Why we´re not free

A few times in the past two years I've received emails from members of our website www.datepositive.net asking why we charge a fee to send messages.

Joining the site is free, but if members want to contact others or chat online, there's a cost. It's small, but it's still a fee.

The most obvious reason is that this is a site for people with sexually transmitted infections. We want to give our members some protection from the small number of people out there with sick minds. Unfortunately, these sick folks get gratification from logging on to sites like datepositive.net and sending abusive messages.

28th June 2009 | In: Business
permalink | leave a comment | Tags: Online dating Date Positive www.datepositive.net STD dating

Five months on

It's now five months since my sister Fran and I met in St. Catharines, Ontario, to try and deal with our mother's death, and do what has to be done when someone dies.

The circumstances were difficult and unusual. There were disagreements, even arguments. There was no template for us, but we've managed to muddle through as best we can.

The house is now sold, and I retrieved some invaluable things such as my mother's first soft toy, a bear called RJ, lots of photos, and some really awful poems I wrote as a teenager. Still, my mother must have valued them - she kept them all these years.

22nd June 2009 | In: In My View
permalink | leave a comment | Tags: Bereavement loss death grief

From wilderness to sangha

In Edmonton I found myself in a bit of a spiritual wilderness.

I'd finished university, had a relationship, job and car, but I was finding it difficult to develop a deeper spiritual connection, or a deeper sense of meaning.

When I return to Edmonton these days I can appreciate its place on the prairies, the North Saskatchewan River, the valley and parklands. But back in the 1980s and 1990s the location didn't sit too well with me.

21st June 2009 | In: Buddhist Journey
permalink | leave a comment | Tags: Buddhist journey spiritual wilderness sangha