My Gymnastics

One of the things that I must do now after my illness of just over 3 years ago is make sure that I continually exercise. Oh sure, there are lots of gym actions that I take these days. Interestingly, before I got so ill, I have to admit that I did very little in the way of performing any functions whatsoever.  Obviously, I must do a lot in physical activity now continually in order to remain as healthy as I possibly can for the rest of my life.

I don't want you to think, dear reader, that I do anything very dramatic. I really can't do that. However, there are a number of steps that I take every day to keep myself feeling well. Just so you know, until recently I was doing a set of exercises 3 times per day to help myself stay in better shape. I will explain what I mean shortly by "until recently."

I was taught a number of actions to help me keep in shape. This set of exercises takes about 20 minutes for each one for me to do all of them completely. In total then, I would be exercising about an hour per day. I had to start off with a relatively small number of steps in a particular exercise because physically I was just not able to do very many of them. However, the longer I kept doing them the better I felt and that allowed me to increase the number of motions for each exercise. Just so you understand what I mean by that, initially I might do something 3 or 4 times and now I do them 20 times. Soon, I will try to increase the numbers even higher.

"Until recently" does mean something. What I am saying, dear reader, is letting you know that I no longer just do the exercises that I have been doing for quite some time. No, I am being taught new exercises through a local program with which I am now dealing. In the last few weeks of working out with them, they have taught me 10 new exercises that I have to learn how to do. Right now, I am carrying out these exercises in small numbers. I assume that I might be taught even more new ones as time goes on. 

All of this will require that I spend additional time learning how to do these exercises and then actually carry them out. Right now I spend about 40 additional minutes per day with all these new steps. I must admit that I will probably spend even more time doing so once I learn how to do them properly because I will be able to exercise in a better fashion. 

Overall, that means about 2 hours per day to carry out my gym work.  For me that is completely different from what I have ever done before including the exercising I am doing now. Hopefully, the end result of all of this additional gym work is that I will feel a lot better given my age and what has happened to me from a health perspective recently.

Now, let me tell you about some interesting stories that I have seen recently.

CROSSING THE BORDER

It should not be a surprise to you, dear reader, that I have not crossed the border between Windsor and Detroit since I have been ill 3 years ago. For much of that time, it probably was not possible for me to do so because I had to get my body back in shape as much is possible with the illness that I was suffering. Even now, being in a relatively better shape compared with before, I still do not feel comfortable in going there and back. One day I trust I will be able to do so but not right now.

Recently, I read an article setting out the position of Nicholas Mizera who is a Blogs Editor at HuffPost Canada dated January 13, 2018:

"The U.S. Border Feels Like Hostile Territory To Canadians Like Me" (Nicholas Mizera, HuffPost Canada, January 13, 2018) 

To be direct, the question that he is really dealing with is the relationship now between Canada and the United States.  That is not something that he is talking about right to the point or with what he is dealing with directly. No, he talks about the problems in border crossing and how difficult it is now. Yet, he makes this comment close to the end of his article:

"Indeed, despite NAFTA, the process of crossing this sometimes blurred line between Canada and the U.S. has become painfully one-sided over the years — worse, in recent times…

At this point, I have to ask myself: as a Canadian, do I even want to cross the U.S. border? Do I want to risk my freedom, privacy or well-being — or that of a family member — to travel to Donald Trump's America?"

I believe that it is not the United States of America border crossing that is the big concern to him. No, I think that it is what he views as "Donald Trump's America."  One has to ask whether he would have the same difficulty if the President was a Democrat or even a different Republican.

I do agree with him that there is a difference when crossing the border. At least in the past, it seemed to be to me much more "friendly" crossing into Canada and dealing with the Canadian border people. Even then, I found it much stricter crossing into the United States although, to be frank, it was very quick to do so if one answered the questions asked by the US Customs person right on point. I believe that one's Customs records were displayed and then reviewed by the border person in the US just as one entered into that person's border crossing spot. I know that the information they had was pretty thorough based on some questions that I was asked. Moreover, that person was pretty "tough" in talking with you when asking you "border questions" but not many were asked, and if answered properly, then one was admitted easily.

Is it the same today or not? Obviously I do not know but it is not too difficult guess. There are more violence border matters, even more in North America than ever before. And extremely dangerous and life-threatening. That means that those in a "border" position knows that it is his/her job to protect their homeland against violence especially if the person who acts in such a manner crosses the border right through that person's border crossing.  

Regretfully, that person will never again be able to act in the "friendly" past manner for which one would hope.  That person cannot accept that his/her friendliness will lead to destruction.

Like it or not, that is the reality. Again, like it or not, one has to accept how a Customs Agent will now deal with you when crossing over and be prepared to act in the manner that the Customs person will accept.

WILL WINDSOR FORD REALLY EXPAND

Wow, do economic matters change so quickly, especially in the automobile industry that is so important economically in this Region. Just read on and see what I mean.

Sure, this expansion announcement was important for this region along with other automotive economic matters with other Auto Companies:

"Ford announced in November 2016 it was investing $613 million in its Windsor plants to launch a new global 7.0-litre engine program, after a four-year collective agreement between Ford and Unifor was reached." (Julie Kotsis, Windsor Star, January 12, 2018) 

That seemed to boost this area along with what is expected to happen with Chrysler. Yet, will that really happen in the first place and, even if it does, how long will the economic improvement last?

Just to let you know what I mean, do you remember this about a year ago:

"Ford Motor Co on Tuesday scrapped a planned Mexican car factory and added 700 jobs in Michigan following criticism by Donald Trump, as the U.S. president-elect turned his attention toward rival General Motors Co with the threat of a “big border tax” over compact cars made in Mexico." (Reuters January 4, 2017) 

How about this the other day, about a year later:

"Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said on Thursday it will shift production of Ram heavy-duty pickup trucks from Mexico to Michigan in 2020, a move that lowers the risk to the automaker’s profit should President Donald Trump pull the United States out of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Fiat Chrysler said it would create 2,500 jobs at a factory in Warren, Michigan, near Detroit and invest $1 billion in the facility." (Reuters January 12, 2018) 

In other words, dear reader, how long will all the "good news" really last and what has to be done to try to make sure that it really does happen? Just remember what happened in Australia and hope that it never happens here:

"As thousands of people attended an automobile rally in Australia’s blue-collar heartland on Sunday, many knew it was also a funeral procession for the nation’s car industry.

General Motors Co. will close its Holden factory in the South Australian suburb of Elizabeth on Friday, ending more than a century of car manufacturing in the country. Hundreds of workers will be left jobless, just weeks after Toyota Motor Corp. shut its plant in neighboring Victoria state, where Ford Motor Co. closed two sites last year." (Zoe Ma,Bloomberg, October 19, 2017)