A bad joke to make!

Wednesday morning, Mike Ward put this video on his Facebook page with the following comment:

The most relevant criticism you will hear about the Bye Bye.

I was really curious to hear so I watched it. At first, I was disappointed that this was only a silly joke and I found it bad.

I love Mike, but the joke is not funny. You should never wish illness to anyone. He says he hates having to justify his jokes, but this was a bad one. The only fact that he said it was evil to say should have convinced him that it is not something to wish. While wishing the opposite of health, wishing the flu would have been perhaps less punchy, but more appropriate and funny.

As for Fallu's wish of gonorrhea, it is not better. Some might see it as a bad comment about his homosexuality.

Some have found it funny, others not. For my part, I think it could have been funny in a show where people expect this type of humor. And why not use a fictitious person.

In the present context, it was just inappropriate.

Happy 2012!

Phew, the last 2 years have been rather difficult on the wallet, but I made it through. Fortunately, health and labor were at the rendezvous. Indeed, I am healthy. My heart is fine and the state of my lungs has not degraded.

As for work, I'm pretty overwhelmed. To lower my stress level, I decided to take a week off. During this period, I've decided to watch the DVD of my favorite puppet TV series such as Fireball XL 5, Thunderbirds and Joe 90.

Watching these shows makes me happy and gives me ideas for projects. These puppets inspires me a great web project I want to achieve for a long time and it should take shape in the next 2 years. This is a very bold project. It doesn't pay, but it''ll be a lot of fun. The end result should be impressive. At least that's what I want.

Happy New Year to all!
Let it be a good one for you all!

Intimidation and acceptation

This topic is the flavor of the month in Quebec and it reminds me a lot of repressed memories. I haven't talked much about it, but I feel the need to share it with you, my readers.

I am suffering from Friedreich's ataxia, a degenerative disease which affects the muscles and coordination. Throughout my life I had some mourning to do. Some were very difficult to do, but I managed to pass over.

At school, some people laughed at me because I was walking awkwardly and I fell more often than "normal". Some people called me names while others were straight to the point by calling me disabled.

I never felt accepted and for years I thought I was was the one not accepting myself. I thought that if I started high school all over again with the wisdom I have today, everything would be different.

When I went to my high school reunion, I thought everything would be different and I was proud to show the kind of person I became. I quickly realized that nothing had changed and that those I called my friends were still not ready to accept me as I am.

For a long time, I have lacked confidence. I'm still not super confident nowadays, but I am better aware of my weaknesses as well as my strengths. I know I'm capable of doing many things.

As Mike Ward said in his video, I never stopped evolving. And that made ​​me a different person. Yes, feeling apart hurts, but it's just a rough time to go through and it makes us grow. Suicide is not the solution!

I am proud of the person I grew up to be and I have nothing to envy to others.

There is something missing in my Lucky Charms

Dear General Mills Canada,

I love your cereals. My favorites are the Honey Nut Cheerios. Despite being 28 years old, I also love the Lucky Charms with their excellent marshmallows. This morning I was excited to open a brand new box of these delicious cereals. However, a terrible surprise spoiled my fun: My box contained no marshmallows!

I could not believe it. Is it a competition where there is a box without marshmallows and lucky who found it wins a prize? If yes, what is my prize?

I thought that such an incident could never happen. There is no quality control in your factory? Why do I have a box of Lucky Charms without marshmallows?

I'm not the kind of person who sues. But I'm the type who tells everyone about it. And even if I was suing, what would be the reason for my lawsuit? Because I did not feel the joy of having marshmallows in my cereals?

I do not want money, I just want the marshmallows I paid for and be assured that this kind of incident won't happen again. Because honestly, Lucky Charms without marshmallows, it's not very good.


sincerely

Jean-Sebastien Proulx

01/12/2011: A copy of this letter has been sent to General Mills Canada

03/12/2011: We bought another box without marshmallow at the same grocery

16/12/2011: I received a letter from General Mills with coupons (estimate value $7)

The paratransit nightmare

Unverified Google translation


It's been months I earn bad experiences with paratransit Three Rivers and it finally today I decided to write about it. Why now? Well, because "I missed my appointment with the cardiologist because of the deficiency of service STTR.

