Alex Carrick’s Blog

The United States has become the all-voting, all-the-time nation. Furthermore, this is now taking several forms, from the traditional ballot casting and frontrunner polls, through casting off participants in TV reality shows, and on to the notion that certain kinds of gambling can be interpreted as a variety of voting.

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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 post-WWII baby boom generation is getting older and this means looming health problems. It is a prime reason for expecting strong medical-care and nursing home construction in the years ahead.

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A good joke is a thing of beauty. Furthermore, shorter is often better than longer. For example, did you hear about the couple who met while bungee jumping? They got married on the rebound. Yes? No? Maybe?

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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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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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The day I have been dreading has finally arrived. Yesterday, a flyer arrived in the mail from the City of Toronto requiring the Carrick family to decide about our future garbage handling requirements. Specifically, we have to choose the size of bins we will need and the resulting extra charge this will entail.

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Over the weekend, I had some fun imagining how certain celebrities and politicians would seem to be ideally suited for second careers, in their golden years, as “greeters” at Wal-Mart. Try to imagine being met by these people and these words on your way into the store.

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There is bathroom humour and then there is “in the bathroom” humour, which may be a form of advertising.   I have been accused, on occasion, of using bathroom humour in my speeches and written material. This mystified me until I realized that there had been a misunderstanding.  

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