The perfect Childhood, did you have one?

I sure have! Yep, I had the perfect childhood. I'm sure my parents will be having a bottle of wine over this blog post.

Ok, so it was not perfect, my parents are not millionaires ;) , although my father does keep trying over and over and over again to be one and with astonishing regularity over the last 4 decades... playing the lottery.

Apart from that, I can't think of anything I would change. Both my parents were present in my life, even with all the overtime my father worked I cannot remember him ever not having time for me or missing his presence. My mother was home 6-7 months every year which was great because when I had a question more often then not it was one of my parents who was there to answer me. They were present to challenge me and make me think if I said or did something foolish. Obviously we could have had more "stuff" if my mother had worked full time, but "stuff" would have been worth nothing to having one of my parents so present in my growing years.

People might think I was spoiled being a single child but that's not the case, my first bike I had to earn my money through house chores so I could buy it myself, I had it for 5+ years, maybe having paid for it myself had something to do with that? That was my first class of economics and I was only 7 years old. I ended up buying all my future bicycles as well. The only time I ever got anything was Christmas and my birthday and it was not a mountain of gifts. Also I never screamed in a store "demanding" such and such a toy, my parents always gave me the same respect they would an adult and it was required I act as an adult in terms of demeanor. If I did not they did not acquiesce my emotions and I paid the price, it never felt strict or unfair whenever I was punished, I knew I had broken a rule and they took the time to explain to me why and made sure I understood.
I never did miss out on anything, I tried a lot of team sports and my parents invested in whatever I needed to play those sports, just the basics, nothing fancy. When I ended up not enjoying the sport (hockey, soccer, karate, etc...) and wanted to quit they always made me finish the "season", which I often reluctantly did.

Nothing was ever forced on me except personal responsibility, if did something wrong I paid the full price for it, if it meant a week in house punishment, it was a week. No way they were going to let me off the hook, after all if you get in debt by being irresponsible are the people you ow money too going to lessen the debt? That goes for life in general and they wanted me to understand this as soon as possible and I did.

The single best example of them never forcing me in any direction is with school, they could tell early on I was bored at school and by the time I was 15 I decided to quit and go to adult school (the concept was more appealing). My parents had to sign for me to be allowed to quit at 15, they signed on a Monday and the next morning I was out the door looking for a full time job to pay pension until I was back in school. Again, personal responsibility.

They hammered away pretty good at being responsible for oneself without having to actually use a hammer ;) .

As a kid I went on so many road trips I think I saw everything there is to see for kids within a days driving distance, this went on for about 8 years. Again, no fancy hotels or expensive trips. The best memories I have of those trips... Being with my parents.

And there was the cottage, the best memories of my childhood are spending all summer at the cottage, no tv, no video games, no motor bikes until I was about 14. It's weird because I just cannot remember what kept me busy and not bored all summer long. All I know is I can easily go without "technology" and I know my cottage experience has something to do with it, gracias a mi padres.

One thing that sticks is how nothing was really "forbidden", here are two examples. The first one was when I was about 10 years old my parents told me I could have one beer at the cottage during the summer time, all I had to do was ask. All they did after was remind me of my right once the summer started. I never did ask for one until the 3rd summer. My friends could not believe that I could actually ask for a beer, to me it was not a big deal.

Also, around the time I was 12 or 13 my Dad came home one day and had a pile of about 20 magazines he brought home from work that a few of his buddies enjoyed "reading"... they were all Playboy magazines, he brought them downstairs and said I could have a look and left them there. A week after viewing them I put them next to the fireplace (I did cut out one centerfold for safekeeping). When my friends found out about that they went nuts, again... no big deal for me.

My parents always say to their friends that I was an easy child to raise, I did not go through the so called "adolescent craze" ... maybe this has something to do with them being present, patient et participating in my childhood.

Cosmic Calendar. Your lifetime is 0.15 seconds in length.

The idea of the Cosmic Calendar is old but I only happen to come upon it yesterday.

It was invented by Carl Sagan in the 70s.

In short if you put the beginning of time to now in one calendar year the last 500 years would be the LAST second of December... so December 31st 23h59:59 to 00h00.

And one individual lifetime is about 0.15 seconds.

The "most" profound video I have ever seen...

-

Click here to watch it and read my thoughts AFTER viewing it.

Now did you watch it? No... then don't bother reading on :p .

Why is a video about the cosmos one I find so profound? Because it brings EVERYTHING into perspective. It shows how irrelevant we are in the big picture, right away that sounds depressing but it is not, it is rather uplifting because if you look at some of the negative issues going on in the world or your own life this simple video shows to you how small it is... so small you can almost consider it non-existent.

Of course that is not really the case, if you are sick or starving the pain or hunger is not non-existent, but your mind can give you more even in such dyer situations.

If you have any negative energy around you at this very moment (sickness, no job, lack of food, etc...), watch the video again and ponder your problem in terms of how big it is to the Universe, it just is not there.

Your body might feel it but your mind does not have too... the choice is yours.

How I stay "FIT" and "Healthy".

Most people who know me are aware that I enjoy living a healthy lifestyle and keeping a good physical condition.

Here I will explain what I do in detail for exercises & nutrition.

I do practice what I preach, here is a picture of myself in March 2009 at 36 years of age.

