Huge changes to the Canadian Live-In Caregiver Program are underway

The worst kept secret is finally out, that there are huge changes underway to the Canadian live-in caregiver program. In Friday’s Metro News in Toronto (a Toronto Star daily) is was reported that the number of caregivers accepted in Canada last year through this program declined last year to 8,400 from its previous high of 13,800 in 2007.

In 2008 it took just under 1 year to bring a nanny to Canada from overseas and currently that process takes upwards of 18 months to get this done. In addition, the latest requirement that employers pay the transportation fees to being the nannies over, plus the additional scrutiny that potential employers must go through, there are less nannies getting through the system, as it’s getting expensive for the average Canadian.

With fewer nannies arriving, the current group of nannies are being expected to work longer – under the program, a nanny could complete her requirements of working 2 years within 3 years of being in the program, and then could apply for an open permit while applying for permanent resident status. Two years ago, a nanny could have her permanent residence in less than 6 months after that. Nowadays, Citizenship and Immigration Canada is processing permanent resident requests much slower, taking up to 2 years per item, so nannies applying for this need to remain employed, thus prolonging their stays.

The belief is that the government would prefer to keep these jobs in the country and have employers hire locally trained nannies to keep Canadians employed, by making the program expensive for potential employers and difficult for potential nannies to be brought over to Canada and then in the process for them to become permanent residents.

Nannies working in Canada under the open permit are generally not allowed to attend Canadian schools to upgrade their education and applying as a foreign student is extremely expensive and unattainable for a caregiver working for minimum wage.

In our case, our nanny has been in the country for 3 years, 2 years with us and one year elsewhere, and her permanent residency has been sitting with the government for almost a year. She is bright, ambitious and would be a model Canadian, however, she cannot take any accredited courses, and she will not be leaving us to work at Tim Horton’s, it’s our obligation to make sure she gets a great job to help herself support herself and her family. I love that she is staying with us, and once she gets her permanent residency, we discussed her staying with us to continue to work – reduced hours – while attending school to work on her English and find what she really wants to do with the rest of her life.

Too few people take that approach with their employees, I mean don’t you want all your staff to improve, to grow and to be successful?

This delay is going to drive away some great nannies caught in the system and deter them from contributing to this beautiful country.

Reach out to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and tell him… I did. I actually caught him on Twitter. He didn’t reply, but if enough people reach out, maybe they’ll see the light.

Between these delays and the new requirements on nanny agencies – they must have an immigration consultant, lawyer and paralegal – tells me they are tightening the screws. It’s good and it’s bad. It’s good if it’s being done to prevent exploitation and make the system work better but it’s bad if it is forcing those great nanny placement agencies who are barely scraping by thanks to the new regulations and requiring them to spend more money.  It will surely put some of them out of business too… Unless that is the point of this exercise.

Here is the contact information for Canadian Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney;

Constituency Office:

1168 137 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
T2J 6T6
P. 403-225-3480
F. 403-225-3504

Ottawa Office:

325 East Block
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
P. 613-992-2235
F. 613-992-1920

Email: kennej@parl.gc.ca

Link: http://www.jasonkenney.ca/EN/4961/

Twitter: @kenneyjason

 

What are your thoughts?

Life’s Greatest Mysteries; Crop Circles, Who Killed JFK and a Child’s Thought Process

The three items listed in my title will probably never, ever be explained.

Are crop circles an elaborate hoax perpetrated by a bunch of schemers?  Who really killed JFK, was it one shooter or the CIA or the mob?  And how kids brains work…

Since this is a daddy blog first and foremost, let me expand on the last item.

Readers of this blog will recall the issues we’ve been having getting Stewie out of his night-time pull ups.  He was quick to train during the day – 2 1/2 if my memory serves me correctly, but it took him until about 4 1/2 to stop soiling his pull-up at night.  The most difficult thing to do has been to get him to understand what he was doing because when he went to sleep he knew not to do that, but when he woke up, he seemed surprised – and a little disappointed – that it had happened.   And to be honest, I don’t think he consciously stopped doing it, I think he just created a pattern which did not include a night-time bowel movement.

Getting him to stop peeing at night, however, has been a disaster.

I tried waking him up ever couple hours to pee, I tried no water before bed, I tried making him pee three times before he sleeps, we tried the double pull up… He hated that one! I tried explaining it to him and I tried mocking him (sorry), by telling him babies wear diapers. His response to that was to not wear a pull-up to bed, then sleeping in a pool of pee.

