Alex Carrick’s Blog

Let me begin today by saying that I believe most Canadians are fairly pleased with their government-sponsored health care system. Everybody is covered and you are guaranteed medical attention when you need it. That’s not to say, however, that there aren’t problems.

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The Olympic Games are a wonderful sporting and cultural event. There is no doubt that the athletes are the world’s elite.   However, the games could do with being opened up a bit more. And I’m not talking about simply adding some sports that would seem to be obvious contenders such as drag racing, ballroom […]

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So far, I’ve spent time with the police, then time with the emergency task force and now I can’t find anybody to listen to what I have to say. Picking up from where I left off yesterday:

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This story picks up from yesterday when I started to describe one particularly strange day I had last fall while scheduled to make a public presentation. At this point, I’ve just said my good-byes to the police.

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I do a lot of public speaking and let me tell you how much I appreciate having an audience. All of what I’m about to relate really happened.

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My wife and I argued over a plant tonight and it isn’t even our plant. During our usual de-briefing after a busy day, she told me the following story about her workplace that I think will resonate with many readers. I am changing most of the names to protect the innocent and this is, truly, […]

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On a number of occasions and over quite a span of years, one or another of our three children has invited a young friend to spend the weekend with us at the cottage. This has always been fun, but it has also involved some interesting twists and turns along the way.

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In the movie, The French Connection, the Gene Hackman character, “Popeye” Doyle, asks one of the drug- dealing suspects if he is still “picking his toes in Poughkeepsie?” He knew one of the great secrets of comedy. The letter “p” is the funniest letter of the alphabet.

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Please keep in mind this story was written in 2008, since it has a bearing with respect to the ages of our children, as noted in brackets.   Towards the end of May, our daughter, Tammy-Li (aged 5), needed ten dollars for the “book fair” at her school. This set off a chain reaction of serpentine financial […]

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Nothing symbolizes the start of summer in our neck of cottage country more than a mattress. And that’s not due to the strange alchemy and hormonal urges that meld dangerously when sand, sun and teenagers mix. No, it’s rather because June 1 is traditionally big garbage day.

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