pitbullmedia.ca

You know what I hate?

Money grabs.

First Rogers jacks up my Internet rate by 10% and then gives me LESS service by throttling or  traffic shaping.

Then the bastards tell me that instead of a 15% discount on bundled services I’m only going to get 10% unless I sign up for another service…like what? Their crappy home phone service which isn’t really VoIP?

Oh, but I have call and beg them for the 10% and commit to a two year deal.

Bastards.

Then here comes CIBC quietly jacking up my Line of Credit rate by a percentage point so I now pay 5.5% instead of 4.5% - geez, you’d think they’d be thrilled to have a customer that not only pays their bills on time and always has done but responsibly manages credit. Which is more than can say about the CIBC who got their fingers caught in the derivatives cookie jar.

And you wonder why the general public are more cynical than ever about corporations and banks?

Screw the bail out…let them all burn in hell. 
 

This guy says it all. We freelancers are smart!

Last Thursday the Globe and Mail’s life section led with a story by Zosia Bielski about online dating sites.

There was the usual blather from sociologists about the break down of morality because some of the sites promote promescuity.

Shocking!

 What was more curious though, was that Lavalife.com was listed as one of those sites which encourages “raunchy” behaviour.

Bullshit. Utter bullshit.

Yes, there’s an intimate encounters section on LL - or Liar’s Lilfe as I often call it (Plentyoffish.com is often called Plenty of Freaks but in the interests of full disclosure I have a profile on both sites) and it about getting laid.

But the truth is few people ever do. For the most part Intimate encounters is set up for women who need to feel they are still desirable sexually and for the most part have no intention of following through.

(BTW I learned that from a NYT magazine article a couple of month back and from Oprah, that what women really, want, what they really, really want, is to be desired.)

It is also set up as a way to trap men who list their profiles in the two other sections, Dating and Relationships, and allows women to say “aha!” in catching a prospective suitor cruising the cheap seats looking for a quick fling.

The majority of members, in my experience and from the stories others have told me, are simply looking to date and fall in love.

The reason I bring this up, of course, is that as an online dater (what, you think I hang out in bars to meet women?) it upsets me when I introduce a lady to friends or at an event and somwhere along the line it comes up that we met online.

Those smug long-time married always seem to have a little smile on their faces but the truth is far from their imaginations.

Yes, people meet and have sex. People meet and have sex at the office too but you don’t see section leads suggesting the office is a hotbed of sexual liasons. Well, you do, but again, it’s blown out of proportion. Okay, pun intended.

But Lavalife as the centre of a plot to degrade the moral fabric of society?

Gimme a break. Online dating is just life facebook.com and there are many many sites dedicated to sexual encounters, Lavalife.com just doesn’t happen to be one of the prime leaders, though I suppose it doesn’t hurt their marketing efforts.

If you want sex online try fetlife.com, alt.com, ashleymadison, sugardaddy.com and adultfriendfinder.com.

But again, be prepared for the usual collection of teases and wankers. And more to the point, if you’re married or in a relationship, be aware that your partner may be setting a honey trap for you.

Oh, yeah, that happens more than you think and I know two or three examples first hand.

Not that I’ve ever been caught!

LOL 

You can push and shove us only so far.

Today, a light of hope that the industry which has fed, sheltered and raised me and my family for 33 years is finally getting serious.

AP is going to go after those who cut and paste their copy.

 Hooray…I might just start doing the same thing. 

No matter how dark it gets out there……there’s always something to bring a smile and a tear of joy to your eye.

Today it’s this:

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2539741

Turn up the volume and enjoy. 

Enough of the doom and gloom today; let me muse on my other addiction having watched England scratch out a World Cup Qualifying win over Ukraine, TFC lose their opener 2-0 while we froze and then Manchester United struggle to contain Aston Villa at Old Trafford as thepromise of a season of championships threatens to evaporate.

Why is it so hard to win?

Football, as Pele has said, is the beautiful simple game but those who really know and love the sport know it is so much more.

It is a paradox: Simple, yet complex. A beautiful but a cruel mistress who can quickly take away what she has given. We who play know just one injury can end it all while we who follow it from the stands also know that victory is fleeting, that the sharp shrill of the referee’s whistle can undo what it took months or years of preparation to achieve or how a single mistake can change everything.

It is a game of two halves played in thirds; two 45-minute segments of physical chess played on a field invisibly divided in thirds even though the white lines describe two halves.

It is a game which defies time. The minutes of extra time tick away like hours when you’re holding onto a one goal lead and you’re down to 10 men.

It is a team game in which a performance by a single player can mean the difference between winning and losing.

It also defies the odds: You can have possession all day long and still lose the game if one of your players deflects the ball into his own net. Or you can have almost all the possession and lose when they score on their only touch.

Oh yes, it happens. Champions can be humbled; underdogs have their day and the mood of a village, town, city, county or nation can swing up or down with the score line.

Liverpool’s legendary manager, Bill Shankly, the Yogi Berra of football managers, is famous for his many quotes but the one I’ve always liked best: “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it’s much more serious than that.”

It is. It is that and more.