This is a very timely/topical account of the Muslim world’s view of the West at the current time. Suffice to say that it’s not a very pleasant one. Their perception of our culture, morals, religions, and motives is extremely skewed/toxic. The flip side is that the West’s view of the Muslim world is not much better if you read some of the online postings.

I’m not sure how anyone can go about changing or correcting either side’s perceptions. All I know is, if this book is anything to go by, the battle for the hearts and minds of Muslims has been lost. But, I will add in a dash of hope, given that a book filled with accounts of Westernized Muslims who love the West will probably not sell very well, there is always the chance that this book has exaggerated the vitriol that the Muslim world currently feels.

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It’s been a while since I last posted so I must apologize. I’ve got the usual excuses of being very busy but there’s a new element stirred in where I had a bit of a brouhaha with my ex. Suffice to say that their perceptions of who they are and what they’ve done do not sync with my worldview. That’s all for now.

So, what’s my minor milepost? Well, I broke the 1000 km mark for cycling this year. Woo hoo! I’ve never really kept track of mileage before and it’s been a real aid in my training. March was when I first started riding this year and it was a very low mileage month. April was when I really ramped up with May closely following behind. If it wasn’t for the CFA studies, May would be a huge month.

As it is, I strongly suspect that June will be a banner month if my Toronto to Montreal trip works out. I’ve got a goal of at least 5000 km for this year so we will see how well that works out.

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I didn’t really want to read this book when I first saw it at Nicholas Hoare down on Front St. It’s a bit naughty but I had quickly flipped to the back and knew that Marley would end up in “doggie heaven” and didn’t want that sort of…I guess, you could say heartbreak because I went through that when our family dog died years ago.

Later, I read a review of Marley & Me in the Globe and Mail’s book review insert and decided that the story may outweigh the tragedy. I’m very glad that I did decide to read M&M because it’s really a funny and heartwarming tale of a dog whose genetic predisposition leans towards “lightning in a bottle” but without the cork!

I love all animals but the ones who are close to “feeling” something such as dogs and cats are the ones who you can really connect with. I think that M&M is going to go down as one of those classic animal stories in the league of James Herriott’s All Creatures Great and Small, Rascal by Sterling North, The Cat and the Curmudgeon by Cleveland Amory, and the superlative wildlife books of Gerald Durrell.

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Two factors lead to my first-ever in-person auction experience today. First, it was the dreaded “Low Toner” warning on the Laserjet 4M Plus a couple of days ago. This was a bit of a surprise because my sis had purchased one of those extra-capacity cartridges a few years back and I was certain that the printer hadn’t had much of a workout since. Second, someone on Red Flag Deals posted that the City of Toronto was having its semi-annual auction where they tried to unload back to its citizens what they had originally purchased.

I was a bit curious about the list and, upon quickly scanning it, saw that there were two Xerox-branded laser cartridges perfect for my machine. I figured that getting one would be a lot cheaper than buying a new one for over a hundred bucks…perhaps $50-60 versus $120+. I was pretty sure that it wouldn’t be as cheap as refilling it myself but I really didn’t want to fool around with toner and the price of doing it myself would be about $30 or so anyways.
In any case, with today being a bit of an off-day from studying, I decided that I could spare the morning for the auction and see if I could snag a cartridge. Got to the Queen Elizabeth building at Exhibition Place early and there certainly was a lot of stuff/junk in the big dark hall. The place pretty quickly filled up with the workingman and immigrant strata of Toronto society. Upon registering I found out that the brand-new (score!) Xerox cartridges were being sold in a batch of two. This presented a bit of a dilemma for me because I only wanted one because I wanted to keep my costs low. I figured that maybe I could get away with paying about $70 altogether so I decided to try.

It quickly turned out that the time needed to auction a particular item was just about less than one minute. The cartridges were lot #365. *gasp* After hanging around for a bit and chatting up some bloke that I had met, I decided to take off for lunch with my Mother (who’s visiting Toronto) and siblings. Note to self, next time, try not to walk from the Queen E building to Chinatown!
I was a bit anxious about leaving the auction…there was that sense of competition and anticipation over winning the item. I noticed one guy who kept scoping out the laser cartridges that were available so I figured that he was some sort of dealer.

I got back around 2 pm with plenty of time to spare. The auction, when it came to the cartridges, was a bit of an anticlimax. It was over in less than a minute! Bidding started at $10 (me), $20 (competitor but not the dealer who seemed to have disappeared), $30 (me) and that was it. So, I managed to score two brand-new 92298A cartridges for only $34.50 including tax! Oh Happy Day! Now, if only the Laserjet will last the next decade.

