I feel miserable. The cold that has done the rounds here during the last couple of weeks, caught up with me overnight. Feel sorry for me!
My blog is mentioned under Top Recommendations on Google Reader. What a hoot! Suddenly my cold doesn’t feel so bad – I’m even going to go over to my friends for dinner. They’ve already had this cold, so it should be safe!
The title sounds like an oxymoron if anything, but wait til you see this!
Yes, that’s Michael from Michael’s Meanderings who is applying for a job at Hamilton Island, a part of the Great Barrier Reef. I demand, order you to , I mean – I ask you all to do the following:
1. Click over here to watch the video (YES! again!)
2. Rate the video by clicking on the “Rating” section to the right. (Some browsers seem to have trouble with this; if it doesn’t work for you, try using a different browser.) Also – if you want to give it a 5-star rating – click on the right hand star!
3. Head on over to Michael’s blog here and tell him that you’ve watched the video. That’ll enter you into a give-away of a 1G iPod Shuffle. (Although I’ve put my name on it already – but go for it!)
4. If you have a blog, write a post about the giveaway, linking back to Michael’s post and to the video. That gets you a second entry into the draw!
Finally:
This picture is from Fawn’s blog, and Fawn is Michael’s wife. I only know them through their blogs, but somehow I “know them better” than some of the people I work with.
Come to think of it, there are quite a number of bloggers who probably are more up-to-date on my life than what my colleagues are.
Is that a sign of the times, or is it just this cookie who has a hard time opening up to the people she sees just about every day?
I’ve been driving out to this particular little stream a number of times all through winter, in the hopes of catching one of the most elusive birds I know. So far I’ve had no luck.
I’ve seen the bird sitting on the rock to the right in the middle of this picture…
…only to have him disappear up the stream.
What bird is it? A Dipper (Cinclus cinclus)
This is the type of picture I’d like to put up on a page in my blog where people could download them from if they wanted to use it as wallpaper on their PC (or Mac).
Another view of the same sheet of ice outside one of our restaurants…
This one for a bit more wintery colours…
… And this one just to remind myself that water doesn’t stay frozen over year-round.
I have to figure out how to tweak the pictures so they have the best fit for different monitors, get a decent watermark or at least attach my name – not to mention if this is at all “doable” on wordpress!
When you stand there looking at starfish in a tank it’s easy to think “Nah, let’s find something else to watch. These guys don’t do much of anything.”
Wrong!
We watched a video (somewhat speeded up, can’t remember the technical term for it!) of the tank where a clock was visible and some of them were surprisingly agile! Admittedly, others barely budged but since they do need to find food they must all be somewhat mobile.
This post is dedicated to my blogger friends from all over who have commented and tried to bolster my spirits the last 24 hours! What did I do before I knew you all???
I don’t know how many documentaries with otters I’ve seen over the years – sea otters and the smaller variety that can be found in lakes and streams. They always come across as fun-loving animals that always seem to find time to slide down a hill or entertain anyone who takes the time to watch them. This one at the Vancouver Aquarium was no exception.
He was doing all kinds of tricks with a piece of plastic…
… almost as if he pretended that it was a shell of some kind he had to open.
Then it was time for some serious beauty treatment for his glistening fur coat.
I could’ve stayed there watching him/her for hours – even that it was quite cold that day!
Speaking about which – I was reading on CBC News today that Vancouver is preparing for another snow storm…. What is happening?
I’m in a real frump. Don’t know why, but it’s either a cold/the flu or something creeping up on me – or I’ve received one load of crap too many. The first two possibles seem reasonable since students and staff alike seem to be dropping like flies around me and I’ve been freezing all day. Then on the other hand – the third choice is a distinct possibility after a conversation at the end of day. If this had been a conversation involving a teenager (my own, that is) I would have grounded the poor b*stard til his/her 45th birthday. Instead this was an adult in charge of bringing education to impressionable youths. The throbbing in my temple just got worse!
This was what the sky looked like yesterday when I was out on the lake. I’m trying to get back to the serenity and peace I felt while standing out there….
