Category Archive: Zeitgeist

Catching up: my recent 24 Hours columns, plus two interviews

Posted by Mike Klassen on December 18, 2009

catching up
Sometimes things get away on you...

It's been a very busy 2009 and I've enjoyed joining in on a public dialogue on a number of issues through CityCaucus.com, and as well the half-dozen or so columns I've written so far for Vancouver's 24 Hours Newspaper. Here are links to a couple of the most recent columns:

I've also done 2 interviews lately, both focused on a "year-end look" at City Hall politics. My friend Jonathon Narvey re-kickstarted his podcast with this interview.

Another friend who as it happens lives in my neighbourhood, the accomplished Joseph Planta of TheCommentary.ca, did this recent interview with me. Joe's got some other great interviews that I really need to take the time to listen to.

Tagged: 24 hours, interviews, jonathon narvey, joseph planta, podcasts

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My hernia operation: just another Canadian health care story

Posted by Mike Klassen on December 3, 2009

burnaby-hospital
Burnaby Hospital, in the heart of Metro Vancouver. Photo: Vancouver Sun

I don't usually share personal details on my blog, but I don't mind telling those who will read this about my recent experience of using our Canadian health care system. I should point out that calling it "Canadian" is a bit of a misnomer, as health budgets are managed by provinces. However, the Canada Health Act is federal legislation, and it dictates how provinces (like British Columbia, or B.C., where I live) distribute health care to all Canadians.

I've heard of health care stories in the USA where people are stuck covering large bills for insurance and treatment. I've also heard of insurance companies altering their terms of coverage after people get sick. I've read testimonials of people who are destitute because they got sick and were stuck with large costs. Some lost their ability to earn a living because of these illnesses, and lose homes and valued possessions trying to pay their bills. How commonplace this is I cannot say.

Here's my experience, with as much detail as I can recall.

One morning just under a couple of months ago I noticed a lump in my groin. It was not sore, but big enough standing up that it bulged out of my lower abdomen about the size of an apple sliced in half. It was not a good day for me after I noticed this, as I feared the worse.

I rang my family doctor, but as it turns out he was on one of his rare vacation breaks. I was anxious enough that I felt that I should check it right away, so I attended a local clinic that evening. When I arrived about 7:30pm I was told that the waiting list was full, but I could check another clinic which they called to check for me. There was no wait at the other clinic, so I drove about 10 minutes to the second clinic.

I waited about five minutes in the lobby, then was told I could wait inside one of the patient rooms. In there I sat about 25 minutes. The doctor came in, had a look and told me that I had a hernia. At the time he suggested that I could wait for my family doctor to return from vacation, and get a referral for a surgeon then. I left the clinic that evening with a big load off my mind.

When I arrived home I had a message to call the clinic back. Some of the anxiety crept back in at that point. The doctor told me upon reflection that he didn't want to take any chances, and that I should go to emergency to have it checked out. In rare cases hernia's can result in twisted bowels, and cause more damage inside.

Continue reading "My hernia operation: just another Canadian health care story" »

Tagged: bc medical card, british columbia, burnaby hospital, canada, canadian health care, general anesthetic, inguinal hernia, medical care, surgery

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Bumble bees take a break in my yard

Posted by Mike Klassen on July 18, 2009

A Flickr slideshow of bees taking a break in my yard

The summer cooled down a bit, not much, but the clouds came in for a few days in Vancouver and the hot sunny weather became a little cool (< 20 degrees C).

What resulted was a little unusual. My flower garden, which regularly gets many bumble bees and honey bees visiting the lavender and sage and other assorted annuals and cone flowers, had lots of bees just taking a rest.

Each day at least a dozen of them would camp out for a half hour on the top railing on our front deck. When the warm weather returned, they stopped taking rest breaks.

I liked that these lovely little workers decided to take a rest stop at our place.

Tagged: bumble bees, gardening, summer in vancouver

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The Home Page is going to be awesome

Posted by Mike Klassen on April 3, 2009

Auto Tuning from Casey Donahue on Vimeo.

This is just so great. Watch the video.

Tagged: karaoke, video, vimeo

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Do you bother to go to big concerts anymore?

Posted by Mike Klassen on February 18, 2009

Wow, have things changed since I was in high school when it comes to concert ticket prices. I remember a conversation I once overheard in a class:

Is there a band you'd pay over 10 bucks to see in concert?

Yeah, Rod Stewart. Maybe Aerosmith.

That conversation took place about 30 years ago, when concert tickets for big shows by Kiss, Fleetwood Mac and other great bands in their late '70s prime were only about 8 bucks each. The thought of paying 10 bucks to see a show (which must have seemed like a lot of money then to 14 year olds) was outrageous.

Continue reading "Do you bother to go to big concerts anymore?" »

Tagged: beer, favourite, live music is better, ticketmaster

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Looking forward to the new Morrissey record

Posted by Mike Klassen on February 15, 2009

The former Smith's frontman is back to continue his considerable solo career work with a new album, Years of Refusal. I was a late bloomer as a Smiths/Moz fan (my friend Lord Thompson tried hard to get me to listen though), but I just love these mopey boys' music. Morrissey's solo record Your Arsenal is one of the hardest rocking records in the 90's. It is damn near impossible to listen to it with the volume down. The guitars nearly cut you in half.

Earlier in this decade, 2004 I think, Morrissey surprised with another great record, and even radio airplay (!) stateside with the fantastic Irish Blood, English Heart (see the video).

Anyway, Moz. Welcome back. Cute kid, btw.

Tagged: morrissey, new music releases, the smiths

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Costco Parking Lot

Posted by Mike Klassen on February 6, 2009

Costco Parking Lot

After a cloudburst, we wound up in the back of the parking lot at the new Costco store in Burnaby. The store and parking lot encroaches on the wetlands that straddle Willingdon Avenue. It has been largely turned into a Metro Vancouver business park, with a drive-thru McDonalds and big box stores. Tens of thousands of crows still call it home each evening.

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Merkel: you go, girl!

Posted by Mike Klassen on February 4, 2009

Blogging about international affairs, the Holocaust, and the Vatican is definitely punching above my weight class, but rarely are issues so crystal clear as the recent controversy involving the Pope.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel attacked the Vatican for lifting the excommunication of a British bishop named Richard Williamson, who is an unabashed Holocaust denier. Williamson believes "categorically" that there is insufficient evidence for the extermination of six million Jews in gas chambers during WW2. The pompous twit should be put out to pasture, not embraced by the Pope.

Continue reading "Merkel: you go, girl!" »

Tagged: angela merkel, catholic church, germany, holocaust denial, pope

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