​Today, I found a hat hanging on a tree as I walked around a lake. It was pink. It was a fitting way to signify the end of one president and the beginning of another. Today will mark the four year anniversary of the Pink hat movement and the woman's march on the U.S.'s capital as the most polarizing president in the History of the U.S. took office. 

Most people might think I am a bit crazy. There is a part of me that will miss his god-given talent, the ability to piss people off. He changed the face of North American politics as we know it. Through his rude and Buligerant not stop attacks on virtually everything and every person that did not follow him, he changed our world for the better by making visible what was hidden. 

Donald Rump enraged millions of women and activated a movement to stand up to abuse and abusers in a way that will last for years to come. Women entered into politics in record numbers, changing the face of congress. By The end of his term, the lower chamber and upper chamber had more women than ever before. 
Canada is moving in the same direction.

 Mr. Rump may be responsible for this, but he doesn't deserve any credit. The credit goes to the women and men that stood up and marched. The glory goes to the courageous who testified. Kudos to the people that stood beside the people that have been abused and supported them to achieve their goals. The real credit goes to every man and woman that posted their stories online and shared how they fought through the emotional strain. 

​The world is in hyper speed when it comes to change. On line schooling has taken huge leaps this year. See your doctor without leaving your house. Cars that don't use gas. Online shopping is the new normal. Camping is the new national past time. The list could go on.
It is times like these that can be inspiring or the exact opposite. Out of all this change in such little time, I try to make an effort to shine some light on the darker areas. Out of all this change in such little time, I keep my eyes, mind and heart open. Out of all this change, unlimited opportunities abound. There are many challenges ahead and to break through those challenges, I will need Confidence, Persistence and Patience.
To build confidence; take time to learn more. To be persistent I need movement and motivation. Take the 1st step and take a risk. Timelines are very important but in times like these, there are headwinds that come from all directions. Patients allow me to wait for the wind to die down without ever taking your eyes off the prize. The Prize, what is the prize? Success!

Will, there be a youth baseball season in 2020, and if so, what does it look like? It would be a shame, Victoria is Hosting the Little League National Championship, and it would be such a waste to lose this opportunity. Our Kids at Layritz have been training for three or more years to get ready for this event if they don't get their chance they will age out. Cancelling this event would be devestating to all the kids and families involved. But it is a possibility. 

I have been coaching as long as my kid has been playing baseball.  Last year was a great year, with our team getting a silver in the BC provincials. Sports in our house are a huge part of our lives as I am sure it is with many. Missing out on sports to save lives is a must at this time, but, boy, it is hard. 

Let's hope we get control of this Virus soon and that baseball season is just delayed and not cancelled. 

​These are tough times, to say the least. If you are self-employed like me and can't make money or even plan to make money because of the lockdown things, look grim. I took a look at my RRSP and wondered how to invest in recouping the losses. I came up with more questions than answers. 

Have we passed the panic stage selloff? Not sure. People are buying up what they seem to think are bargains, but what is a bargain stock at this point? What happened in the past?  What would a market recovery look like?  Take a look back on the last two bear markets. One started in 2001 and lasted until 2003. The other began in 2008 and ended in 2009. The crash of 2020 bear market could last a while and could drop another 20 percent before it is done or may more. These are times never seen before. 

The crash in 2000 saw a drop of 45% from peak to bottom. 2008 saw a 48% drop. Neither crash saw entire cities shut down. Mind you. The banking system was virtually shut down in the US for a moment in time. There is a possibility that the market may drop another 20%. or..... more. Look at the graph above for the Hong Kong flu. It took some time to recover. 

 What will start the recovery after this crash? What companies will be the 1st to lead us out? What companies are generating income from this situation, who is hiring, What companies oversold, and their earnings will not be affected? So many questions and we have time to research. People have lost billons on this crash and some have cash ready to deploy. 

Covid 19 is changing everything. It is the 1st time in my lifetime that the world is so focused is on healing. The world is turning fear and panic into healing and taking care of one another. Humans are resilient beings; I am sure we will recover.  I hope we keep up supporting one another during this time. 