This is one of my buddies who gets me out for walks. I get to borrow my neighbours dogs whenever I want – which I intend to do a lot of now that the days are getting longer. It does feel good to get out but I simply can’t get myself to just walk for the walking – I need a purpose besides that and a dog who needs to get out is the best possible reason I can think of.
One of my favourite bloggers- Tina – , had this on her blog and I couldn’t resist. At first, I thought it would be “a piece of cake” to fill in the words… until I realised that I want to add an explanation to everything.
Good Excercise!
Where is your cell phone? Close
Significant other? None
Your hair? Acceptable
Your mother? Dead
Your father? Inspiration
Your favorite thing? Camera
Your dream last night? Scary
Your favorite drink? Coffee
Your dream/goal? Independence
What room are you in? Livingroom
Your hobby? Photographing
Your fear? Incompetence
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Canada
Where were you last night? Here
Something that you aren’t? Unforgiving
Muffins? Lemon
Something you wish for? Patience
Last thing you did? Supper
What are you wearing? jeans
TV? Drama
Your pets? None
Friends? Online
Your life? Good
Your mood? Impatient
Missing someone? Always
Drinking? Sometimes
Smoking? No
Your car? BMW
Something you’re not wearing? Hats
Your favorite store? None
Your favorite colour? Blue
When is the last time you cried? Yesterday
Where do you go to over and over? Work
Five people who read the blog regularly? Tina, Jenn, Megan, Merinz, Fawn
My favorite place to eat? Thai
Favorite place I’d like to be right now? Canada
When I was finished writing this post the other day, I read it twice and felt that “Yes, this should explain the situation these guys find themselves in.”
Wrong.
This I realised only when I read Merinz from NZ Links comment. Which only goes to prove that when your brains feel like overripe bananas, blogging should not be what you decide to do.
So:
Almost all of the unaccompanied minors arriving in Sweden come here via some kind of underground railroad – operated by smugglers at great cost to the families who send their sons off – to what they hope will be a better life in another country.They have often walked long distances in their own country before being picked up at some location and herded onto covered trucks for a bumpy ride. Sometimes the ride in the back of a truck can span many days, with only short stops for food and loo-time. (Some do arrive in the country via air and with falsified papers, but the vast majority arrive by land transport.) I guess this is what sets them apart from refugees or asylum seekers in Canada, the US and New Zealand – they can get here via overland transportation.
Once in Sweden they report to the police and is then transferred to the nearest Migration Board Office, where the process I described somewhat sketchily begins. They are given a temporary ID-card (most of them carry no documentation for fear of loosing it during the journey) and placed in a holding facility. They get an official “number” that will accompany them until such a time they get a permanent visa. The next step is that they are assigned to a county – such as ours – and that’s when our welfare office and us guardians step into the picture. Well, actually they have also had an appointed guardian while in the holding facility, but usually they barely get to know this person before they are transferred out.
After that commences the asylum process. Usually they receive some sort of identification papers (from relatives in the home country) that are presented to the authorities and then authenticated. They are then interviewed about their reasons to leave their own country. All interviews are recorded because the authorities also want to make an analysis of the applicants language, to determine exactly where they hail from. People coming from Afganistan usually are granted refugee status and allowed to stay, the same goes for Somalians but people from Iraq are not as lucky. On appeal a mere 6% of the Iraqi refugees are allowed to stay which means that those are the ones who could prove somehow that their lives would be threatened, should they return.
I know there are many who arrive in Sweden with a “bought story” which they hope will grant them refugee status and I realise that they must be sent back, otherwise the entire system would collapse. At the same time I wish there would be more of a correlation between reality and government policy. Would any one of the people who decided that there is no “internal armed conflict” in Iraq consider spending their holidays in Kirkuk or Mosul? Would they send their children as exchange students to Falluja?
 | Jenn @ Juggling Life on Winter Solstice |
 | fawnahareo on Happy Faces |
 | Kimberlee on Happy Faces |
| Jenn @ Juggling Life on Happy Faces |
 | kcinnova on Happy Faces |
