Did you ever feel like you wanted to be a kid again? I don’t just mean not having the different burdens in adulthood, like work related problems, friendship related problems, money related problems, health related problems. I just mean when you were really little and life was about dressing up or arts and crafts, or
talking to your dolls and stuffed animals and they were your best friend. Or having an imaginary friend.

Today there was loss. Loss of someone I knew since I was very young. Someone who was a very smart women who had a lot of things to say about a lot of different topics. Someone who will be missed by many people.

And after getting this call from my mom, I drove home from work. And on the way home I was listening to vynl 95.3 and they have a spot called Gord’s Gold I think it is….and tonight they played Peter, Paul and Mary. It made me cry….well, because this song always brings a tear to my eye. But tonight, it made me wish that I was like Jackie Paper, and that life was what it was, with your friend Puff the Magic Dragon.

“Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea

And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee

Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff,
and brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff. Oh

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee

Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff’s gigantic tail,
Noble kings and princes would bow whene’er they came,
Pirate ships would lower their flags when Puff roared out his name. Oh

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee


A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And Puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.

His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain,
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his life-long friend, Puff could not be brave,
So Puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave.
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee”

Today’s topic – Self check out/scanning

I like the self check out lines. I choose them when I am at stores that have that program. I usually don’t have more than 10-12 items and I know how to scan the bar codes without issue, and I know how to key in the PLU numbers on the produce. It is not rocket science, and it is not saving lives…..but it amazes me how many people do NOT know how and SHOULD not be using self check/scanning.

If you do any of the following scenarios I am about to mention – really, you should NOT be using the self check out/scanning in any store.

– if you have a WHOLE cart load of groceries. It will take you more time to scan each item, and when you have a message that you need to see the attendant, you have to stop what you are doing. Today the couple had a full cart load, and a baby in a stroller. They filled one box and they tried to take it and the case of water that they bought off the check out sensor and it wouldn’t let them continue. Why you may ask? Well, the answer is simple – it is SENSORED, it knows when you take items on and off the shelf. She told them it wouldn’t let them go on until they put the box and the water back on.

– if you plan on PRICE MATCHING 10 items with other stores flyers. Today – the girl in front of me had the flyers for Freshco, Loblaws, and Metro – for her Broccoli, mushrooms, apples, and whatever the hell she put on the scale. EACH AND EVERY item had to be adjusted. Oh, and she received 2 phone calls while she was trying to do this transaction. Lady (and she was younger than me) – get in a REAL line if you want to do that kind of shopping.

– if you are not really familiar with PLU codes on produce and you have to ask for assistance for each and every item in your cart. Get in a real line and have the staff scan it for you.  The staff is there for assistance, but if you need help with almost every item, this line is not for you.

I don’t think I am being unreasonable in my comments here today. Life is busy, and for the most part, the grocery shopping experience is a pain the a** and no body really LOVES to do it, but it does have to get done. Some of us who don’t have to shop for a large family, or go more than once a week to pick up a few fill in items, like the convenience of the self checkout/scanning area of these stores. It is supposed to be a fast, easy and relatively painless experience……not like Chinese water torture which it was today.

How do you feel about it?

February 21, 2009 – the date of my car accident. It seems very far away and it is. I try to give it the memory that it needs but not to draw a lot of thought to it. I mean, it is always there, but it doesn’t inhibit me from driving on highways, in the rain, and sometimes even when it snows. I even drove out to the airport on the 401 a few weeks ago to the international centre. I thought about it after the fact and realized how long it had been since I had been out that far on the 401, well, my mother reminded me.

And then tonight, two shows on tv, one real and one fiction, both shed light on how lucky I really was that night.

The first show that was on was Extreme makeover home addition. This young man was doing a back flip in his backyard, fell wrong and became a parapalegic. Not a car accident, but just that, snap – in a instant, lives changed forever. Really it was hard to watch. I had to keep my tears in check, as my niece Zoe was watching my face as I watched the show. We left their house shortly thereafter, so I didn’t see the end of the show and to see what amazing things ABC did for this young man and his family.

Second show – Private Practice. A young pregnant woman survives a car accident but has a traumatic brain injury. Very much like the movie 50 first dates with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler if you saw it. She has to live her life without any long term memory. She doesn’t even know she is pregnant. Can you imagine a life like that? The husband says to his therapist – that sometimes he wishes she had died, and what a horrible person he must be. All because of something that happens in a split second.

My car slid off the highway, into the ditch and flipped over. Other than the obvious psychological trauma I have been faced with these last 2 1/2 years, my only problem is my left arm which kind of always has a dull ache. It aches more when the weather is going to change and when it rains, but that is it.

How freaking lucky was I? Pretty freaking lucky I would say.