Third Eye Blind

I am nothing and I long to find why I

Have consciousness systems inside of my mind

Digital pictures moving behind blinding lights

A third eye blind would cure me now

Simple contradictions create the polls north and south

Only when they are coherent does the world turn around

Earth, air, fire, water, turns to greed, consuming power

Like a spider web that’s catching all of us

What we need’s an injection

An un-biased election

Can you see the direction

That we’re in

What we need is a choice

Through the chaos and noise

No need to rejoice

It’s already too late to save our souls

Give me a direction

I’m losing it, I’m losing it

This cut has become infected

All function quit

I don’t want your assistance

I’m sick of it

Why can’t we look at the past

And simply learn from it

Reader Beware

My personal reflection of the advertising project Buyer Beware

So here I am and the buyer beware project is over, finally.   Up until the last week and a half, this project had really taken a backstage to the controlled chaos that is CreComm.  When the project was first given to us, we discussed what consumer report would the public benefit from the most, if they were to learn about a company/service.  Everyone in the group was aware of pay day loans, and the new government regulations that were coming into affect to protect customers.  So we thought it would be a really good project, if the public knew more about pay day loans, and how financially unfeasible they are, they may avoid them.  So one of our first steps was to find a well known company who provided that service.  We landed upon Money Mart, one of the biggest players in that market.  We delegated responsibilities to each member of the team.  Shaun went to a Money Mart, and learned more about the customer experience in the store.  Tom and Brian looked at government regulations on pay day loans.  Jon went to an RBC and talked to someone there to talk about other options other than pay day loans, such as credit cards, line of credit, overdrafts and other options.  It was my job to talk to Money Mart customers, and get their thoughts on the services they provided.  So I talked to my girlfriend, and asked her if she knew anyone that had used Money Mart before.  After a few days, she talked to some friends and it turned out that Ashton Beaton had used Money Mart before; she was a girl I used to work with at Wal-Mart in Selkirk, so I thought that would be a good source for a customer perspective.  I met up with her at work on her break, and asked her all the relevant questions I could think of and she told me her story. At this point in the project, everyone had their piece typed up and we were ready to put the pieces together.  My piece was the interview with Ashton, which I couldn’t see as a very large part of the main report, so I quickly felt like I needed to add more to the project.  We realized that we needed to do a class presentation, so I took it upon myself to put the Power Point together.  I thought it was important to say why customers choose Money Mart, and look at other options for them.  The last few days we sent lots of e-mails to each other and exchanged our pieces.  By the time the deadline came around, I think the rest of the team felt fairly confident, I was at least.  I think the presentation went well, everyone explained his part of the project clearly, and I think it was easy to understand.  I saw this as a good group effort, and everyone did a good job.

Hey Sam, Where's My Hug?

The Winnipeg civic election heated up Wednesday morning, when incumbent Sam Katz and Judy Wasylycia-Leis participated in a debate hosted by CJOB's Richard Cloutier.  Sam and Judy were civil towards each other, at the beginning anyway.  The biggest issues of the debate included crime and infrastructure.  Katz said if re-elected he plans to add 58 new police officers, and 20 for the gang unit.  Wasylycia-Leis responded saying that she doesn’t oppose more police, but thinks more funds should be put towards community centers, recreational activities for youth.  Personally, I see cops on the street all the time and about a dozen police cruisers everyday.  But they can't be everywhere all the time.  Crime will only increase if we don't address the root of the problem, so in that aspect I agreed with Wasylycia-Leis. Katz added that we need ex –gang members that have turned their life around, who’ve walked the walk so to speak, to help current gang members get out of crime and turn their lives around.  Impoverished youth need role models like that to look up to, because it’s hard for them to listen to someone telling them how to live their life, when that person doesn’t understand what they’ve went through.

Another issue raised was property taxes.  Wasylycia-Leis wants to raise them by two percent for the next four years, and put the money towards infrastructure, parks, and recreational activities and centers.  Katz responded to this by saying if we raised the provincial tax by only one percent, we will gain a substantial amount more, while not affecting low income families as drastically. 

One thing that caught my eye was when Wasylycia-Leis stated that she would stop un-necessary spending in city hall, by cutting costly survey and study programs. It caught my eye because her response to the question about whether or not she agreed with Winnipeg’s newly purchased helicopter, she said she wouldn’t cancel it, but she would put together a study to see whether it was effective or not.  Wait a minute.  I thought she said she would cut un-necessary studies, wasting tax payer dollars. Huh?

Both candidates were asked if they agreed with the idea of enacting a youth curfew, like other cities have done experiencing crime issues, and both said they did not.

Katz’s main points of focus are to rejuvenate downtown, safety, and infrastructure

Judy stressed that city savings be put into a blind trust.

The debate was heated at some points, but in the end they are still friends, which they showed when Sam got out of his chair and hugged Judy. 

To sum up, Katz is a better showman, he seemed more prepared.   Wasylycia-Leis did her best to answer some good questions, but it all seemed to get lost in her one liners and campaign rhetoric.  Politicians are masters of dancing around the issues, and this morning was no different.  At the end, it left me thinking.. geez, where's my hug Mr. Mayor?