Top 20 Ways to Tell if You’re Canadian
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Today is Canada Day. Here are the principle ways to determine if you are a Canadian.
- You understand the phrase “Could you pass me a serviette, I just dropped my poutine on the chesterfield.”
- You eat chocolate bars, not candy bars.
- You drink Pop, not Soda.
- You know that a Mickey and 2-4’s mean, “party at the camp, eh!”
- You don’t care about the fuss with Cuba. It’s a cheap place to go for your holidays, with good cigars and no Americans.
- You know that a pike is a type of fish, not part of a highway.
- You have Canadian Tire money in your kitchen drawers.
- You know that Casey and Finnegan were not part of a Celtic musical group.
- You brag to Americans that: Shania Twain, Jim Carrey, Celine Dion, Michael J. Fox, John Candy, William Shatner, Tom Green, Matthew Perry, Mike Myers, Neve Campbell and Pamela Anderson are all Canadians.
- You design your Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
- You know that the last letter of the English alphabet is pronounced “Zed”.
- Your local newspaper covers national news on 2 pages, but requires 6 pages for hockey.
- You know that when it’s 25 degrees outside, it’s a warm day.
- You know how to pronounce and spell “Saskatchewan”.
- You perk up when you hear the theme song from ‘Hockey Night in Canada’. (Alas, no longer. ;-( )
- “Eh?” is a very important part of your vocabulary, and is more polite than, “Huh?”
- Your Beer Case handles Are Big Enough To Fit Your Mitts
- You know that we don’t all live in igloos and ride polar bears to work.
- Every murder is reported.
- You froze your tongue to something metal and survived to tell about it.
What Best Defines Canada?
- Image via Wikipedia
Today is Canada Day. This marks the joining of the British colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada into a federation of four provinces (the Province of Canada being divided, in the process, into Ontario and Quebec) on July 1, 1867.
So, what does it mean to be a Canadian? At least, from the perspective of Canadians.
Picture this: Pierre Trudeau standing with his back to Niagara Falls, clutching a red maple leaf in his hand, on Canada Day. Can you imagine a more Canadian scene? Only if the robotic space Canadarm somehow made it into the scene, according to a 2008 poll.
The Ipsos-Reid survey, on behalf of the Dominion Institute and the federal Department of Citizenship and Immigration, asked Canadians what best defines their country.
After tallying the results, Trudeau was revealed as the person who most defines Canada. Niagara Falls was the defining place, Canada Day the defining event, Canadarm the defining accomplishment and the maple leaf was the defining symbol.
The top-ten results in each of the five categories are…
People:
- Pierre Trudeau
- Wayne Gretzky
- Terry Fox
- Céline Dion
- John A. Macdonald
- David Suzuki
- Tommy Douglas
- Stephen Harper
- Lester Pearson
- Maurice Richard
Places:
- Niagara Falls
- The Rockies
- Parliament Hill
- Ottawa
- CN Tower
- Quebec City/Old Quebec City
- Toronto
- Montreal
- Province of Quebec
- Vancouver
Events:
- Canada Day
- Confederation
- First and Second World Wars
- Calgary Stampede
- Vimy Ridge
- Plains of Abraham
- Grey Cup
- Olympics
- Expo 67
- Quebec Winter Carnival
Accomplishments:
- Canadarm
- Peacekeeping
- Universal health care
- Fredrick Banting - Insulin
- Alexander Graham Bell - Telephone
- Diversity, Multiculturalism
- Canadian Constitution, Charter of Rights and Freedoms
- Canadian national railway/railroad
- Freedom
- Avro Arrow project
Symbols:
- Maple leaf
- Hockey
- Canadian flag
- Beaver
- RCMP, Mounties
- Stanley Cup
- Wilderness (includes scenery)
- Loonie
- Maple syrup
- Moose, caribou
How about non-Canadians, do any of the above conjure up images of Canada or is it something else?
Trudeau, Niagara Falls among top Canadian icons, poll finds.
