Jack's Corner

 
I apologize

Back on March 30th, I was one of the many incredulous citizens that condemned a judge's decision to let a suspected fraud artist leave the country to visit a sick relative, after a co-conspirator had also won such a favour and didn't bother to return.  My last words in that post were:  I guess you'll be seeing part 3 of this continuing saga come mid-May.

So, it's mid-May, and today's paper features a story about the return to Canada of the fraud suspect.

I apologize!

 
The four "black hats"

My home town doesn't have many Jews.  We used to have many more, but those that wanted to practice their faith moved to bigger centres of Jewish population.  Despite our dwindling numbers, we still have three functioning synagogues.  The synagogue I attend has a Chabad rabbi.  When he walks to the synagogue for sabbath prayers, he wears his traditional black topcoat and black hat.  I'm sure he attracts a lot of attention.

This past weekend, our rabbi hosted some of his family members, and of course, they also attended synagogue for the sabbath.  On Saturday morning during prayers, the rabbi mentioned that when he and his family members were walking home after Friday night services, they were stopped by two passerby's who wanted to photograph them.

I hadn't really thought much about this, but I imagine it has been many years (if indeed it has ever happened before) that four Chabad rabbis have walked together on the streets of this town.  For posterity, I asked that they furnish a picture of the "family" of rabbis.


Our rabbi is third from the left.  The other rabbis are his brothers and father.

 
Happy Birthday, Dad

Dad last celebrated his birthday on this day in 2004.  Had he not died two months later of an infection contracted in the hospital where he was undergoing a minor, routine procedure, I have no doubt he would be celebrating his 92nd birthday today.

I miss you, big guy!

Despite thinking about him on every birthday (and times in between), this one is more emotional than most.  Back in January, 2003, my father left a "Happy Birthday" message on my sister's answering machine.  She never erased that message.  Recently, she taped that message and had it transferred to a CD.  This past weekend, I visited her in Toronto, and she presented me with a copy of that CD for my own birthday.




I confess that I wasn't as "moved" as she was by hearing the CD.  It was warm and cute, but not terribly nostalgic... until today.  Hearing his voice, picturing his mischievous smile and the sparkle in his eye as he recorded that message... and realizing that it could be me, singing the same song to him for his birthday... it was all too much.  I just finished my little cry, and thought I'd share.

 

Happy Birthday, Lilli!

I went to school with a few awesome girls.  They basically ignored me for the most part (I being the nerd, and they being almost supermodel hot).  But for whatever reason, we had a friendship that endured for years.

At some point, I stopped seeing the majority of these girls, but one friendship has persisted.  Lilli was my closest neighbour growing up, and we attended the same public and high schools.  Although we went our separate ways after high school, we still enjoy calling one another on our birthdays, and when she visits my home town, I make an effort to get together.

Ironically, this weekend, she has returned to visit her parents and celebrate her birthday, while I will be heading out of town to visit my sister in Toronto.  Before leaving, I took the time to call her (first at her home, and then at her parent's home when I found out she was back in town).

I can't describe how happy it makes me feel to hear her voice - to know that she's doing well.  Happy Birthday, Lilli!

 
I'm just speechless

Last December 7th, I posted about the mastermind of a local car dealership scam. This person duped many people into buying worthless warranties on their vehicles, and also forged their finance agreements so that the amount they thought they owed on their vehicles was different than the amount he reported to the finance companies. Most of the car buyers are now facing threats of repossession from the finance companies.

Back then, I posted how this mastermind fooled the court into letting him leave the country to visit his "ailing" mother. He hasn't returned to face trial and is reportedly living large in his home country of Lebanon.

So today, his second in command (who is currently in jail facing more than 60 charges of fraud related to the same scam) also approached the judge to say that his father is sick, and he wanted permission to leave the country to visit him.

It's obvious what the judge would say, having been fooled before. He said "Fine, go visit your dad. Just be back by May 16th".

I guess you'll be seeing part 3 of this continuing saga come mid-May.

Labels: corrupt justice system, fraud, insane judge

 
That's just creepy

I just finished sending an email to someone using my Gmail account. It was intended to help the person solve a technical issue, and I asked him how his disk drive was attached to his computer.

As I hit the "send" button, Gmail did not immediately send my message. Instead, it popped up a box saying something like: "You used the phrase is attached in your message, but you haven't attached any file to this message. Did you intend to do so?"

Now, I realize people forget to attach files to their emails once in a while. Hell, I have forgotten it myself more than once. But, I think it goes too far to have Google try to interpret what I mean in my messages unless I'm performing a search. Unless I ask for help with my grammar, I'd prefer Google just do what I ask.

 
The heat wave continues

This is Canada. Until yesterday, it was winter. The average temperature for Windsor in March is 2 celcius (36 fahrenheit). The highest average temperature ever recorded in Windsor was 5 celcius (41 fahrenheit) ... until now. With days left until the end of the month, the average temperature for March stands at 9 celcius (48 fahrenheit)!

Over the past four days, the average temperature in Windsor has been 78 fahrenheit. Yesterday, Windsor hit an all-time high temperature for March 21st in all of Canada ... 82 degrees. That was higher than Las Vegas, Dallas Texas, and a few other cities that are normally considered "hot". And it was freakin' WINTER (OK, technically the first day of spring).

I'm not complaining, but G-d help all the blooming flowers and no-longer-hibernating critters if we get one or two more good snowfalls before the really warm weather begins.

 
Not much worth talking about has been going on recently. But the weather is amazing. Except for some very cold weather at the beginning of March (the nerve!), the remainder of the month has been amazingly warm.

Yesterday and today, I had to turn the air conditioning on in my car to remain comfortable. You heard right! Air conditioning in Canada in March!

The temperature today reached at least 24C during the afternoon (according to the built in outdoor temperature sensor in my vehicle). That's 75 in "real" degrees! If this is "global warming", then I'm all for it.