Who is your prime minister?

Canadians always complain about the lack of respect we get from our neighbour's south of the border. If a Canadian story is shown on CNN or some other U.S. broadcast, it becomes a Canadian news story that a Canadian story made it onto an U.S. news broadcast. Canadians are known as the little brother or sister (I shall be politically correct ... Thank you) that is always seeking attention from the big brother or sister, being the United States. This lack of respect shown towards Canadians from our American counterparts has not gone away.

Here is a snippet from Scott McClellan, the US press secretary when responding to a question about the Cancun summit this week.

"The president had a good discussion with prime minister Martin yesterday. That was the call that prime minister Martin had initiated really to thank the president on behalf of the people of Canada for the efforts of our coalition forces."
...
This will be the president's first meeting with Prime Minister Harper since he took office. He had met with him briefly previously when he was the Opposition leader."
...
"The president looks forward to visiting with prime minister Martin and strengthening our relations."

The press secretary got our prime ministers name confused a few times in this speech. I expect these kinds of things from Dubya, but not from the press secretary. Are Bushisms out and McClellanisms on the rise, only time will tell.

For love or money

The recent surge in oil demand in the world has provided plenty of job opportunities in Alberta. This article in the Toronto Star provides evidence of this fact:

Alberta population increased at more than five times the national average during the last three months of 2005, as record numbers of people flocked to the booming province from other regions of Canada.

I consider myself fortunate to live and work within Toronto. It is the only place I have ever known. I remember during university co-op, I never applied to jobs outside of Canada nor Ontario. My preference was to work locally and be close to family and friends.

I wonder if people would consider moving to another city or country for a job. For example, a city like Fort McMurray, Alberta, participating in this boom is 6 hours north of Edmonton. It is unlikely you would have access to high-speed Internet or decent restaurants. You would get bored easily, even if you did just want to work there for a few years. For me, the value of living in a good city outweighs any other factors.

I am off the wagon

The Toronto Maple Leafs hopes of making the playoffs are very slim now with their loss last night to the Montreal Canadians. They are now 6 points out of the last playoff spot. The Leafs can still mathematically make the playoffs, but that would require them to win a majority of their last 13 games, which is unlikely since this team has trouble scoring, especially in even-strength situations.

I have been a hockey fan since the late 1980's and have followed every NHL playoff excluding the lockout year. I actually grew up a Montreal Canadians fan and not a Leafs fan, since the Leafs were awful during the 80's. It was during the early 1990's when I became a Leafs fan. If it wasn't for Mr. Gretzky and his magic during the 1993 playoffs, the Leafs would have made it to the Stanley cup final that year.

Unfortunately, I do not see any magic from the Leafs in the near future. Leafs management has not convinced me that they are willing to do what it takes to become champions. So, I have decided to jump off the band wagon (switch teams) and become a Montreal Canadians fan. I will still remain a Leafs fan, but they are now my #2 team.

So, this Saturday night as the Canadians play the Leafs, I shall cheer:

GO HABS GO!

What if ...

I have been able to travel quite frequently across North America for business. Most people think that I travel to the most fascinating places. I wish it was true, however, for every San Francisco, there is a small-town such as Lexington, MA that I visit. A common factor among all small-towns in the United States is the loyalty towards the local university or college.

We are in the midst of March Madness, a basketball tournament to crown the top collegiate basketball team in the country. I was in Raleigh, North Carolina, which houses four universities that are participating in the tournament. It is quite remarkable the passion that people showed here for their alma mater. I felt a bit envious since I do not feel the same way about my university experience. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy my time at UW, but it was the people that made my experience and not the school.

I wonder if I would have had a more enjoyable experience attending a school south of the border. I had a chance to visit Harvard University this past summer and marveled at the history and campus sorroundings. Similarly, I visited the University of North Carolina (UNC) and thought how nice it would have been to attend class in buildings with so much history.

A friend of mine told me that attending a Canadian university is the best value for education in the world. I have to agree with my friend as the cost of tuition for American universities is quite high. I don't have any regrets about my time in university, but for a few moments, I did ponder "what if".

Leave me alone!

When the phone rings in my house, everyone in my family rushes to the phone and checks the call display to see who is calling. If they are unsure about the number, they just let the phone ring and sit back down. The most annoying situations is when I am praying salat and am expecting a phone call. The phone rings and I hear a rush to the phone, but no one picks it up and it continues to ring, distracting me from my salat.

Almost every evening I get a few calls from telemarketers, trying to sell me anything from duct cleaning to life insurance to donations requests from the UW alumni office. Due to the current habits of the members in my house, I have become the defacto "phone answerer". I consider myself a polite person on the phone, but these people are just plain annoying.

These days all of the telemarketers that call are South Asian. Trying to use the "ethnic card" on me fails, since I refuse to speak Punjabi with them. Most telemarketers call asking to speak to Mr.Sheikh, which I know is for my dad. I answer yes anyways, since I am Mr.Sheikh and give them the not, interested .... ok, bye (in my best Napoleon Dynamite accent).

The best comeback I heard to a telemarketer was on Seinfeld.

Seinfeld: (ANSWERING PHONE) Hello.
Telemarketer: Hi. Would you be interested in switching over to TMI long-distance service?
Seinfeld: Oh, gee, I can't talk right now. Why don't you give me your home number and I'’ll call you later?
(A LONG PAUSE) Telemarketer: Well, I'’m sorry. We a’re not allowed to do that.
Seinfeld: I guess you don'’t want people calling you at home.
Telemarketer: No.
Seinfeld: Well, now you know how I feel.

Yes, Mr. Seinfeld, I definitely know how you feel.