I'd like to say after one week of whining about the York Lake Road, action has been taken; but action has been ongoing since well before my article last week on the deplorable state of that 'road'. In talking with a number of people last week, it looks as though enough money will be raised from squeezing land owners and fundraising that paving could begin as soon as August. For this I give a standing ovation. It sounds like the way money is being collected isn't necessarily popular amongst a number of residents, but that's for them to sort out and none of my business. The point is that you can't have a $600,000 home and only have it accessible by quad through the ditch.
Our local hockey community suffered another tragic loss over the weekend with the death of Andre Parker. Andre comes from a very prominent hockey family in Melville; but the prominence really isn't what's important. What's important is that he was 19 and should have had a full life ahead of him. It sends me for a loop whenever I see a young, talented person like Andre leave us well before he should.
I think about Andre and I, automatically, shift into a mode that gives me a swift kick to be the person that makes me the happiest. Life is too short for me to be unhappy. Heck, I'm 37 and if I live a normal life I'm probably starting to hit that mark where my lifespan is at the halfway point. What's difficult sometimes is that what makes me most happy isn't always what makes others around me happy. That's life. Every day is full of compromises and judgment calls when it comes to decision making. I talk to all sorts of people through the different walks of life I'm involved in and it's amazing how often those compromises and decisions are made and the determining factor is always how much someone else would be happy. We sacrifice, sometimes for people who are not even all that important to us when we get right down to evaluating honestly within ourselves. And, yet at the end of the day most of us will find ourselves reflecting during a crucial point in our life and come to realize that there are really very, very few others out there that are looking out for you. So if you don't look out for you, who is?
If you read my column for self-help, the advice you find here is worth what you paid! It's just how I choose to go about things. And, maybe why I rub more than a few folks the wrong way!
I have long opposed an idea of a new state-of-the-art theatre for Yorkton simply because with rapid advancements in technology; I would assume it won't be long before such a thing would be tough to sustain simply because things like Apple TV and Netflix make it more appealing to watch on a big screen in one's basement. However, Dauphin has a very nice facility and the place is packed regularly. It shows four different new releases each day and has numerous different show times. We took in Madagascar 3 over the weekend and the movie and theatre both get thumbs up.
The NBA Finals have been terrific. At the time of this writing, I have watched two of the three games and have been thoroughly entertained. What a novel concept in professional sports to have the two most exciting teams playing for a championship. Maybe that's why Pittsburgh versus Philadelphia seemed so appetizing in the Stanley Cup playoffs but nothing else did.
Hearty congratulations are in order, though, for Jarret Stoll as he will likely be bringing Lord Stanley to Yorkton sometime this summer. Jarret's always been really good at remembering where he came from and his family continues to support this community a great deal. For that, we say a collective 'Thank you'.
I guess I've been living under a rock, but I had never heard of Michelle Simson until this weekend. She's a former Liberal MP from Ontario who took a lot of heat from her own political party for publicizing all of her expenses on her website. At the time, she said, "It's [my constituents'] money. That's the bottom line." She not only shouldn't take heat, but every MP in the country should be doing this, including our local MP.
Nice person mentions this week to Colin Popoff, Garth Harris, Ted Cawkwell, Tracy Macgranachan, Diane Rusnak, and Shelley Thorne.
