Canadian Vaccine Passport?

On April 2, 2021April 2, 2021 By Rick McIn health & fitness, travelLeave a comment

Though Trudeau is worried about unintended side effects, vaccine passports are inevitable for some months and years to come. International airlines will require them, for example.

About 250k Canadians have already downloaded the most popular app — so far:

CANImmunize app

High privacy standards.

The app is available for free on iOS and Android devices and on the web at canimmunize.ca.

I manually added my 1st COVID vaccine. That can’t be in any way official.

But governments may eventually adopt this app for travel. I’ll be ready.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Skiing March 2021

On March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 By Rick McIn health & fitness, travelLeave a comment

Pandemic seemed a perfect time to get on to the slopes.

Staying in Banff for 5 nights, I enjoyed 1 day at Louise, 2 at Sunshine.

Loving my new Shady Ray ski goggles.

It was ALL great. But my favourite run is the (easiest line) on Eagle Creek coming off Goatseye.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Switching to Shoppers Drug Mart

On March 25, 2021March 21, 2021 By Rick McIn health & fitness, product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

Shoppers Drug Mart is Canada’s largest pharmacy chain with over 1000 stores.

As I hope to become — yet again — a traveller, I’m thinking it might be better (in future) to have in-person access to all these stores.

Since I went on blood pressure medications a few years ago, I’ve been dealing with local, independent pharmacies. Good service, but they rarely have what I need in stock.

So … I’ve made a second trip back in person to pick up my DRUGS.

That’s been a hassle a few times over the years, as I travel so much.

The independents and Shoppers both now ship for free — but I have more faith in the big company.

Actually, I would have gone with Amazon Canada Pharmacy — but they haven’t launched that service yet.

ESSENTIAL Travel to Banff

On March 23, 2021March 23, 2021 By Rick McIn ethics, health & fitness, travel1 Comment

I flew for the first time in a year — Vancouver Island to Calgary.

Essential travel to get my first vaccine March 18th.

Essential Doctor’s appointment next day. I hadn’t had an annual medical in over 15 months.

LAB TESTS Calgary are run by a monopoly ~ Alberta Precision Laboratories. Not enough capacity — obviously — as my first available slot was April 12th.

Happily, I could get lab tests in Banff March 23rd.

Travel out of Banff is non-essential, … so I better stay until my vaccine starts to kick in. 😀

Lounging-in-place in my US $60+ / night private hostel room. Only departing for essential food and drink.

And EXERCISE, of course. That’s essential too.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

On March 22, 2021March 18, 2021 By Rick McIn books, health & fitness, philosophyLeave a comment

Nora Seed decides to commit suicide.

And finds herself offered a chance to reinvent her life by going back and making different major life decisions.

Some include Nora becoming a glaciologist, Olympic swimmer, and rock star.

Haig put together this construct to talk philosophically about regret, hope and second chances. The author is a a champion of mental health causes. Instead of preaching medical science, he puts the same messages across in an entertaining narrative.

I found the book very uplifting.

Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever.
Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices
. . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?”
MattHaig.com

Click PLAY or meet Matt on YouTube.

$5 trillion COVID relief mostly gone to the RICH

On January 16, 2021January 15, 2021 By Rick McIn ethics, GOP USA, government, health & fitness, things getting worseLeave a comment

American taxpayers are throwing around money like drunken sailers.

WHY have the outcomes been so lousy?

Just 400 wealthy families provide about half the funding for presidential campaigns, and they speedball their influence through think tanks, legal advocacy groups, and friendly media.
Rupert Murdoch, the Mercer family, Michael Bloomberg, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos all shape our views and influence national policy. …
… $3 trillion in new money and historically low interest rates have been the nitro and the glycerin, respectively, of the stock market’s ascent.
The dirty secret is that there are two pandemics. While a quarter of America is food insecure and behind on rent, the shareholder class has experienced an explosion in net worth …
Professor Galloway