For the past year and a half he’s slept with a rubber sheet under his sheet and on top of that is a towel which absorbs some of the pee but never enough as he continues to pee through his diapers, then pull-ups.  Neither Huggies nor Pampers helped.  We tried all brands, all styles.  The Pampers Under Jams have worked the best of all the night-time items, they hold a lot of urine! I told him they are night time underwear, and not diapers… Whew. The Huggies Pull-ups, on the other hand worked for one pee, but when the floodgates were open they were pretty much useless. 

Compounding this problem was the fact that he wanted to sleep in bed with mummy, every night for the last 5 months and she couldn’t have him in her bed without him peeing first, changing a full pull-up and a towel on the bed… A lot of work at 2, 3 or 4 in the morning for either of us.

I think the most frustrating part here is that the whole time Stewie knew he was doing this.  He said he was “too tired” to get up to pee. 

A couple of times I would take him to pee and he a little bit of pee would trickle out, then we would put on his pull up and within seconds it would be full. 

I would glare at him, he would smile.  Such a cute face…

Then out of nowhere, just days after his 5th birthday, the little bugger woke up completely dry. I asked him what happened and he said he got up to pee (I know he did not).  I think he just decided he was going to hold it… Finally. 

He just decided to hold it.

Every night for that week, I would walk into his room, and check to see that he was wearing his pull-up, then see how wet it, or he was. It’s been completely dry.

Then he started getting annoyed.  Annoyed that for the past year and a half we’ve been doing the poke test on him.  Poking to see if he’s wearing his pull-up, poking him to see if it’s full and now in the last 3 days, poking him to see if he’s wet.

Just last night, he came into our room, I rushed to move him back to his room, but he returned shortly thereafter (“I NEED mummy!”) he cries, so I took him to his room again and laid down with him. 

Every now and then I would reach over and give the poke test, to which he promptly replied; “Stop poking me, Daddy.  I’m still dry!”.

Well… Excuse me!!!

How he just decided to do this after all this time and all the pee… Is a mystery!

But the mystery gets even more clouded when just over a week later, he was back to his old ways. Fll pull-ups, wet bed, sometimes right through to the towel, or sheets.

Since this is very normal and very common, I’m not overly bothered by it. I hope he turns it on again soon, but in the interim He’ll keep peeing and I’ll keep bugging him.

How did they get the caramel in the Caramilk bar?!?

Happy 2nd Birthday to the cutest little girl in the world

Today, I want to wish my daughter, Berry, a very happy 2nd birthday.

Only 2, eh?  You seem so much older with that crazy vocabulary you have had for the past 6 months.  You’ve called me a “dumb dumb”, a “dumbass”, you have asked for things “right NOW”, and you call berries “bey beys”.  Straw-bey-bey’s, rasp-bey-bey’s… He he.

I love the way you say “Oh, my goodness” like you are imitating me in that deep, raspy hockey announcers voice. 

When you’re older I will tell you how we planned on having you at home, but had you in the hospital instead and how we had your grandparents go get your brothers for the birth.  After they arrived, while they were eating cookies and popsicles (after 10:30pm), you were born and Stewie looked at me and said, “Is that it?  Can I go home to sleep now?”… Ahhh Stewie. 

Because of you, we’re done having kids, and where on earth did you get that crazy curly hair?!?  Seriously!

You are quite a party in a package, like Stewie, but you’re a little goofy like Linus. 

You love Hello Kitty (or Hi Kitty, as you call her), and you know the names of all your dolls.  Hmmm. 

You look like your mummy did at that age, and really, after seeing a picture of mummy you thought it was you.  Thankfully, you and the boys all get your looks from your mother! 

Well, now you are two, people will actually believe us when we say that, as opposed to when you were one and people didn’t believe such a friendly, talkative little girl with so much hair could be one year old. 

Happy birthday sweet heart.

 

Look! We made some “Hi Kitty” Cupcakes…

Tomorrow is my daughter’s 2nd birthday party.  Her actual birthday is Sunday. 

When prompted for what she wanted for her birthday, she replied; “Hi Kitty Cupcakes”.

“Hi Kitty” for those of you who have not heard me tell this story a thousand times, is “Hello Kitty”

So last night I made 96 cupcakes and tonight my wife and I set out to decorate them.  Please welcome the Hello Kitty army!

So now we’ve added some decorations, cut some veggies, got fruit, and we’re ready to go.  Tomorrow morning I’ll get bagels for the tuna, egg and cream cheeses, and my wife will make mini pizza’s.  The puppet show is exactly the other thing she wants for her birthday. 