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Normally, I’m not one for self-help books but since I am studying for the Level II exam of the CFA I figured that I would need all the help that I can get. There are some interesting tips in the book and I’m using a couple such as a “focus document” which is similar to a mantra and a mandala to help with my focusing.

If I pass the exam I will definitely be taking this book out again!

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It’s Sunday morning and almost 24 hours since one of Apple’s newest stores opened. Still a bit tired from all of the happenings.

A few days ago, I decided to attend the new opening because I wanted the t-shirt and to say that I was there. Of course, there’s always that hope that there’d be a “lucky bag” full of stuff that I could eBay or play with. That doesn’t mean that I had to stay overnight, though, but I did!

Yep, I’m one of those nutcases who camped out overnight. I’ve never done this sort of thing before and this seemed like a good opportunity especially when you can do it overnight inside a climate-controlled environment. Not exactly roughing it but close enough.

Got there early enough at 8 pm to be designated #4. I was a bit surprised to see how small the line was and it stayed that way until 6 am when the subway started running again. Most of the night was spent fighting off boredom and the urge to sleep. Pitted against this was my need to study, the hard surfaces, and a bag of candies that I was sucking down.

My fellow nutcases were a small but interesting group of males ranging in age from about 16 and up. Yep…all males! Sad but true.

The Eaton Centre did not hold much interest for me since I only live ten minutes away and have shopped there for the past decade. The novelty of staying in it overnight quickly wore off within the first hour. There’s only so much you can do before security shuts you down. This was compounded by the fact that there were no electrical outlets to be used for your laptops and other devices and the Apple Store’s Wi-Fi connection cutting out around midnight.

After a refreshing nap, I came back around six-thirty to find that the line had grown a bit. Spent the next three hours watching it slowly grow, chatting, and wandering around. The store’s staff did that handclapping run-around the line-up and, then, that gauntlet of slapping hands as you entered the store. To me it’s a bit of “irrational exuberance” but fun in a way. Store was packed but I’d be curious to see how it works out after opening day. I’ve heard that other stores are always busy so I’m guessing that this one will be too. I really feel sorry for Apple retailers close by…they’re going to get hurt unless the Apple store significantly increases the market.

Unfortunately, no lucky bags but I did get a t-shirt. Actually, two t-shirts since I went back with my sister. All in all, a good experience but, next time, no overnight stay unless I want to be in the top ten group.

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I came across this book while reading an article in the WSJ. The article was talking about the difficulties facing US forces in Iraq and how the Army was not equipped/trained to deal with an insurgency. Currently, it seems that US forces are configured for a quick overwhelming assault incorporating superior firepower, speed and intelligence. Yet, it’s not equipped nor does it have the mindset to fight an insurgency. Shades of Vietnam, right?

Some officers have decided to go back to that conflict in order to see what lessons could be gleaned. A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam is just one title that they’re looking at. Another is Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife which I’m hoping that the library will get its hands on soon for general public consumption.

A Better War (ABW) covers the period from 1968-1975 after the departure of Westmoreland and the arrival of General Creighton Abrams as the head honcho of American forces in South Vietnam. The book reads like a tribute to Abrams’ ideas of how the war should be conducted; from dispensing with the infamous “body-count” of Westmoreland’s time to increasing intelligence efforts in an effort to interdict and destroy North Vietnamese supplies. What was becoming glaringly important was the emphasis on pacification and control of the villages and countryside. The idea was to ensure that the VC and their North Vietnamese controllers had to supply everything from the North along the Ho Chi Minh Trail from recruits to food to ammunition.

The latter is an important lesson that the American forces in Iraq are having to re-learn all over again. The US never gained absolute control in Iraq after toppling Saddam and this was a consequence of their strategy of “shock and awe”. This strategy can defeat an organized enemy with a recognizable government but it cannot hold ground. Holding ground means flooding enemy territory with “boots on the ground” and this was not done. Some American generals advocated that the invasion force be as high as half a million while Rumsfeld wanted much less than half of that and the consequence is that Iraq is breaking apart.

What should have been done? I may be talking out of my hat here but:

1. Flood the country with troops.
2. Seal the borders.
3. Identify each and every person in the country and their location.
4. Take away every incentive for someone to take up arms against the occupation forces and, here, a whole slew of actions could/should have been done, ranging from providing basic services, employment, and holding American troops to the highest standard of behaviour.

There are probably more but the above is just an opinion. ABW is an excellent book and I hope that the Americans do get something out of it. But, the real danger is that they cannot use ABW as a template for Iraq. The situations may seem similar but there are some significant differences.

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