Quotes: The 3 E’s of Personal Achievement
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Most of us work towards some type of personal achievement. We all have a desire to improve our lives in some way. Despite the desire we’re not always sure what steps are needed to improve our personal achievement. Here are three areas where we can invest effort that will bring positive results:
Enthusiasm
- “There is a direct relationship between joy and effort. The joy of success is in ratio to the amount of effort expended to achieve it.” —Denis Waitley
- “I can’t imagine a person becoming a success who doesn’t give this game of life everything he’s got.” —Walter Cronkite
- “In things pertaining to enthusiasm, no man is sane who does not know how to be insane on proper occasions.” —Doug Firebaugh
- “There is real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.” —Norman Vincent Peale
Excellence
- “The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” —Eddie Robinson
- “Striving for perfection is the greatest stopper there is… It’s your excuse to yourself for not doing anything. Instead, strive for excellence, doing you best.” —Sir Laurence Olivier
- “The next time a customer in your store needs to know where something is — pick yourself up and show them. Walk them there — WOW them, sell them what they want, then sell them something extra. Rule — Show, don’t tell.” —Jeffrey Gitomer
- “Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.” — Pat Riley
Expectation
- “Our limitations and success will be based, most often, on our own expectations for ourselves. What the mind dwells upon, the body acts upon.” —Denis Waitley
- “The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.” —Theodore Rubin
- “The Truest help we can render an afflicted man is not to take his burden from him, but to call out his best energy, that he may be able to bear the burden.” —Phillips Brooks
- “You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation.” —Bette Davis
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Tips for leaving a good out-of-office message
- Image by silas216 via Flickr
We’re heading into vacation season in this part of the world. It’s time to get away from the office, kick back and relax. However, if you spend your well-deserved break worrying about your work load on return to the office, it’s going to affect your ability to relax.
A little bit of preparation before you leave will ensure less to worry about on return. A good out-of-office message is a must. A well-prepared message can go a long way to decrease the backlog of messages waiting for you when you get back to work.
A good out of office message has three parts:
- Dates of your absence. Let the contact know when you are out of the office. It helps them decide what their next step is going to be; whether to wait for your return or to direct their request elsewhere.
- Reason for absence. I like to let my contacts know whether I am on a business trip or vacation. A business trip means I am connected to the office in some way and might be able to respond to a message. If I’m on vacation, I’m out of contact range.
- Who to contact in your absence. I try and leave contact information for alternate contacts when I am out of the office; a minimum of one up to as many as are needed.
Just because you leave an out-of-office message, it doesn’t mean that you have communicated to the sender. There are three things you should keep in mind when composing the message. It should be:
- Complete: give all the detail necessary. Don’t say, “I’m out of the office” or “I’m gone for two weeks.” Make it precise. “I am away from the office starting July 1 and will be back July 15. The same applies to your alternate contacts. Let the sender know who to contact and how to get a hold of them.
- Concise: keep it as short as possible while still making it complete. Use short, bulleted phrases. People don’t want to read a novel in your out-of-office reply.
- Clear: make sure it’s easy to understand. Don’t use abbreviations, job titles or internal jargon that will not be understood by everyone sending you a message.
Rather that coming back to a packed e-mail in-box and a full voice-mail box, spend a few minutes crafting a useful out-of-office message and people will be able to redirect or park tasks appropriately.
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Steven Covey’s 7 Habits - The Condensed Version
Cover of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
The Steven Covey classic, “The 7 Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” has been required reading for personal and professional development for some years now. If you’ve not yet read it and want a taste or you’re looking for a quick recap, Michael Gray takes 300 plus pages and condenses it to a few dozen paragraphs.
From Dependence to Interdependence
Personality vs. Character Ethics
Proactive, Personal Vision
Beginning with the End in Mind
Personal Management
Paradigms of Interdependence
Think Win-Win
Seek to Understand, Then Be Understood
Principles of Creative Cooperation
Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal
Conclusion
Seven Habits Condensed Summaries
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4 Steps for Setting Successful Goals
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Surprisingly, many people drift through life with no goals or only vague dreams, hopes and wishes. No wonder we achieve less than we could. Here are four simple steps to keep in mind when setting goals:
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How to Give a Speech So You Won’t be Asked to Speak Again
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If that approach makes you nervous, write out your speech and read it verbatim. This works particularly well if you have a PowerPoint presentation with the full text you are reading.
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10 Point Self-management checklist
Set clearly defined goals. Make them specific, measurable, acceptable, realistic, and
Record your hit rate. Track your successes and failures.
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Meet regularly with your accountibility partner. Don’t just ask someone to keep you accountable; meet with them regularly to review progress.
Set personal penalties for failure. Give small rewards to your accountability partmer as penalties for your missing a target or failing on a behaviour.
Think small. Don’t think about losing 50 pounds, think about losing one pound and repeat 50 times.
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Fill your day with joy
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We spend a lot of time in the pursuit of happiness. Happiness is a great thing, but can be subjective, based on circumstances. Joy brings a deeper sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. Joy is foundational; a sense that all will work out, even when the immediate circumstances aren’t going the way we would like.
Richard Wagner said, “Joy is not in things; it is in us.” We chase happiness, but we build joy. There are many ways to develop a joy-full attitude; here a three simple daily activities anyone can try:
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6 Tricks to Help You Remember Names
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