America = Football

Americans are nuts for football. Granted, it's an obvious statement to make however, the importance of it doesn't really come across until you actually live and work with them. From thursday to monday, there is all to wall coverage of some sort of football event. You have an NFL game on thrusday night, friday night and all day on sat you've got college football which can attract more fans than pro clubs. On Sunday you've got football coverage that starts at 10 am and goes all the way until midnight and Monday has the famed Monday Night Football - similar to Hockey Night in Canada. It's nutty.

I hit the Eastern Market today and it's pretty cool. It's not nearly as cool as the Jean Talon Market but it does have its certain "je ne sais quoi." I really wish however that my place was closer to the action. I live somewhere on Capitol Hill and I don't know if it's due to zoning restrictions but there are no grocery stores within a 5 block radius from my hours. Anywhere I want to get groceries, I need to hop on the metro. Now see, the problem with the metro is that it doesn't offer monthly passes, so you have to pay all the time. "Well douchebag? why the hell don't you just take the metro and stop complaining!" you might ask? Well lemme put it this way, if I buy a one time $60 pass, i don't need to think about spending money. However, when I've gotta pay for every trip, I'm always thinking of money leaving my pocket and thus making me believe that I'm spending money like theres no tomorrow. Don't look for rationality in all of this - there isn't any and I'm quite OK with that. Go away!

Here are the pics I promised last time I posted.

Oh the White House - I really hope they'll let me take a tour!

In the District of Columbia

I'M IN DC!!!!

I don't think that there's any words to describe the awesomeness of walking down the Mall and seeing the Washington Monument, Congress and then head north to see the most powerful seat in the history of man - the White House. We also drove by the Pentagon - holy crap it's a big! I don't think I've ever seen such a gargantuan parking lot. It's massive!

Today Dad and I hit the grocery stores and got some supplies. We wound up going to Whole Foods, an entirely organic food store. It's a tad pricey but it's awesome - you can find anything!!! It's something that Canada should import!

Anyways, I'm tired and going to chill out a bit. I took loads of pictures so I'll be posting back soon. Next post - Tuesday night at the end of the 1st day at the Embassy!!!

Fire this puppy up!

Ok, in fairness, I haven't been the best blogger in the world. I'm afraid posting once every 2 months in the summer isn't up to snuff. In my defence, summer isn't for posting - much like the TV season, everyone deserves a hiatus.

For those of those who don't know, I'm off to Washington DC to work for the Canadian Embassy. It's one of those once in a lifetime positions and I'm stoked! I can't wait to start work.

Anyways, I gotta get back to packing but be sure to check in regularly for politics, juicy gossip, news stories, photos and anything I've got on my mind.

See ya in DC!

Now this newscaster deserves a medal

Had enough with the Paris Hilton story? Well at least one newscaster had the guts to refuse read the Hilton story her producer wanted her to boradcast.

The Summer edition

Damn it's hot in Ottawa - like 30+ degrees hot. Not cool for someone who doesn't have air conditioning and relies on fan-power. Oh well, there's nothing I can do about it so I guess there's no point in complaining.

Taking performance reviews a tad too far

Looks like David Cameron over in Britain wants to bring performance-review mechanisms to the NHS.

GPs' salaries to be linked to the success of the treatment they deliver and the extent to which patients are satisfied with the experience

One of the biggest things that the conservative shift in the 80s brought was the entire system of performance review into the public system. It's been around for years in the private sector in order to keep efficiency at its highest and profits up. Thatcher brought it to the British bureaucracy thinking what works in one sector might be good in the other.

And that's where she was wrong.

When it comes to delivering care to people, such as healthcare, performance reviews can have the negative impacts. For example, a sick person goes to see a doctor and, the doctor, in order to get a pay hike, treats the immediate symptoms yet doesn't do an in-depth check to look if his first diagnosis is right. Such a pay-per performance system might lead to that kind of problem and with an aging population, we shouldn't take risks with people's lives like that. Real lives are at stake.

I'm all for introducing private-sector methods in the public sector to increase efficiency, god knows the public sector needs it, but applying it in every case can have disastrous consequences.

Why I hate NASCAR

There are tons of problems with NASCAR in the US: it's blind patriotism, right wing bent and steadfast belief that the rapture will come and everyone except Christians who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and saviour. You can add another one to the list

The Consverative Party of Canada is now a sponsor.

Looks like the Tories want to attract middle aged-dads. I'm just going to find it funny when the person driving it crashes it. Imagine the Tory car driving at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and crashing into th e now famous (or infamous) Bienvenue au Québec sign right before the starting grid straigh-away. Imaging the signal that will send.

Speaking of drivers, turns out Pierre Bourque, author of Bourque Newswatch, is the one behind the wheel. I always knew I had to take what he posted up on his site with a grain of salt but now it'll think twice before he posts anything on that thing.

Stupid partisan hack.