My Toastmasters Journey

I didn't realize how long it had been since I have spoken of Toastmasters. Yes... I'm still in Toastmasters!!! After my wonderful year of President of my club (www.simcoeshores.ca), I've taken on the role of Area Governor for area 14.

It's busy... probably busier than I expected, but then so was being President, and I can't describe all that I learned in that year. Now I'm learning how to manage projects, delegate, and plan. I just know when this year is over, I'll be amazed at how much I've learned.

I've got good clubs in my area too, and as is the Toastmasters' way, they're very helpful when I need them. I exist to serve them, to offer advice, to give support, and do whatever I can to help each of them be successful. I love visiting other clubs as well.

And conferences... there have been conferences! The last one was at the Blue Mountain Resort in Collingwood, and I went by myself. I couldn't have done that two years ago!

I'm trying hard to keep up writing and giving my speeches. I sense they're changing as well; including more of the skills that Toastmasters teaches us.

This work by Suzette Leeming is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License.

A Week's Worth of Corruption

Have we had enough yet??

1. eHealth Ontario's CEO, Sarah Kramer, was "fired" today, because of spending irregularities and $5.5 million worth of untendered contracts, given to her friends. She also received $114,000 in a bonus, 3 months into the job, which is more than twice the accepted limit. Her salary was $380,000, and now, 8 months into the job, they are giving her $317,000 to go away. You see, even though the government (David Caplan) says she was "fired", she actually resigned "for the good of the health project". Sure, I believe that's what she had in mind... NOT!! How long has this organization, and its predecessor, worked and sucked millions out of the system, with absolutely nothing to show for it? They've paid people to read the newspapers, and talk to people on the subway, and listen to voice messages, while many families don't have family doctors, and many health services have been delisted. Well, at least we know where the money's going - into the greedy pockets of the people we entrust to run our government.
2. After paying David Dingwall $417,780 in compensation to go away after his "spending irregularities" at the Royal Canadian Mint, now the mint has "misplaced" some of the gold, silver and other precious metals. They suggest it may be just poor record keeping, but just between you and me, I think the thieves have struck again!
   
3. RCMP officers (once a proud & honourable force) are trying to block an inquiry from placing blame on the officers who tazered Robert Dziekanski to death. His crime? He didn't speak English and was becoming frustrated and may have threatened them with a stapler.
   
4. Police can now confiscate your property, with no evidence of any wrong doing and without any charges being laid. They only need suspicion. I'm providing a link to the news article, because without it, I wouldn't believe it. http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/edward_greenspan/2009/06/08/9709551-sun.html. I think it's safe to say we've become a police state.
5. Brian Mulroney stands accused of taking bribes while in office. Why else would he accept a couple of envelopes full of cash and then not report it. It is rather ironic though - the thieves in Ottawa have caught one of their own. What ever happened to honour amongst thieves?
6. The head honchos at CPP have given themselves a $7 million in bonuses, despite losing $24 million in pension funds because of their poor investment decisions. Why can't I get a huge raise when I screw up at work and cost the company tons of money? Oh that's right - I'm just a slave, working to serve my masters. That's what all the working class are. Slaves. I just wish they'd kiss me first.
7. First we gave billions to Chrysler and GM to keep them going. They went bankrupt anyway. Now we're going to give them billions more to help them rise from the ashes. Poor management, excessive salaries and bonuses, lack of foresight and crappy products led to their falls. Oh sure, we want more of that! Even their bondholders wouldn't trade their bonds for shares in the company. Workers agreed to have their wages slashed, but did the executives? Sounds like that whole working class as slaves again.
   

All this money lost, and how will it be replaced? By increased taxes - just suck more out of the working class so all those thieves in government can have more to steal.

I wish I could move to a country that treats its citizens well, respects them, and takes the responsibilities of their office and the duties entrusted to them, seriously, with honour. But alas, I feel that does not exist in this world. Greed and power are destroying this country. How long are we going to take it? In France, the government is afraid of its people, and for good reason - they won't put up with crap like this. Here though, we are afraid of our government. Is that democracy? Is that freedom? And how can we fight back? They've taken away our right to own firearms. If we try a national work stoppage, they'll arrest us and throw us in jail. That's been threatened before during union strikes.