All in all, there should be just under 20 – 2-year-old’s here tomorrow and at least 30 parents.  Can’t wait!

 

Stuff that came across the desk of this daddy blogger…

Here are some random thoughts that have come across the desk of this daddy blogger;

• I was asked if I wanted my SEO made bigger.  I said no figuring this was another penis enlarger spam message, then I recalled that SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.  Different meaning, same answer… NO.
• I was asked how I would cover puberty with my kids.  Simple.  Kids, talk to your mother because if I find out, I’ll kill you.
• Occupy groups… It’s over.  No one cares.  Your credibility went out the window when the unions began speaking for you.  Go home before you catch a cold.
• BMW drivers, you still are the absolute worst drivers in the world.  Why?
• After getting teased by Java Joes about their yummy Blueberry Pie coffee, it’s no longer available.   Why?
• Thank you to Country Style Canada for sending me gift cards.  My staff is going to love the treats just before the holidays.  Share the wealth!
• Dolph Ziggler = Mr. Perfect.  Love it!
• Hollywood Undead, Levitate is an AWESOME song.  Find it on YouTube, folks.
• I’m on Klout… So now what?  I’m also on Google +… yawn.
• That new song by Korn, Narcissistic Cannibal is also pretty damn good.
• I’m not sure if the Jason Ellis show is still live, on XM41, Faction, but the last 2 days have killed me.  The one about the worst songs to have a lap dance to was hilarious, and today’s show revolved around the CEO of Faction and there were 5 questions asked to him, Raw Dawg and Cum Fat and when they got it wrong, there was an electric current zapping their testicles.  Oh yes.  Hilarious.
• I’m about ready to call myself an expert on the new CRA non-resident regulations.  Soon after that it will be FATCA.  I think that’s a good thing, if I could find someone to talk to about it…
• You know you’re getting old when:  Your kids are looking forward to the snow and you, the parent is dreading it.
• What until I finish my post on food.  2 weeks now:  No meat, no wheat, no dairy, no sweets and I feel GREAT!
• The Toronto Maple Leafs won again tonight, 7-1 over the Tampa Bay Lightning.  That puts the NHL scoring leaders as this;  1. Phil Kessel.  2. Joffrey Lupol.  2. Claude Gireaux.   Amazing!
• I think I’m going to have to add a picture of myself to my blog and come clean.  The more I try to stay low-key and blog under the radar, the more it seems I get readers, followers and asked to do stuff like write posts for people… Odd, this blogging thing.
• What’s so wrong with the term “mommy blogger?”  I’m a daddy blogger… Daddy… Blogger.  I’m not a writer, I’m just a Dad who keeps an online journal.  Can someone please explain.

http://www.circleofmoms.com/top25/daddy-blogs  Look. I’m on the “Circle of Moms” Daddy Blogger list. Cool. I don’t mind being one of the moms.

Daddy Dumb Dumb, Indeed…

Actual conversation between myself and my almost 2-year-old daughter Saturday night just before bed-time when my kids have snack.

My daughter, Berry, is sitting at her little plastic table with a bowl of granny smith apple slices, when I turned to see what her brother was eating. When I turned back, she was no longer sitting at the table, but was standing in the family room, heading towards the hall.

Me: “Berry, what are you doing there?” I yelled.
Berry: “I’m done dumb dumb”
Me: “You’re finished??”
Her: “Yes”.
Me: “Are you ready for bed?”
Her: “No bed dumb dumb.”
Me: “Then please go sit down and finish your snack”.
Her – now back at the table and showing me the bowl – “Berry finish snack dumb dumb, no bed.”
Me: “Please finish your snack… AND MY NAME IS DADDY!”

Then I look to the big table and there is 5-year-old Stewie with a smirk on his face.

I have a feeling I know who told her to call me “dumb dumb”…

Out of touch: When was the last time YOU asked your boss for a 20% raise?

Welcome to 2011, folks.

For those of you playing along at home, the recession begin on September 15th, 2008 and is showing no signs of nearing an end. Consumer confidence is at an all-time low, people are losing their jobs, and their houses, and those coming out of school are looking for work – but alas, the selection is slim.  Especially challenging for this group of recent grads, is that the recession has taken its toll on many sectors and thus they are competing with an out of work candidate who has actual on the job experience…

Things are not good.

