really honest. Isn’t afraid to show people his failures and how they’ve made him better. Seems a little young to be mayor though
Sandy Jenkins - Expect More, Calgary
– Build LRT Subway Downtown – Would cost $600MM
– Open up the Taxi Commission, get cabs on the street
– Discontinue Market Value Assessments after 25 years of ownership
– Legalize all Secondary Suites
– Move West leg of LRT to Mount Royal College
– Campaign Finance Reform
Additional Info
– I expected Sandy to be a girl
– Has a blog, I appreciate that
– Looks like a good candidate
Jonathan (JJ) Sunstrum – ABC, A Better Calgary
– He had a link on smoking so I got excited thinking maybe he’d want to really get rid of it but he’s just saying there should be ash trays to avoid cigarette butt trash.
– The graffiti in this town “is really lame, and you know who you are”, sounded like he was 17.
Additional Info
– Also has a blog
– Uses a lot of really crappy quality video to tell about his issues. It’s hard to hear what he’s saying over the loud wind.
– His site was a pain to use so I didn’t actually read about all of the issues he’s addressing, it took to long. They’re all on their own page, with their own crappy video.
– Site quit on me and I didn’t care enough to restart it.
Jeremy Zhao (JZ) – Didn’t have a campaign theme
– Taxation
– Environment
– Affordable Housing
– Transit
– Homelessness
– Infrastructure Maintenance (spelled wrong)
– Voter Apathy
Additional Info
– Very cool website
– Daily updated blog
– You can easily add him to your Face book account, yay! (there’s sarcasm there)
– Only 19
– “All streams of media decided Jeremy Zhao was not notable enough to be discussed. Therefore Jeremy has decided to re-announce his intentions to run again. I am very excited to re-announce my plans to run again,¨ says Jeremy. Failure in getting a good head start has forced Jeremy to look for other methods of spreading his campaign, including Facebook and YouTube.” A little sad
There was one more candidate, Alnoor Kassam. His website wasn't listed on the City of Calgary page so I didn't look him up until just now. He has a very nice website but I've already made up my mind about who I'm voting for so I didn't feel like cutting and pasting. If you want to check out Alnoor is website is here.
Happy voting!
L
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