Swine Flu update

Life may imitate art, and it probably imitates blogs....

5 months after blogging about the then new swine flu issue I came down with a pretty strong bout of sickness myself. For the better part of a week I slugged around our suite - feeling like a zombie and cursing all those who had breathed on me recently. I never saw a doctor and don't know if it was swine flu, but I had certainly not been that ill since my sister and I had the chicken pox in elementary school.

Currently, Canada has ordered a dose of H1N1 vaccination for every citizen, but delivery has been slow and problematic - doses are late getting to doctors and clinics, and que-jumpers are sneaking past children to get it (ie. Calgary Flames players). Most people won't get it before the flu peaks, and it will probably effect the upcoming Olympics as well.

A few co-workers have become sick as well as several people I know, but an actual diagnosis is rarely given, or needed and life goes on.

Swine Flu!

Well, its not the bird flu I predicted, but the overdue pandemic could be upon us.  Just a few quick thoughts on the swine flu outbreak (then I need to wash my hands):

- could they (the Man) not just have closed the border as early possible? I know the WHO said basically that the cat (pig?) was out of the bag already, but wouldn't it have bought some cities some much needed time to prepare?

- what does it mean when, in a state of panic, I get a facemask just for myself and not my wife (I love you honey We're going to grow old together!)

- why does the outbreak seem to have dire consequences in Mexico, but only mild symptoms (mostly) in non-Mexicans?

- how can health officials and ploticians say we have a coordinated pandemic plan when hospitals, schools, businesses are all responding differently? I especially like it when hospitals send symptomatic people home before confirming their diagnosis and then asking them to self-quarantine. Thats MART!

- I think it also makes sense, when you don't know how a new flu strain works, to continue asking people to eat the animal that it came from - I mean why err on the side of caution when there is so much good pork to eat out there? 

- and finally, why take the time to prepare now, even though this outbreak is now looking minor, for something worse? It's easy to buy pandemic supplies when there's a run on them and it'll be easy to make safety policy when staff are off sick....

Am I stupid or what?

House Hunting

"Things only have the value that we give them" - Moliere.

And so we enter the Vancouver housing market.  We have been looking to buy on the north shore for several months now; sifting through hundreds of lonline listings and touring many open houses; only recently has it dawned on us that there is often a considerable gap between market value of a property and some other more personally constructed value.  We have seen more than a few ancient little rat nests sell quickly in a flurry of bidding (for 1/2 a million $) that I would not let our cat live in, let alone a raise a family in. I think previously owning a house in PG (where $150 K got you something livable) has spoiled me for buying in this area, where the same dollars wouldn't even get you a 30 yr old 700 sq ft apartment with a shag rug. North Van in particular seems to be at the mercy of supply and demand economics. Unlike PG, where new subdivisons can be created at the stroke of the pen (and chainsaw), North Van isn't adding tracts of  new houses onto the market. So, many buyers are chasing few homes and the prices go up, or stay up. Things are better for condos given that they have built so many of them and that they are (relatively) more affordable, but who wants to live in an apartment forever? And who can save for a real home when they're still paying $300,000 for a shoebox? And how do you rationalize this when renting is still cheaper, considerably, than owning?

These questions would be hard enough to answer at the best of times, but given the current economic situation  (do we call it a depression yet?) it makes it almost impossible.  If you're barely comfortable buying now how will you feel in 2 yrs or 5 yrs when rates are double or triple? Or if you can't sell at a profit in 5 yrs or 10 yrs to get onto a patch of dirt to call your own?

Maybe living in a treehouse wouldn't be so bad, but only if it came with a view...