So maybe for all of us lucky enough to have jobs, we should go into our bosses and ask… No, we should demand a 20% pay increase over the next three-years, right now!

Stop laughing.  I’m serious!

This is exactly what the transit workers in York Region have done. Sure, they have been on strike for a month inconveniencing only 45,000 riders, but come on… Fact: These guys are under-paid compared to their counterparts. 

Coincidently, this is the region’s second transit strike in four years. This time, however, the striking Viva drivers are joined by their YRT counterparts (strength in numbers, eh?), and this current ongoing stoppage has already lasted two weeks longer than the 2008 strike.

Parent company, Miller Transit said it offered a 13.5% wage increase over a five-year contract. But the union was demanding 20% over three years. The drivers are cited as saying its not about the money, but rather the working conditions, and length of shifts without breaks. So if it’s not about the money, let’s forget the increase, count them lucky to have jobs and cut in 2-15 minute breaks.

Union heads admit that even at 20% it’s virtually impossible for their members to catch up with their counterparts in Toronto, Brampton and Mississauga, who earn about $7 an hour more — about $29, compared with $22.

So how about putting the people first?  The riders who are responsible for these transit workers’ jobs. 

I really feel like the union, the drivers, and the Ontario government have failed York Region commuters once again.

For those who complain that the Federal Conservatives stopped Air Canada from striking and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford made the TTC an essential service, you now see what you get when you elect a Liberal leader, especially one like Dalton, or worse, the pro-union, #takemyballandgohome NDP.

The longer this lingers the greater is the chance that the next government in Ontario, a Conservative one, will make them an essential service too.

Given my views on unions, having spent almost 11 years working in one, I can sympathize with the drivers if there are working 8-10 hour shifts and have infrequent breaks.  These guys need to be sharp to drive these busses safely and they gotta go potty (as my 2yo daughter would say).  Those are legitimate concerns.  But to turn down a 13.5% increase over 5 years and to publicly seek a 20% increase over 3 years take a lot of guts.  Would this not but these guys in that 1% that the Occupy groups detest?  Are the Occupy folks not protesting against greed?  Considering the numbers of people losing jobs since 2008, it’s pretty outrageous of the transit workers to seek such are large increase.

Even at 13.5% over 3 years, it’s respectable.

Remember the way unions bargain, folks.  13.5% today, then another transit union will want more money to be on par with York Region, then another will want to be on par with that transit union, and then the TTC will be up for renegotiation and see all the smaller unions making so much that they’ll want an increase and we’ve come full circle… 

It’s not the transit workers fault at all.

It’s the union.

It’s just like how the New York Yankees drove up salaries in baseball and how the New York Rangers drove up salaries in hockey.  It’s also what is currently keeping the NBA players from playing right now. 

So let’s use some common sense and get back to work!  For everyone.

It Takes a Village to Raise a Child. I cannot find a village, will my social media community suffice?

I recently joined a parenting group on Facebook called Pink and Blue Baby. I took a quick look through some of the threads in the group and right away got a feel for what the purpose of the board was – to be a resource for first time parents.

What gave it away? Questions such as; At what age is it okay to take my baby out for the first time? Will my baby ever sleep? When can I give my baby “real” food? All the questions we sorted through just over 6 years ago with our first born son, aptly referred to as Linus on my blog (for the fact he carries a blankie and constantly has his fingers in his mouth). But upon further review of the threads I noticed this board is more than that. It is also serving the purpose of helping parents with their current questions, such as; Looking for play-dates, recommendations for thank you notes, loot bag suggestions, and much, much more.

I couldn’t help but think about how much the times have changed since we had our first baby, Linus, who will only be 7-years-old in just over a month. When he was a baby what did we know? As soon-to-be first time parents, we took advantage of whatever opportunity we had to learn how these things called “babies” worked.

The first class I remember us taking was at the hospital we were giving birth at, North York General Hospital, and if I recall correctly, it was called “When Baby Comes” and looking back now, it was pretty scary. It was taught by a registered nurse and was very descriptive and technical. After Linus came – I was fortunate to be off on parental leave from my job for 9 months, – my wife and I tried to figure out what to do with a child who slept, whenever, ate a lot and pooped a lot. It was hands-on learning.

My wife found a registered nurse in the area who taught classes to a group of local moms, and these moms formed the baby group that our son grew up with. All the kids were around the same age (one born mere minutes after our son at the same hospital) and it was this group that served as our resource for the first year, to year and a half of Linus’ life. Food, fitness, health, growth spurts, etc were all discussed in the class, and then with these moms. The moms, became the dads and the dads would all get together, head out for wings and beer and talk about our kids. It was great. With this group came the siblings for most of the parents and with that the purpose of the group became clear. Play-dates, birthday parties, all kinds of questions, and much more were discussed through this group in person and via email.

