On the Sly

My blog posts are coming a little more infrequently as my days rarely warrant writing about. I spend a large part of my day at school and the rest of it at home. Tuesday evenings are the exception - I'm doing a class by teleconference. If anyone out there is thinking of doing something similar I would advise you not to. There is something about silent reading on the phone (with other people that are also silently reading) that seems utterly ridiculous. It doesn't help that it's an education class with a very strong emphasis on reflection.

On the days where I make it to the post office I am greeted by numerous posters saying "Puppies, free to good home" or "Dorothy needs a forever home" (Dorothy is a really cute found puppy). I steel my resolve before looking at the wall but I think it crumbles a little bit every time. It's probably a good thing I don't make it there every day. (I could give Dorothy a good home. Surely she would get a long with two cats, and vice versa. Not only that, I'd be doing a service to the town of Inuvik, one less stray dog - in fact it's something any good citizen should do).

The last thing I wanted to mention was a small time scam that may have claimed $10.00 of my hard earned dollars. A few weeks ago some girls came by the school to raise money for the Terry Fox run. I pledged $10.00 and when the girl came back I only had a $20.00 and she had no change (or so she said). Class was starting soon so I told the girl that I was counting on her to be a good person and change my pledge to twenty dollars. I gave her the money and thought nothing more of it until I received this e-mail at work:

Two high school girls were here a few weeks ago fund-raising for the Terry Fox run. My wife and I both donated cash and filled out the form - I on the last line of the actual form and my wife on a form they had drawn up themselves, due to the actual form being full. After they left we both questioned whether it was legitimate and my wife followed up by calling the school. It turned out the girls had not turned in any cash and denied receiving any and they did not turn in the form they had drawn up, just the actual form, for which they said they had only received cheques which they said they had turned in. The school may now be turning it over to the RCMP. (End of e-mail)

I think we can all agree that even Bernie Madoff would be proud of their enterprising nature.