Alex Carrick’s Blog

My wife and I had kind of a unique wedding. We sort of eloped, but then we also bought the farm on the same day –  literally, not figuratively. And our only child at the time, Tom, aged 12, was my best man.

Donna and I were due to get married, so we arranged for a service in Midland, Ontario in the middle of summer. We didn’t tell our plans to anyone, neither friends nor family – with the exception of our parents and siblings the day before.

We knew that if we invited even one person beyond the three of us, the ripple effects would demand we invite a whole host of people and that wasn’t what we wanted.

[Read more →]

Frank Gehry’s design of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, has launched a new age of stunning architecture.

Other examples include the Burj al-Arab hotel tower in Dubai (sailboat appearance), the new Milwaukee Art Museum (resembling a bird in flight) and the addition to the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto (on stilts, high above the existing structure).

[Read more →]

Since the purpose of a blog may partly be to make arbitrary and outrageous (sometimes silly?) statements, let me say that most interests in life can be categorized to one of five “f’s” – food, fashion, finances, family and fun.

I used to worry about the fact that in my blog entries, I have very little to say about the first two, food and fashion, knowing full well that they are of huge interest to a great number of people.

But that’s the beauty about writing a blog. Anxiety with respect to subject matter can itself be turned into a blog entry. Hence what you are currently reading.

[Read more →]

The Carrick family just replaced its old van with a new one. We’re quite pleased with it. It’s pretty much the same make and model as what we had before, but with some extra features – more storage space and hide-away back seats, as two examples.

The new van is a 2008 model and cost almost exactly the same as what we paid for our previous 2000 model. That’s amazing. The Detroit Three car makers are virtually “giving vehicles away.”

[Read more →]

Economists are not really known for being funny. Let me give you an example.

You know the old joke about a man who falls out of a plane and on the way down, he passes another man shooting upward. The first man says, “Do you know anything about parachutes?”

[Read more →]

Once again, last night, the tooth fairy missed coming to our house. Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence. Donna is concerned this paints a poor picture of us as parents.

At least Donna feels guilty. It hardly even registers with me. 

[Read more →]

If you live in Canada, then you have to know a thing or two about driving in snow. The first thing I know is that I don’t like it.

In fact, I hate snowstorms. When I have to drive anywhere in a snowstorm, I mentally map out the easiest route. That means the flattest route or, at least, the one with the fewest number of hills. I don’t trust my own car to make it up a steep grade and I trust other cars even less.

[Read more →]

What’s with the Canadian obsession for categorizing our artists according to numbers? There’s the Group of Seven, Painters 11 and the Regina Five, for starters.

We’re not the only nation to do this. The Americans had The Eight and I am sure there are many other examples around the world. However, we may be unique in not being able to count.

[Read more →]

Who’s in charge of the proposed coalition in Canada’s Parliament?

I’ve written before about how political and entertainment celebrities have the potential to work at Wal-Mart as greeters once they retire. With the current recession and possible job losses, these career moves may have to be brought forward.

[Read more →]

Today, I’ll continue with a discussion about the perils of watching movies at home with the children. I’ll cover the embarrassment of violence, pornography and bad language.

As for violence, Donna and I haven’t wanted our kids to be over-protected, so we’re pretty liberal in our viewing habits. Besides, you can’t get away from the violence in many historical movies. Plus, this also applies for most science fiction and comic- or graphic-novel-based films.

However, there’s hacking and slashing with a modicum of flare and sometimes even a touch of humour; but then there’s also blood and gore that can stray over into perversion. If you haven’t seen the movie before, you’re often on edge about which direction it’s headed.

[Read more →]