While my wife was increasing her knowledge on the baby front, I was using my parental leave to work on my MBA. I found the evenings worked great because I wanted to be around to help out as much as possible. I would take Linus for long walks each day – he would score me free shwag all over the place, especially at the local Starbucks. I did as many diaper changes as necessary; I loved feeding him and reading books to him. It was trial by error on my side and a lot of research on my wife’s side. Why don’t these kids comes with instruction manuals?!?

Looking back, how did we ever get through baby #1 without the benefit of a cool group like this one I just joined?!? Well to be honest, it was all my wife. She read the baby books, she surfed the net looking for resources, and with her mother’s intuition she did all the rest. She got Linus on a schedule after reading that babies need structure. She arranged for cloth diapers after reading that it helps kids potty train sooner, and she made his food instead of buying it because with her science background and as a budding nutritionist she knew the added chemicals were not good for him. She sought out and then checked out kids’ furniture. She also found a great resource online which detailed Linus’ progression and explained what we could expect from them at that age on a week by week basis.

After putting in all this work, child #2, Stewie (named on my blog after the baby from Family Guy because we thought he was trying to kill us by getting up every 2-3 hours for the first 10 months of his life, without fail) was a breeze. Armed with plenty of resources and almost two years practical hands on experience we were ready for anything.

Linus, you see, was a textbook baby. We knew this by reading the textbooks. So was Stewie, and so far our third (and last) child, Berry fits that mold too. These kids follow the models laid out in the text, so the more we read, the easier it was to predict their next growth spurt, or when their teeth were set to come it. It made life much easier for us.

One think I noticed as we both headed back to work was that we now had a family of 6 (3 kids and a nanny) and running the household was that much more challenging. With work, schedules, school, programs, and meal planning and preparation there was no time for anything else outside of being a parent. Where was the time for us?

Fear not new parents, it gets better… (No, really it doesn’t). It cannot get better than being surrounded by children and the more kids, the more love, the more poop, the more shmootz, and the less sleep. If it’s not one kid getting up in the middle of the night, it’s one of the others.

Needless to say parents; no matter if you’re a first time parent or a 4th time parent, it’s all the same. Our kids will continue to grow and we will always have parenting questions. We will worry about them and in doing so forget about you. It’s okay, it’s natural and we all do it. Just keep asking those questions on this message board and when you get more experienced, you too will share your thoughts and observations about what it was like for you, as I have done tonight too, and do with regularity on my blog.

If you want to read more, you can find this urban daddy at www.urbandaddy.wordpress.com.

 

Urban Daddy Recommends: Good places to eat on Eglinton Avenue in between Bathurst Street and Allen Road.

Having now lived in our new area for just over a year we have now had some time to get out, with and without children, to try some local restaurants. I think the whole Groupon phenomenon has helped with that, as it gives us incentive to try places in and around our area (or not) and help us find great places to eat with and without children.

As for our area… I could mention what this strip needs – like a sit down dessert place, or an evening destination with or without kids, but what I really want to share is my thoughts on what are the best choices on this strip for food that is fresh, friendly, tasty and priced reasonably, and where the location is clean and the owners appreciative of your business.

Here are my top four places right now;

1) Tokyo Sushi. The family that owns this place is REALLY nice, the food is REALLY fresh and the prices are very reasonable. We’ve eaten in and taken or, and now matter what you want or if there are changes to be made, they are happy to accommodate. My friend started eating there regularly with his family and when I went in a month later they thanked me for introducing my friend to them.
I like the fresh, delicious food and it makes me feel good going in there and spending money.

2) Big Bite Burger. Again, the owner is VERY friendly and the food is very fresh. I do, however, have a really hard time figuring out why it’s not packed every night. The burgers and fries are extremely well priced, the portions are large and all day breakfast… Who doesn’t love an all day breakfast! This place reminds me of John Anderson’s which was our neighbourhood burger joint which had great homemade burgers, plenty of fries and salad. The food was great there and we ate there quite often growing up. Fast forward and now there is a restaurant that needs our support. There are foot long hot dogs, chicken burgers, pancakes, grilled cheese, french toast, regular fries, curly fries, sweet potato fries, regular burgers, chili… OY. For children, this is the perfect place to go for a healthier food option without breaking the bank.