The ​Isla Mujeres is a magical place; It is the only place we have visited tree time in over 20 annual vacations. It has changed a lot over ten years, but it still has its charm.  Condos and new homes are going up all over the island, some being rented out to tourist and others owned. Ten years ago, there were a few cars, and most people used golf carts. Times have changed. 

There are now car ferries from the mainland and lots of taxies. The problem is not only the congestion on busy holiday periods; it is the smell of burning fuel.  The pollution controls on diesel golf carts are none existent, and this should change. Why not make the whole island electric. It could be done over time — my only complaint. 

This Island is Paradise with beautiful warm turquoise waters and super friendly people, The Marina Paraiso Hotel was a peaceful place to bond with the new puppy with a beautiful property. The whole island had good restaurants in all price ranges. A great place to visit and maybe live one day. 

​Our new puppy named Fabio made the long trip home 7 hours flying time and an overnight stay in Vancouver. We found him to be a joy to travel with. He slept most of the ay home. We used the training puppy pads that he used successfully after two days of having him. Smart dog. After seven days of being home, he is showing signs that house training will be short, he just started barking to go outside. 

Of course, everyone asks what type of dog he is, and we are curious about how many different breads he is combined with. All we know for sure is that he has hound in him. Regardless of what he makes up is, he is sensitive and loves to cuddle, making him a good match for our older dog and our family. 

I am fully aware that we can adopt a puppy in our home town of Victoria but there is something intriguing about bringing home a puppy from a foreign land .

The 1st thing to do is make sure your airline will allow you to do it. West Jet allows for pets for an extra charge. We prepaid for both in cabin and cargo pet space because we have know idea what kind or size of dog we are bringing home.

​and so the journey begins.

​lucky that the Vancouver Airport has great places to sit and write.

As a concerned dad and coach this new smoking tech scares me. 
The CDC and FDA have been working on the case. 

Some other infomation gathered since the last post. 
- women tend to view vaping as more risky than men 
- younger people tend to view vaping as less risky than older generations 
- over 60% of Americans were uncertain how safe vaping was compared to smoking or thought they were roughly the same 

Ok,,,, so we did not get the rail car full last year and even getting is partially full created some challenges. The biggest challenge was getting the food from the rail car to the charity. This is where we needed help and thankfully, Jimmy, from the Bayview team helped make it happen. 

This year we hope to sort the food before shipping and gather from satellite locations and we are are going to need some help. It should be a fun challenge. In the end, the givers and receivers will feel better   

Why would our government accept Vaping tools and liquids? Since when is inhaling Propolyne glyco ever good for humans and how did companies succeed in getting these products allowed to be sold.? Why flavour the vaping juice with sweet candy-like smells using nasty chemicals like diacetyl.  

This whole industry needs to be shut down. When the principal at my kid's middle school says it is an empademic there is a problem that no one is addressing. 12, 13-year-olds smoking liquids loaded with nicotine flavoured with Captian crunch type smells created in a base of Propylene glyco. How stupid are we to let this happen? 
1st there were reports of popcorn lung and no government intervention then this year High school students started getting lung disease and then finally commercials started appearing about the risks. Now people are dead.

This should never have started in the 1st place. Common sense says if you inhale antifreeze ( propylene glycol ) you are going to get sick it is not natural in any way. You don't need a scientist to figure that one out. Once again we have been ginny pigs for big corporate profits.  These corporations don't care about our health. Tey care about Profit. 

If you are a teen or tween vapiong smells yummy and looks cool. Some kids seeing this maybe temped with the sweet smells and cool names of the juice. but the nicotine is the addictive component that will get them hooked. It is like the 50s all over again when cigarettes were considered cool but then quitting was almost impossible for some.  

With the legalization of pot, some big companies like Canopy Growth are investing in TCH Vaping juice. Personally I have pulled my investments from any company involved in this business as the heeling property of Pot is not THC isolated. 

THC isolated should be treated as a pharmaceutical because it is. Currently, there are 380 cases for Lung disease directly related to Vaping this is the tip of the iceberg. Currently there are seven deaths related to vaping unfortunately this number will grow as more investigations proceed. 


The US has taken the lead on this, as Canada sits on there hands. This could be an election issue. This should be an election issue.  How many young people in Canada will die or have died because our Government passed a product that is dangerous to humans and allowed it to be sold? One child is too many.