Happy Earth Day!

I am going to try to blog today. I must admit my arms are still shaking from having just spent 2.5 hours cleaning up the Cromwell Court area off of Grandview Avenue. I, the lone volunteer, managed to fill 9 garbage bags and collected various other items including a bike, tire, entertainment centre, carpet and a plastic tub full of action hero figurines. It is really mind boggling that in the year 2007 people can just throw this stuff in the woods. They should be ashamed. Anyhow, in case you didn't figure it out, I helped with ACAP Saint John's annual Earth Day cleanup. Happy Earth Day! I need a sleep now.

To update anyone who cares about my jaw pain you will remember in my last blog that I had a scheduled appointment with an orthodontist. Well, that was useless as well. It is still a mystery and I am still popping Advil and muscle relaxants like they were candy. I am sure there must be some long term health risks associated with this behaviour.

I watched the last City Council meeting with interest as they debated the value of a Ward System in Saint John. Having run for City Council last election and thinking about running again, I must say that I believe there are more benefits to a ward system than disadvantages. I did a lot of research during the last election and the majority of the research I came across showed that a Ward System was at least as beneficial as a At-Large System. Therefore, I believe that there is no risk in at least trying the system for a mandate and then re-evaluating down the road.

The past week could be called the week of dinners. I had 3 back to back dinners. The Chicken Noodle Soup Club Dinner, the 3rd Annual Lawson and Creamer Faces of Fusion Dinner and the P.R.O. Kids Dinner. The Chicken Noodle Soup Club Dinner was a lot of fun as you got to chat with kids all night and they kept me well entertained. Congratulations to the organizing committee. Perhaps it was more fun, as well, because it was the only dinner of the 3 that I didn't have to do any work. The Faces of Fusion Dinner was also a large success with about 200 people attending along with our Premier Shawn Graham. People have said they had a great time and hopefully they will check out our Facebook group and provide us with your input. The P.R.O. Kids Dinner took the most time as I was the Chair for the dinner this year. I arrived at lunch time and went home at 11:00 P.M. However, it was also very successful with 215 attending and raising just under $13,000. This is enough to place about 40 children into recreational programs. A big thank you to that organizing committee as well. All in all, I probably gained about 10 pounds over those 3 days!

Yesterday I attended the "Industrial City in Transition" conference at the N.B. Museum. It was a day long event highlighting the work to date of the Community University Research Alliance (CURA). I found it very interesting as I am not a native of Saint John and lacked some of the rich history until yesterday. It is also great to see the University working with the other community organizations on research initiatives. The keynote speakers were quite interesting, especially the gentleman who spoke about using cultural assets to grow a city. This is something that I believe in very strongly and have advocated for in the past.

Last night ended with a nice Mount Allison Alumni gathering at O'Leary's Pub. I was one of the organizers and we had about 20 people show up. Therefore, if you are a Mount Allison Alumnus and are reading this, be sure to come out to any events that we do in the future.

The rest of this weekend and most evenings next week I will be studying for my final exam for the Management Course I was enrolled in for the past year. The final is on Friday. Therefore, have a great week and if you are not having a great week just think about me studying and this should provide an immediate boost in mood!