I took the 3 kids and our nanny there for dinner the other week and we ate and ate and ate until we couldn’t eat anymore. When the bill came, I thought he missed something, but he didn’t.

3) Indus Tavern – Simply some of the best Indian food we have tasted in quite a while. Everything is homemade, the flavours are strong, but not overpowering and the spices are traditional but also not that spicy (unless you want it to be). It has been a long time since I have eaten food this tasty and when we order food for delivery, we look forward to its arrival.
4) Piazzetta Trattoria 2 – We checked this place out because there was a deal – either Groupon, or something of the sort, and I’m glad my wife bought it because the food here is fantastic. I ordered the grilled calamari because quite frankly, a top-notch Italian restaurant should be able to make a top notch piece of calamari so that it is not rubbery, yet not over grilled. I think about Parmigiano on Yonge Street just north of Lawrence Avenue as being one of the absolute best Italian restaurants in Toronto. Their grilled calamari is out of this world… Well, let me tell you… The grilled calamari at Piazzetta was incredible. Each bite was full of flavour and the calamari melted in my mouth. Not a chewy bite was found, and the plate was adorned with olives and made for a very pleasing plate. I was done after eating that appetizer. My entrée was a baked penne pasta with what I thought the menu said contained ossobuco juice but was pleasantly surprised to see actual chunks of lamb in it.

The portion was so big I could not finish it, and with each bite of the appetizer and actual meal I’m pretty sure there were lots of “Mmmmmmm’s” and “yummmmmms”. My wife ordered the warm mushroom salad which she said was nice save the packaged spinach the mushrooms were on, and she had them make pasta for her which she thoroughly enjoyed. I will for sure come back here and the waitress said Sundays are very busy and there are lots of kids present and welcomed. Sounds great.

So please, come out and support these places so they can continue to make a living and stay open for a very long time.

Thursday Thirteen – Thirteen really strange search terms which directed people to my blog.

Today’s Thursday Thirteen focuses on 13 really strange search terms which directed people to my blog.

Message to those folks who searched these terms in the first place, in case you come here again, you’ll see that we’re making fun of you. It’s not hard when you see the search terms used.

So let’s get started…

1. “Santa Claus Porn” – Maybe instead of Ho Ho Ho, this person was looking for Hoe Hoe Hoe… In either case, it’s sick. Determined to find their porn,he, or she, has also come to my blog by searching “Santa Clause porn” I guess that is in case Santa changed his name.

2. “Pro Stars cereal” – WOW.  I forgot all about this cereal sponsored by Wayne Gretzky.  “Toasted Oat taste” was the catch phrase for this yummy cereal.  I think they need to bring it back, no?.

3. There were lots of searches directed to my blog including the word “McRib“  What I found odd was that people were looking for confirmation that the McRib was not healthy (duh), with such phrases as “is it unhealthy”, “is it poison” and “is it made of pressed brains and butts”… Err, yeah.  It’s high in salt and not good for you.  There.  Don’t be shocked.  It’s fast food.  Go eat a salad instead.  

4. “macginty platform employment” – Errr, the election was last month and it’s McGuinty. He won and he’s still taxing Ontarians because people like you forgot to vote!  Sheesh.

5. “Dora the explorer cufflinks”. COOL. I wear cufflinks and my daughter loves Dora. To bad she doesn’t wear them…

6. “Daddy Detox” – it’s call wing night, folks.

7. “# of urban daddy readers” – answer: millions and millions.

8. “$ profit made at urban daddy last year”. Answer: See above.

9. “asked for a canucks coffee at tim hortons no cus” – I don’t know what “no cus” means so I am ignoring it, but I sure as hell know what a Canucks coffee is at Tim Horton’s.  You order that drink and the staff start a riot, making sure to destroy the store while being filmed on TV.  

10. “regulation that affect laundry service Canada”  – That was my favourite government department, Laundry Service Canada.  They had some pretty serious legislation relating to startching shirts…

11. “I called my son an asshole” – there. Do you feel better now?  If you come back to this blog, I’ll call you an asshole too.  Asshole.

12. “I hate the NDP”. Well I’m glad to hear that because I love you!

13. “when was santa claus born”  When was he born?  Like as in a real human being?  Hey buddy… Santa wasn’t born!  Besides, he’s busy doing porn, so leave him alone.  Go bug him during the holiday season and not in his off season where he is pimping his self out with his Hoe’s!