Notice that I mention the STTR since I am a user, but I know very well that other suitable public transport services are also deficient.

For that you understand the daily life of a disabled person who does not, here is how was this that led to my missed appointment.

Back in January 2011, I leave the office of my cardiologist wants to see me again in six months. The receptionist handed me a small card to remember me mentioning in June to make an appointment in October. Asking why, she replied in all seriousness that the computer system does not go until October. As computer programmer, I find it downright naiseux, but hey, what can I do?

Somewhere at the beginning of July, I managed to remember that I had to call my cardiologist's office for an appointment. It gives me the date of October 11 telling me that I remember because no one remembered me and if I can introduce myself, I must call to cancel 24 hours before, otherwise I will have to pay a fee of 40 $.

As I hate the stress of paratransit, my wife asked me to accompany me as long as it does not work that day. So I put a note in my iPod to remember my appointment a few days before.

Last Thursday, I received a notification on my iPod that my appointment is Tuesday. Since my wife is missing, I expect his return at home to ask her if she worked the next day. Upon her return, she asked to book my transport because it can not accompany me.

Since it is 21h, I had to call on Friday to meet their cursed within 48 hours. I called Friday morning to book and everything seems normal. I have not received my call to confirm hours, but usually it means that your hours are met to within 5 minutes.

Today around 24:55, still no sign of the bus that would take me at 12:45. Since the central reservation of the STTR is paused from 12h to 13h, I could contact them at 1:05 p.m.. I was told that my reservation had been made because I had to call on Thursday, as Monday was a holiday and the buses were full.

I had completely forgotten that there feast on Monday and I thought I saw it was a medical appointment, we succeed in finding me a place. Usually, when you book past the first 48 hours, the attendant asks us to remember before 16h to see if we could find me a place, thing we forgot to mention the pretext that they were "the juice" Friday.

We even tried to put all of my fault, saying they had often sent the bus home and I refused at the last minute. This statement is completely false. Yes, I had a subscription to the gym, but I'm definitely cancel this subscription in July. But in September they call me to confirm my hours tomorrow. For some reason, my subscription was restarted without my request.

Faced with evidence that would do nothing to STTR I attend my appointment, I called my cardiologist's office to mention my transportation problem. With requirements that expire soon, I had to make an appointment within three months. Fortunately, the woman was compassionate and we do not charge me $ 40 and was given an appointment in December.

I have already booked my transport. But I will have to make sure we do not forget it because I said I'm early to reserve. (Wtf?)

To remember this story and to improve:

• Making an appointment is deficient, and that the entire health system
• We should have an automated telephone system to recall the appointment (as the companies to recall delivery )
• Paratransit is not convenient
• 48 business hours is exaggerated when the trips are made the old
• Having a budget to put bus more often than either avoid traffic stuck on board for an hour

Finally, I leave you with these words of Jean-Marc Parent:

Paratransit is like a taxi, but he decides when he's picking you up.

Excellent cover of Adele' song

I love the original version as well as Mike Tompkins' one, but this one has a little something special

I made peace with Mike Tompkins

After his interpretation of the very bad song Firework Katy Perry, I was ready to say that Mike Tompkins' career was on the edge of a cliff. I loved Mike, but I found that his choice of songs was made for a female audience. Still, his version of Rolling in the Deep stunned me and I liked it almost instantly. I'm collecting Mike's songs on my iPod and this is one of the most frequently played.

To add points to his record, he has recently covered the song P.Y.T. from Michael Jackson. Being a big fan of Michael, I immediately loved it.

I am still amazed of the little advertising that the young Canadian does to promote his clips. Unlike his first songs, I don't see anyone who shares them on Facebook and Twitter.

At least I share them, and you?

Welcome to the real world jackass!

Here's the latest video of the excellent trio The Lonely Island. The absurdity of their lyrics always makes me laugh and I love this clip. This song is also available on the album Turtleneck and Chain. I have listened to this album only 2 times and this video makes me realize that I should listen to it more often. Here goes one more song on my iPod ...