I think of myself as being in good physical condition and yet achieving a good shape is not that hard.


Here is what I do in terms of training: Twice a week I do resistance training, 2 times a week I do one special exercise that works both my abs and and lower back, I walk to work at a brisk pace, nothing to make me sweat since I have work clothes on but a good enough pace that I feel my blood pumping.

Resistance training: I stick with exercises that will not irritate my lower back.

1- Legs: I start with one leg squats with no weights. I do 3 sets per leg, 30 reps on the first one as a warm up, then I take 10 seconds of rest, go ahead for as many as I can and after another 10 seconds of rest, one last set, again as many as I can. 

2- Chest & Triceps: I use this tool to perform my push ups, I use a shoulder width grip. I do 5 sets. The first set is on my knees and I do 75 reps as a warm up, 10 seconds of rest and I go at it again for 10 reps, I do this 3 more times for as many as I can each time. The last 4 sets are in the standard push up position.

3- Calves: Standing single leg calf raises I do this small muscle to give my body a little rest after I just worked two major muscle groups, calves are easy to work out. I do 30 reps, 20 reps and max reps with only 10 seconds of rest between each set.

4- Back: Chin ups again using my power gym, one of the best back exercise and it does not put any strain on the lower back, big bonus for me. 3 sets with only 10 seconds of rest between each set. It comes out to about 12, 6 and 4 reps.

5- Shoulders: One arm dumbbell shoulder presses using 25 pounds, I do a warm up of 15 reps, take 10 seconds of rest do another for maximum reps (about 8) and one more after another 10 seconds of rest (5-6 reps).

6- Biceps: Standing dumbbell curls using 25 pounds, I do a warm up of 20 reps then I do two more sets for as many as I can, always with only 10 seconds of rest between sets.

The key to my resistance training is the little rest between each set, doing my repetitions at a relatively slow speed (every repetition takes me about 4 seconds) and the intensity of doing as many reps as I can on the last set.

Total time is about 30-35 minutes... twice a week.

Two times a week I work my lower back & abs (never on the same day I do resistance training), it takes me about 4 minutes. I do 3 sets of 12 repetitions with my ab wheel, each rep takes me about 4-5 seconds. Again only 10 seconds of rest between each set. I bought my ab wheel at Canadian Tire for 12$.

That's all I do in terms of resistance training. I walk no less than one hour every day, although 5 days a week is sufficient.

Now the BIG key... nutrition! I eat 1900 calories a day with 65% of my calories being FATS, 15% protein and 20% carbohydrates . You will NOT get fat from eating good fats and proteins but you will get fat from eating carbohydrates (except carbs from vegetables), even too many healthy carbs will make you fat.

Just remember this, you can live a healthy life without ANY carbohydrates in your diet, if you totally remove either fats or proteins you will die.

As for supplements, I keep it simple. 1 tablespoon of cod liver oil along with a multivitamin. That's it.

I propose ONE tax for Canada, no more income/corporate taxes.

I have stated for years that we should simplify our taxe system to its simplest method. ONE taxe, a sales taxe... you buy you pay a tax, you don't you pay nothing.

This one taxe system would cover EVERYTHING; Unemployement Insurance, Canada Pension Plan, Income Taxes, Corporate Taxes, etc... . ALL revenue would come from that one sales tax. The tax would be the same value for everything, no different for gas, electricity, cigarettes (we should ban the sale in Canada), etc... the same tax for all.

We could eliminate the Revenue services of the Federal and Provincial governments and people would no longer go through the frustrating yearly task of doing their taxes.

As well working "under the table'' (getting paid in cash to avoid taxes) would be useless since you would still be contributing like everyone else... the only down side is if you hold a job that pays in such a manner and lose your job you would not be able to get unemployement insurance but you would have contributed just like everyone else. I like that concept, hehe.

This would eliminate all tax deductions, they would be all gone (medical, education, corporate, etc...). A company would no longer pay a corporate tax, it would simply pay taxes on products it purchases to build and maintain (materials) its company.

Healthy food would not be taxed and clothing of 40$ of less would not be taxed. This way the really poor could still feed and clothe themselves.

A one purchasing tax system that would be administered by the Provincial governments and they would send X amount of money to the federal government based on their population. Forget which province is richer or poorer, everyone pays the same per capita.

As for the city taxes, you simplify that one with one tax system... you pay on a per square meter that you own. Not the value of your home but the square meter of property you have. This way someone who has 1000 square meters with a home value of 300 000$ would pay the same as someone who owns 1000 square meters with a home value of 150 000$. This is democratic and fair. The more land you have the more taxes you pay.

Agricultural land that is USED for agriculture would only have a set % taxed, the amount would never go higher than X amount of square meters. This way farmers would not fear buying huge amounts of land and having to pay huge property taxes.

School taxes would also fall into that one tax system, no longer would you have to pay yearly school taxes and it would eliminate another system of administration.

Critics state that many people would cross the border. That can be resolved, all the 100$ of millions you saved by eliminating the revenue services and school board administration for taxes you could divert a portion of that to increasing border agents & increase the size of border crossings (doubling both in size). They would have enough manpower to search. If you are caught trying to bring something over without paying taxes... you would pay double the tax.

Imagine making 1000$ a week and taking home ... 1000$!!