"Have Any of You Been Taught the Proper Way to Sneeze?"

Today at the School of Her Majesty I was warmly greeted in every class by a loud yellow paper with the words – IMPORTANT NOTICE - on it. As the Professors made sure to deliver one to every student I was curious as to what could be so pending. As it turns out it was the always-fearful H1N1. This was all part of the University’s attempt to help stop a “pandemic” and make sure students could be contacted in the case of an outbreak.

Every student in the school today was given this little piece of paper in every class they attended, in order to make sure that they checked their university email account, making sure it was at least forwarded to another account such as Gmail.

Which begs the question, how, and I’ll paraphrase what Texas asked in class today - if there is a pandemic at the school are we supposed to filter through our 400 other pieces of junk mail in our inboxes to discover that we should not attend school today for fear of losing our lives? There was no response.

And so The Count proceeded to tell the class that this was the school’s way of letting us know we are a valued asset to the school and that The Queen is prepared with a plan…just in case.

Which leads me to my point; does any of this H1N1 hysteria sound anything like the time of Y2K? I don’t mean to be unsympathetic to anyone who has lost a loved one to the virus, and it is not my point to make light of that. But it is my point to try and figure out just why this flu is receiving the press that it is. I understand that the ‘Second Wave’ is on it’s way (apparently) but how come we decide not to look at Australia who is just finishing it’s flu season and learn that there were relatively few problems? Would this not help to calm some of these seemingly irrational fears that are plastered all over the news?

And why is it that we are always investing money in something because it’s “the responsible thing to do?” Understand that I really shouldn’t mind investing money in a flu shot, or equipping my workplace with an absurd amount of sanitizing product that would fend off a worldwide outbreak of the virus. But if I do not do what I’m told, what the ‘responsible’ thing to do is, then I will be looked down upon, and my employees will feel unappreciated, and want to never work for me again (seriously?). And so the cycle continues.

Fear of some global crisis.
Stockpiling of (fill in the blank)
Nothing substantial occurs
Some company makes a lot of money
REPEAT CYCLE

I would be interested to know which company is responsible for creating the flu vaccine, and I would love too look at how well their profits are for next quarter.
So remember that if you have a cough, a sneeze, sore throat or a runny nose you might have H1N1. And while you probably don’t, and you will most likely be fine, be ’responsible’ and go by something to take care of yourself.

For everyone else sake…

Right…

An Introduction of Sorts

When I moved to the sometimes-wonderful city of Regina I was inspired to begin a little project with this blog. I have been hesitant to start this because if I am going to start this new idea then I need to give my best attempt to keep it up and finish it. It's these failed attempts to finish these 'projects' in my life that seem to have built their own graveyard in these past twenty some years of my life.

Now here's how it works;

I was inspired by watching the movie Julia and Julia (that's not me recommending the movie, although I did laugh quite a bit) and I was reminded that a lot of these weblogs have some sort of purpose behind them; such as working through a cookbook, one recipe a day for an entire year. Well this blog too shall have a purpose outside of the occasional rant or vent that it has seen in the past.

I am currently enrolled in the Faculty of Business Administration at the University of Regina. It’s a privilege to come to school everyday and learn about different subjects, to meet new and interesting people, and to engage in some exciting discussion. It’s here that I find the purpose for my blog. I want to bring the University to, whoever reads this, to share some good stories and discuss them. We will follow the lives of different students and encounter different circumstances say in sports, relationships, church, social groups, work, or any number of other instances. It’s my hope to document and discuss - almost like writing my own fiction novel – these lives, which will be presented as a form of fiction. And maybe, because this is literature and it can take many forms I will make up some stories that I wish would take place in this city. A little imagination never hurt anyone…I think. Although I was told in English class that a lot of poets from the past – creative and imaginative geniuses – ended up taking their own lives for one reason or another. We will chalk this up to coincidence and blaze forward with our attempt at creativity and imagination.

It will be interesting for sure.

That’s the hope. One entry every day – give or take a few hours- for the rest of the school year. I think it’s possible, and I believe it will be fun. And it’s my hope that I’ll present a look into the lives of the University, it’s students, and their thoughts.

Here goes nothing…