Newsletter Vol. #65 Thats how I see it!

Hi, were back! Had a great time on our holidays in the Caymans and now back to reality--I do love holidays and I do love coming home.

Cayman Island Report-April, 2017
 
I can still remember the first experience with the Cayman Islands 19 years ago when our daughter Lisa, and son Bradley, took up residence there. (Lisa stayed a year and then came back to Canada to begin her education; Brad stayed.) That experience I am referring to is when you first disembark from the plane you are hit with a wall of heat. This time, in March, it was warm but not overwhelming.
 
We were met at the airport by Drinda's sister, Nancy, and by our son, Brad. Lisa, her two kids, Maliah (7) and Conner (4), Drinda and an assortment of suitcases took off for Brad's where we were all staying (next door to Nancy and her family). I walked across the street and picked up our rental vehicle for the next month.
 
When we arrived at Brad's/Nancy and Jay's house, much to our great pleasure, an above ground swimming pool had been erected by Jay. For the next 10 days the pool became the centre of our kids' ritualistic pleasure: start the day with a swim, have a swim before lunch, and a quick dip before the sun went down and the bugs came out. The pool was a great hit, notwithstanding, boat rides to stingray city, a sea-doo ride, cruising on the pirate ship, horseback riding, eating out, which meant getting all dressed up (Miliah), and an Easter egg hunt to end all Easter egg hunts, that Nancy created. She kept the kids running around, figuring out clues and collecting prizes and chocolate Easter eggs until their baskets were loaded.
 
Late nights and early mornings often led to easily hurt feelings, a few temper tantrums, and perhaps what could be described as a minor scrap between cousins (Conner and Oisin). But five minutes back in the pool and all was forgiven.
 
I tried my best to be as invisible as possible with all of this kids stuff. Papa became an afterthought, which was my plan, with Lisa, grandma and Nancy leading the creativity to keep the kids busy. It's been a long time since our two children were young and I had forgotten just how labour intensive kids were. I did my best to disappear around 2:30 each afternoon and find my way to the North Sound Golf Course where I would drastically increase my stress level. Apparently water can get into a golfer's head just by being on the left or right side of the fairway.
 
Brad and Suzanne, along with her parents Tom and Sally, showed Drinda and me the location where their wedding will take place this coming November-Pedro's Castle, a truly unique and historic building with its rolling lawn stretching out to the ocean, that will indeed make the perfect location for the perfect couple.
 
Here is a bit of info on the Castle:
Pedro's Castle is the oldest existing building in the Cayman Islands.[1] Located on the southern coast of Grand Cayman Island, the manor is a reconstruction of an original 1780 house,[2] and the home of plantation owner William Eden. In 1831, it served as a rendezvous point for the first elected parliament in the Cayman Islands; the location has since been known as the birthplace of democracy in Cayman. During this meeting, the decision was made amongst the island's leading citizens to vote for elected representatives. Four years later, in 1835, the Slavery Abolition Act was read from the stone archway of the building.

By the 1970s, the building was reduced to ruin after decades of neglect.

In 1996, a restoration totalling over $6 million transformed the then-abandoned waterfront building.[3] The two-story building and its verandas were rebuilt and reconstructed in the original 18th-century style and is the most extensive restoration project in Cayman history.

We had a wonderful time with wonderful people and I am already looking forward to November (Brad and Suzanne's wedding)

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Still haven't heard from Fringe Festival, so I guess we won't be in it this year. Thanks to all of you who volunteered to help out. Rest assured there will be another project popping up in its place.

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Credit Cards--Are They Safe?
 
Are you aware that last year, crooks racked up nearly $366-million worth of charges on lost, stolen, or otherwise compromised cards, targeting nearly half a million customers, according to figures from the Canadian Bankers Association. That explains why the industry has been pushing for the adoption of more secure microchip cards that require users to slide their plastic into a terminal and enter a PIN, similar to the way debit cards work.
 
My understanding of this issue is that in the US the credit card companies are still asking their customers for their signature on purchases and have not yet switched to the chip and pin system. In Canada we have switched to the chip and pin system and as a result fraud resulting from counterfeit cards is already on the decline- down 30 per cent since 2008.

"Although we're seeing good progress in rolling out chip cards to market, fraudsters are very creative and are trying to take advantage of things while they still can," says Mike Bradley, the head of products for Visa Canada, which estimates that nearly 70 per cent of Visa card holders in Canada now have chip cards.
 
