Musing

[written and published from south Calgary, near Fish Creek Park]

1C/33; warm temps and sunshine seem to be getting
coordinated for the same day; Gusta learned shorebirds outrun retrievers; traffic was nuts as 5% normal people wove among 95% idiots driving 10km/hr through a residential neighbourhood; otherwise I'm pretty calm, very well rested, sufficiently caffeinated

yesterday I attended a presentation (thanks MM for inviting me) given by Bay Street economists on their 2007 outlook for the west; MK teased me about my ‘mussings’ and challenged me to write about the event . . so here you are Mike, I did and that’s your 5 seconds

BB celebrates the 55th anniversary of his 9th birthday today; he may not always be wiser than me but he will always be much much older - happy birthday Barry

every time I go into a store (you know the type: big, worldwide brand name, the ones who spend millions on image and advertising) I am amazed how often I experience ineptitude, led by stupidity delivering mediocrity; but, we don't vote with our feet anymore - we put up with it because the product or service or food is 'better than the rest', we put up with it notwithstanding the shortcomings - sadly, we are fostering a society of people who never expect high quality, knowledge, precision or extraordinary service . . we just get numbed into accepting the 'best available' as equating with 'good enough' which is a sad form of apathy

in Britain they use newspaper to wrap fish and chips, many people use newspaper to line bird cages; maybe we should build a fish and chips shop at the Calgary Herald, thereby saving time and energy wasted in distribution - instant recycling if you will

blissfully unaware; yes, I use that phrase and naively stupid fits too; irreparably inept comes to mind as well - a great example of this yesterday; I listened to credible/incredible people representing ‘the Bay Street view of way it is in the west’ to a well informed audience; most audience members (surely they did) noticed glaring errors, omissions, contradictions and assumptions – but when I read about it this morning in the newspaper, without insight or critique, it read like it was all real; the Calgary Herald reporter was more inept than the presenters; they are nice people, but when they spend a few days in the west on a once a year trip they should try learning . . instead of exhibiting how out-of-touch they are; what lesson did I learn?

informed vs. uninformed decision making has as much to do with information quality as it does the decision maker’s capability; as a reader of news we should be wondering ‘did the writer really get all the information’ or ‘did the person the writer interviewed really know what they were talking about’ or ‘did the person who advises the person who was talking to the writer really know their stuff, were they prepared, were the cognizant of the issues affecting that matter’ . . or were they just blissfully unaware ???

smaller focus: do we know if we have the information we need/want/ought to have when we talk to a co-worker, a client, buddy, neighbour, kid, friend, lover, spouse?

easy answer is ‘no’ most of the time; it seems too that the more I try to be really clear in my communication I become more aware of how unclear others are; I don’t think people obscure the truth or the ‘whole picture’ any more than they are blissfully unaware of how incomplete their view might be

my rant is over for the moment; must go supervise the cleaning crew who just arrived to make my place spic ‘n span for another couple of weeks; Gusta relegated to her kennel while they dust and sweep and vacuum; I pay, schedule for two weeks hence . . and then I will put the shower curtain ‘back inside the tub’ . . .

I wonder if, when they clean their own home, if they leave the shower curtain outside the tub only to have a flood the next morning . .
I am conflicted; should I become 'blissfully unaware' . .or should I write for the Herald, become an economist or start a home cleaning service?


Mark Kolke
225,380
201.6

Responses/comments welcomed; send an e-mail to musing@maxcomm.ca – please give me your feedback.