Remember the good ol cars of the 50's and 60's (and even the early 70's)? Each year the city of Kitchener puts on one of Canada's largest antique and classic car parades down it's downtown main street. In 2008 they had 255 cars. It's called "Cruisin on King St." I've just added "a few" snapshots that I took with my BlackBerry. All through the summer on Monday nights Kitchener's A & W also sponsors a cruise down memory lane, the old classic cars come out and cruise the "main drag" of downtown Kitchener.

We've all seen those boring pre-flight safety videos when we've gone flying but here's a new twist by Air New Zealand that's sure to have passengers paying a little more attention. Flight crews appear to be in uniform, but a closer look reveals that it's nothing but body paint. Very tastefully done. I may just have to book a flight :-).

YouTube - Bare essentials of safety from Air New Zealand
   

  Some rules you just don't violate. Enjoy, it's a bit long, but well worth the laugh.

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Talking about YouTube - Male Restroom Etiquette
  

  ROTFL! I got a good chuckle out of this, it's so true.

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Talking about YouTube - What Facebook Is For
   

WW I happened a long time ago, but it is an event in history that should never be forgotten. It happened between 1914-1918. Back then Canada was a young nation, still very much tied to the British Commonwealth. It was clear right from the start, the fact that Britain was at war Canada too was at war.

 
Although our military was still small at the time, 3,100 men in the army and a fledgling navy, Canadians quickly volunteered to help defend the "Mother Country" and a force of 32,000 men gathered to train and cross the Atlantic. By the time the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, a total of 619,636 men and women had served in the Canadian forces and of these 66,655 gave their lives and another 172,950 were wounded. Nearly one of every ten Canadians who fought in the war did not return.

Our veterans from this war are almost all gone, the last surviving vet is 108 years old. In honour of our fallen heroes, a vigil will take place at the Canadian War Memorial between Nov 4 - 11th. Each night, beginning at 5:15 pm and ending at sunrise the next day, lasting for 13 hours each night, the last names of our fallen will be streamed across the War Memorial. 9,700 names will be displayed each night. Besides Ottawa, the vigil will also take place in Newfoundland, Halifax, Fredericton, Toronto, Regina, Edmonton, Victoria, and London, UK, beginning at 5pm and running for 13 hours each night in each city. If you are unable to make it to one of the vigil locations you can also catch it live on the Internet at 1914-1918.ca.

I decided to use the site's search tool to find out if and when any Leafloor names would be displayed and found Sapper Arthur H. Leafloor of the Canadian Engineers, Service Number 2714538 died June 15, 1919 and his name will be displayed on Nov 7th at 11:49PM.
Using my Uncle Micheal Leafloor's Family History I have found that Arthur H Leafloor was my great-great Uncle. Athur H Leafloor was the forth son born to John Lafleur/Leafloor and Hellen Walker. John was my Great-Grandfather, father to my Grandfather Thomas Melborne Leafloor. Arthur is the second child that was registered with the surname Leafloor. Arthur was born 27 Aug 1898 and died at the age of 20 years, 9 months, 19 days on 15 June 1919. Arthur never married. Arthur received the British War Medal posthumously from the British Royal Family, which expressed Britain's gratitude for sacrificing his life in defense of the British people.

In honour of Arthur's service to our country, I will be making every effort possible to be at the National War Memorial on Nov 7th, dressed in my CF dress uniform, wearing my own medals, to salute my great-great Uncle.

Let us never forget those who gave their lives to fight for freedom and the way of life we all know and love.

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From the album James Blunt - "Back To Bedlam" - No Bravery

It's been a while since I posted here but I have some things on my mind. Here I am posting about Afghanistan. For those who have read my profile you know that I'm in the military, been in it for 22 years now, and I've seen my fair share of troubled places. I've enjoyed my time in the service and have gotten a chance to see parts of the world I may not have ever seen had I not joined the military.

I last did a tour in 2003 when Canada decided to go back to Afghanistan for a second time. I spent 2 months there providing a communications link back to Canada for the rest of the troops that were there building a camp in Kabul in preparation for the rest of the Canadian troops to come over. Things were fairly quiet for the most part, the Taliban hadn't been doing much in the first month that I was there. During the second month we experienced our first major disturbance and I'll never forget that day. I had been working the midnight shift and having finished the shift I headed for my tent to catch some rack time before the heat of the day came on. About an hour and a half after falling asleep I wake up to the sound of a very loud explosion. I wait to hear the attack siren and PA system come alive with an announcement to head for the bunkers, but it never comes. The heat is starting to build, it's already around 20 Celsius under the canvas, so I go back to sleep to catch a few more hours before the heat becomes unbearable. Waking up around noon, the temperature under the canvas now up to around 35 Celsius and impossible to sleep anymore, I get up and head for a shower before going to the mess hall for lunch. There's a fair amount of activity in the camp, but then it's mid-day, so I don't think much about it. After grabbing a bite to eat I head for our Internet shop to get some online time. The Internet shop is near our medical section and it's then that I realize what's going on as I note several foreign soldiers with crutches and bandages. To confirm my thoughts I ask around and find out that the explosion I had heard earlier was a bus load of German soldiers getting hit by a suicide bomber about a mile away from the camp. Some of the wounded had been brought to the camp to receive medical attention. The unfortunate Germans had been heading for the airport to catch their flight home after completing their tour.

That was the biggest incident to happen in the short time that I had been there, but that was enough of an incident to firmly put in my mind that I didn't want to be there. Sad to say as I've always believed that Canada can help other countries and people in need, and have always been happy to be somewhere helping a country and its people rebuild itself. Afghanistan and it's people do need the help, but their people have got to do more for themselves as well. The country is desolated from decades of war. Streets are in very poor condition and few are paved. Buildings still bear the scars of bullets and bombs. Driving is a challenge as cars, trucks, military vehicles, animals and people all share the road. Pollution is rampant, the air thick with smoke and dust, the rivers are no more than creeks full of rotting garbage and rusting vehicles. Almost everyone who goes there ends up getting sick at one time or another. I spent a day and a half sedated in sick bay during my third week there because I got sick (no, I didn't eat any of the local food or drink any of the local water).

So why am I writing about this now, 3 years after it happened? Well, I've been asked twice in the last couple months if I wanted to go to Afghanistan. My answer to that was a resounding no, I did not want to go back again. It appears that wasn't the answer they were looking for as on Friday afternoon (Nov 3) I got a call at home ( I had finished working a midnight shift that morning) from my Chief telling me that my name had gone forward to the CO for a tour that takes place in February. I should know more on Wednesday (Nov 8) whether or not I will be going.

I originally did this post over at MySpace. It's early Thursday morning now and I'm still waiting to hear anything. I have to hope that the old saying "no news is good news". Keeping my fingers crossed.