The Ten Commandments

Easter Weekend always brings back AMAZING memories. Growing up in London, UK, my Mom and I used to watch the 10 Commandments movie every Easter. Not once, not twice, but all weekend! We LOVED it and never got tired of it. It is one awesome movie. But it is not the movie that made the weekend. The movie was an excuse. It was precious time spent between a mother and daughter watching a movie and then drawing comparisons to real life dilemmas and changes in culture, life, religion, values, ethics and morals as time goes on.

My mother now lives in heaven and this Easter weekend as I prepare for a family reunion I started thinking about those days. Are we all just too busy now with our lives to put it all aside and just sit and watch movies all weekend with our loved one? Have we become individualistic to the point where family weekends and community events are passe? What will happen to the next generation?

We should not wait for special events such as reunions or Easter Weekends to spend time with our loved ones. Do it all the time.......Life is too short.

If that does not move you then "JUST VEG" and watch whatever game takes your fancy and laugh a lot with those you love this Easter Weekend. Oh and one more thing......eat Dark Chocolate! Supposedly it is good for you:))

Peer Pressure at what cost!....... All in the name of fun

Peer pressure is defined as the influence of one's peers to conform to their behaviour and attitudes. In my opinion this can be both a good/bad thing. Peer pressure especially through role models can impact youth in many facets. Youth will look to see what role models are wearing; what music they are listening to; what cars they are driving and what their morals and values are. In this regard, role models especially young ones can help move an entire generation forward in one direction or the other. Social influences are finnicky and can take on the momentum in an instant. I often watch television shows geared to the young simply to see who the influencers are and their impact on the new generation. The power that these young role models who come into the living rooms of hundreds of thousands homes can be immense. I wonder if those role models realize the power they hold and how they can influence people in their decisions. Are television shows and the personalities doing all in their power to make a difference. Policy making is different now from what it used to be 10 years ago. People, ordinary people now have the power that they did not have many years ago. Take for example, the proposed change in the lyrics of the National Anthem. The public spoke up...loud and clear. They were not in agreement. leave our National Anthem alone. Don't muck around with it. Less than 48 hrs later, the government came back and reversed the decision. That is the power of the people in this digital age. Role Models have that power of influence. Are they using it as much as they should? You tell me.

So what got me going on this rant? Yesterday, I was wathcing MTV Live and I saw a small segment that got my blood pressure at it's highest. The host of the show, who I think is very talented and quite funny was directing (sitting in the studio)the intern who was on the street directing yet another intern how to drive. This girl was obviously very nervous. To top it off they were practicing on the median in rush hour with people walking on the sidewalk. I could see trouble. The young lady was obviously nervous but what had me thinking was the pressure that was being put on the 2 interns by the hosts in studio. What were they thinking. The young lady almost ran into a pedestrian. Thank god she stopped short. What could have happened? What if the pedestrian was hit? What if the pedestrian was severely injured? What if something worse happened? What would that young lady go through for the rest of her life and what about the other more seasoned intern. He is always put into such situations. Is it good television or peer pressure. Please don't get me worng. I don't have anything against the host or the intern. I think that the host is very talented and I would compare him to the humor of Monty Python. You either get it or you don't and there aren't many comics like him. But this went too far. I believe that role models such as this young man can do so much good and influence policies and decisions that will have an impact on the lives of our future generations. They have so much power......... I wonder if they even know how much power they actually have.

Correlation between hats and drivers….........

There is a correlation between hats and drivers…………..



I have a theory. People who wear hats are bad drivers! And no I did not just dream this up and I am not stereotyping. I have been observing this phenomenon for many many years. Have you ever had a driver in front of you in the fast lane driving at 70km/h. No cares, no worries in the world. Heck I don’t think they even look in their rear view mirrors. Why, because life is good. Then I pass them and I look to see who it is and without fail 80% of the time it is a driver over 60 wearing a hat. I hear you…….you’re saying Nah, she is making this up so she can have her second blog up. I say not. Test it out for yourselves and let me know.



I am also not saying that wearing hats is bad. Let’s stay on topic. I like hats, I used to wear them myself even though they give you a hat head. Hats and Driving are mutually exclusive. Wearing a hat while driving becomes a toxic combination. It takes away the basic instinct of driving well. Test it out and in 2 weeks prove me wrong.

Damn…………. I need to Vent

What happened to the concept of service and making the customer feel special? Or is this just not cool anymore? Am I joining the class of middle aged grumpy groupies who revel in the “way things used to be in the good old days”? I shudder at the thought.

No – I won’t accept that notion. Let me explain.

For the past few months (maybe years) I have been noticing a steady decline in service excellence to the customer. Sales people seem to be in a rush; slightly annoyed that a customer actually is asking a question or god forbid even paying for their goods. They don’t even read my name on the credit card, they don’t care since they are not going to call me by my name anyway; they say “thanks” but don’t even bother to look me in the eyes and I guess I must not have paid for a smile. I know this sounds rather melodramatic and no I am not menopausal! My first job during high school many years ago was in sales and the first few weeks were spent training on customer service and service excellence. Making the customer feel so special that they would come back to your store and not venture to the competitors. That was the differentiator between customer retention and customer loss. What happened to change that……….or is this how life will be now? Maybe, shopping online is the way to go….at least I can put a picture of a person smiling in the corner of my computer screen and I can pretend that I am getting excellent customer service. There I feel better.