Jason’s Random Thoughts

Happy Canada Day!

Well … that’s what I’d be saying if I were actually in Canada this year. Instead, I’ll use it as a passing joke with all the Canadians I happen to see at work today. Rather than enjoy the first day of July with friends, family and fireworks, we get to work in the sweltering heat, humidity and something else that starts with “H” to earn a living.

Oh well … could be worse, right?

Rather than celebrate this Canadian National Holiday traditionally in Japan, I think everyone in this country should try something different. I’m following Japanese tradition and thinking right inside the box with this one: Random Day!

So much in this ancient country is downright random that we might as well celebrate our native land’s day of confederation with something that could bring the two nations together. It doesn’t matter what we do, either … so long as it doesn’t break too many laws
For me, I think I’ll start the day by going to work in crocs, with a hot-pink necktie wrapped around my head like a bandana. To further exemplify the “typical Japanese 20-something guy”, I’ll spike my hair to look something akin to Sonic the Hedgehog and tease it on the train for the last half-hour of the journey into Nagoya. From there, I’ll drink my coffee with a silly-straw while wearing some style of sunglasses that scream “Elton John in the 70’s” as an iPod plays Benny and the Jets nearby.

What’s interesting about all of this, though, is that I likely wouldn’t attract a second glance in this country … until people noticed I was foreign. Either way, it’s one of the most random things I could think of at a moment’s notice. What kind of random things would you do if given the opportunity?

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Today is the first day of Ottawa’s new No-Fly list, and it has a bunch of people concerned.  Under the program, the government will compile names of people who pose “an immediate threat to aviation security” onto this list based on information supplied by CSIS and the RCMP.

Transport Minister Jean Lapierre has admitted that Canada’s effort will be quite modest in comparison to the programs in place elsewhere, such as the United States, but it has already raised alarms with some groups as Canadian cizitens have been mistakenly refused boarding for their flights.  As of this writing, Canada’s list is reportedly “fewer than 1,000 names”, whereas the U.S. counterpart has blossomed to more than 44,000.

The U.S. has used a no-fly list for a few years due to the 9-11 atacks in both Washington and New York.  When asked why Canada is still reviewing some security issues, the Transport minister replied that it had to do with legalities.  The government is not willing to implement any form of racial our country-of-origin profiling, which is a bonus, and according to a post I found on cbc.ca, there are three reasons a person may be placed on this list:

• An individual who has been involved in a terrorist group and who, it can reasonably be suspected, will endanger the security of any aircraft or aerodrome, or the safety of the public, passengers or crew members
• An individual who has been convicted of one or more serious and life-threatening crimes against aviation security
• An individual who has been convicted of one or more serious and life-threatening offences and who may attack or harm an air carrier, passengers or crew members

Unfortunately, there is very little information about this list online for the moment.  I’m not really concerned whether I’ll be on this list at this point, but I do wonder what would happen if someone else with the same name was wanted for some felony.  Would I be prevented from leaving Canada?  I hope to be working in Japan before the end of this year, so could the actions of someone else put my employment in jeopardy?

I’d like the Canadian government to make the No-Fly list available to citizens in some online format.  It would naturally need to be secure, since we wouldn’t want to go to a site and see a list of a thousand people that couldn’t fly for whatever reason, but I would be willing to enter a secure https connection and enter some personal data such as my SIN and earnings from last year in order to get a Yes or No answer regarding my status.  This way, if my name did raise an alarm, I could get in touch with the proper authorities long before my flight is be slated to take off.

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It’s funny how something as simple as being somewhere with the woman you love can make that somewhere ten times more enjoyable.

I grew up in Southern Ontario, spending much of that time about an hour’s drive away from Niagara Falls.  In the 22 years I had spent in the province, I had seen The Falls maybe half a dozen times.  Each time I had gone with friends, but never girlfriends.  Because of this, we would often go just to watch people or visit one of the many nudie bars that lay on the outskirts of the city.

Seeing The Falls themselves was alright, but not much fun.

So when Reiko and I visited Niagara Falls with some of my family today, I was quite surprised with how much I enjoyed the trip.

Driving there from Simcoe took two hours, and after arriving we had some lunch.  The weather was great, and the light breeze picked up the mists generated by The Falls and blew it across the picnic area.  Even with this cold water hitting us for the first hour or so, the day was remarkably warm.  From there we managed to take several hundred photos as we walked both above the ground, and below.  One of the attractions allowed us to walk behind the falls, and this was enjoyable as we could get right close to the water and see some of the snow that had built up in the morning.  We also treked up Clifton Hill to take in some of the sights, and even enjoyed a brief Ferris Wheel ride.

After all this, I’m still surprised that Reiko managed to stay awake.  She had just come from a Tokyo to Toronto direct flight the day before, with a four hour train ride beforehand.  With the excessive time differences, she had woken up several hours before anyone else.  And add to that the nervousness she had felt for meeting some of my family … I’m really surprised she didn’t pass out mid-afternoon.

Maybe that’s why she chased after the squirrels ….

I’m glad that we could make the trip to Niagara Falls during the short stay in Ontario, and I’ll be sure to bring Reiko again if we get the opportunity to stay longer.  There are quite a few places in that province that I had never really understood as being “special”, though I’m certain that everything will be at least a dozen times better with my Reiko.

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Alrighty … it’s been five years, but I’m back in Ontario.

The flight to Toronto was relatively uneventful, with just occasional discomfort from the people next to me.  The plane managed to arrive 45 minutes ahead of schedule, and this was certainly some good news as I really needed the bathroom.

I will admit that I was quite surprised by the lack of WiFi at Pearson International, though.  For an hour after landing, I was sitting at a coffee shop trying to get in touch with the world and I couldn’t find so much as a stray signal from a local McDonald’s.  Oddly enough, I was even having trouble with my Rogers GPRS data connection at the coffee shop.

Just to add some adventure to the trip, it seems that I had gotten every detail about Reiko’s flight to Toronto wrong.  I had landed in Terminal 3, and was expecting her to arrive at the international wing of the same terminal only an hour later.  Almost 90 minutes after she landed, we finally contacted each other via cell and found that she was actually in Terminal 1.  By this time I had already met up with my father and step-mother, so we made the trek to the other terminal and met up with my Reiko-chan.

Ah, what fun.  I wonder what would happen if Reiko and I could go 1 trip without some kind of adventure at the very start.  Hopefully the rest of the week will be enjoyable.

Tomorrow we go to Niagara Falls, and I’ll be taking lots and lots of pictures.  Later on, I’ll start posting to a new album in the photo gallery.

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