Who will pick up the gauntlet and organize a reform? Because change we must. There is nobody in government with honour and ethics, in any of the parties. Our style of government is severely flawed. Who has a better idea? Who can lead us out of this purgatory we've become? So many people are homeless and starving - is this still the land of opportunity?

Let's see it for what it truly is... a corrupt government and system which is trying to enslave the populace, while taking away all of our rights and freedoms. I have neither the knowledge nor the power to organize a reform group or revolt, but I will proudly stand beside someone who does - for Canada!


This work by Suzette Leeming is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License.

Oh, No!! It's Tax Time!!!

I'm not going to get into a debate of why we shouldn't have a yearly tax reconciliation process, especially such a complex one; nor am I going to complain about how the working class just keeps paying, and paying....

No... I'm going to bitch about tax software!! For years it bothered me that every year I had to purchase a new program, created by a foreign company. I used to use CanTax, which was written by some American company, and then TaxWiz, now owned by QuickTax.

I'm annoyed that I have to compare prices at different stores, and purchase a whole new software program. Then I found GenuTax - and I really must recommend it. You see, you buy the program ONCE, at a reasonable price. Then every year they send you an updated file. For FREE. I've been using it for four years now.

If you have an extremely complex situation (which I can't imagine at the moment) it may have its limitations, but I found it handled self-employment situations quite well, and I guess I don't have a complex situation otherwise. I've been very happy with it, and I've used to it help friends do their taxes as well.

So, what are you waiting for... click the link and go get it!!!

http://www.genutax.com/


This work by Suzette Leeming is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License.

Computer slow or acting up?

This work by Suzette Leeming is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License.

I've got another tool to recommend. WinUtilities. It's a great piece of software that cleans garbage files off your computer, cleans your registry, and optimizes the memory. And I can tell you hot to get it for free!

I don't know how long this will be available, so don't delay, download it and install you. You'll love it!!

http://dottech.org/freebies/4945

Update June 2009 - WinUtilities freebie is no longer available. I guess You Snooze, You Lose!


This work by Suzette Leeming is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License.

Competition Time

This work by Suzette Leeming is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License.

Ah, spring is in the air!! And with spring comes the Spring Conference for Toastmasters. This year it's being held in Burlington.

Every year I enter the Humorous Speech Contest in the fall, but this will be the first time I enter the International Speech contest. I've decided I've run out of humourous topics - the last one I did was on the funny side of menopause. Everything in life is a learning experience, right? Well, I learned that what I think is funny about menopause, scares the crap out of everyone else. I can't quite describe the feeling when, halfway through my speech I looked out at the audience and realized I had terrorized them! I found that fact quite funny actually, but I didn't even come close to winning! That's okay though - I learned the importance of knowing your audience!

So, here I am trying for the international contest. It doesn't matter if I win or not - it's all just an exercise to see what works. The problem is what I find interesting or inspirational, probably isn't for most people, but we'll see how it goes.

Win or lose, I'll still get something good out of it. Keep your fingers crossed for me!


This work by Suzette Leeming is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License.

Neat tool for surfing!

Every now and then, I come across something really neat that I like to share. For my friends who are not very computer-savvy, they seem to get tricked by pop ups or links offering to scan their computer for malware/adware, or clean their registry, etc. Usually they're scams. So... how does one tell if a website is legit or not?

Enter WOT - Web of Trust. It's a browser add-in, and beside every link it puts a rating - green for good, red for not good. You can click on the WOT symbol to see what other people are saying about it.

I loaded it in Firefox last week, and I've been so impressed, I've actually signed up on their forums, so that I can help rate as well.

Check it out - they also have a version that works with Internet Explorer. Click to find out more!


This work by Suzette Leeming is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License.