Somewhat problematic is that as the security surrounding credit cards increases, banks will naturally become more sceptical of fraud claims. Catherine Johnston, president of Advanced Card Technologies Canada says, "I think what's happening is that banks look at it and say, it's easy to fake a signature, but how do you fake a four-digit number?" So what has happened in the UK is that there has been a "liability shift" when it comes to how credit card fraud is dealt. That is troubling seeing as no credit card system will ever be perfectly fraud-proof.
                                                                          Chris Sorensen-McLean's

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Relationships and Dependency

In our lives we often search for that one person to meet all our needs. Someone to take care of us, to fill the void we feel. All to often we end up searching in the wrong places and snagging the wrong fish. We place such a high value in having a person (any person) in our life, that we overlook their shortcomings, we defer to them and become dependent on them. In many cases they can't really live up to our lofty expectations and the relationship goes through some very tough times, maybe even failure. Dependency (waiting to be rescued) on others is definitely not good, but learning to be less dependent on our self is even worse. The problem with looking for answers to life's challenges outside of our self (using other people's ideas and advice, books with lists, TV talk show hosts) is that we lose touch with who we are and eventually our ability to solve our own issues rusts away. When we become dependent we don't develop our own problem solving skills, we don't take risks, and we don't experience the rush of success or the exhilaration of high self-esteem that is the result of "doing it our way". We don't know what we want or need in our life and we certainly don't develop a personalized balanced life philosophy.

If we are to be independent and healthy, we must first learn to listen to and love our selves. In truth, we cannot love others unless we first possess a loving acceptance of our selves and who we are! Can we expect others to respect/love us if we are not prepared to love our selves? No! In all fairness, we cannot expect others to do what we are not prepared to do.
 
A healthy person in a healthy environment lives out the balance between work, play, laughter, aloneness, and touch. It's interesting about touch, it seems that it takes away the toxins in the touched person and they feel less lonely, less sad and more hopeful. We can touch people in many ways: with our words, our eyes, or physically touch them. The power in touch has the ability to be life altering. It seems that in reaching out and touching people we can make a difference, not only to their lives but to ours as well.

A healthy/well person is one who loves themself and understands that they are "in charge" of their life and are committed to maintaining a balanced lifestyle. They appreciate their current family and friends, as well as their "family of origin" and those positive messages they have been given on how to live life to the fullest. They understand that to maintain their health they need to consciously work towards healthy choices. Most people do not have the necessary permission/messages in their computer (heads) to allow them to live a balanced life. So, they must choose to stay healthy, they must make conscious decisions, plan, become knowledgeable about what it takes to be and stay healthy. For most of us, living a healthy lifestyle is not an automatic decision; it is a moment-by-moment choice!

That's how I see it!       Dan

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The Quiz

Which 1968 film is partially based on the novel "Sentinel" by Arthur C. Clarke?

What is the best selling perfume of all time?

What is the term for the result of division in math?

The modern era of expansion in Major League Baseball began in 1961. Since then, the New York Mets were the first expansion team to win two World Series. What was the second expansion team to win multiple World Series?

The central business district of what US city is colloquially referred to as "The Loop"?

The Yoshizawa-Randlett system is a specific technique used in which art?

What classic book was published in 1952 as a follow-up apology to the author's 1948 book entitled "Death Of A Pink"?

Which two performers won Oscars for their roles in 1997's "As Good As It Gets"?

See below for answers                                                         MacLean's

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How to Maintain a Healthy Level of Sanity in Retirement.

1. At lunch time, sit in your parked car at the curb with sunglasses on and point a hair dryer at passing cars...watch 'em slow down!
 
2. On all your cheque stubs, write 'for marijuana'!
 
3. Skip down the street rather than walk and see how many looks you get.
 
4. Order a diet water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
 
5. Sing along at the opera.
 
6. When the money comes out of the ATM, scream 'I won! I won!'
 
7. When leaving the zoo, start running towards the car park, yelling 'run for your lives! They're loose!'
 
8. Tell your children over dinner: 'due to the economy, we are going to have to let one of you go...
 
9. Pick up a box of condoms at the pharmacy, go to the counter and ask where the fitting room is.
 
And the final way to keep a healthy level of insanity: my favourite.
 
10. Go to a large department store's fitting room, drop your drawers to your ankles and yell out: "there is no paper in here"!
 
Send this e-mail to someone to make them smile. It's called 'therapy'!

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Answers:
2001: A Space Odyssey; Channel No. 5; Quotient; Toronto Blue Jays; Chicago; Origami; Charlotte's Web; Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt

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Have a great week!
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