Gyms And Their Benefits Or Temporary Lack there of

Gyms And Their Benefits Or Temporary Lack there of

     So I have been wondering about this for a long time now. Why is it that gyms like Good Life Fitness (@GoodLifeFitness) do not take advantage of extra sources of energy for the operation of their gyms?.

     These days you see houses being built with solar panels on the roofs or in the back yards and even some but not many other companies do that as well, all in the response to the rising costs of power rates and to help reduce their monthly expenses.

     You can run allot of equipment with solar power, Water Heaters, Lights, Power outlets for other items and ETC.... The technology is also out there for human power to be converted to energy that can be used by electronics as well..

     So with that being said there are Close to 300 clubs across Canada Good Life Fitness, Just think how many other gyms that are out there as well that are not doing the same thing.

     Now Kudos have to go out to Good Life Fitness for going on UnderCover Boss Canada which aired Thursday March 22nd 2012 at 9PM. However allot of other companies have done the same thing.

     Now the other items that I have on my mind is the fact that all of the machines they have (Rower's, Elliptical's, TradMill's, Recumbent Cycle's Etc...) All of these machines can modified (Yes at a substantial cost) so that the energy that is created on them can be returned and stored in the batteries for the backup of the business location and energy can be returned to the power company for a credit to be applied to the power bill for that location.

     Now what would that mean for the business? Well it would be a large start up investment, however with quite a few of their locations being 24/7 and the close to 300 clubs in Canada of which they have 750,000 members (And Growing), That is allot of energy that is being wasted and not being put to good use. This would mean that over time the over head expense of the clubs they have would be lowered weekly/Bi-Weekly/Monthly/Quarterly/Annually thus this would allow them to take the extra profits that they have been able to acquire and put it in to more donations and foundations such as the (The Kilee Patchell-Evans Autism Research Group at the University of Western Ontario and The GoodLife Kids Foundation) and not to mention they can also lower their monthly gym membership fee's as well, that in turn would get them over time more members at a faster rate than they already have which

in turn they would go from 1 in every 45 Canadians as members to a bigger ratio which is always a good thing. The more people that are part a of a gym that go to the gym on a regular basis have a better chance of having better health and well being (And no one can say that we don't as a society need to get in better shape). If McDonalds can be the official restaurant of the Olympics we might as well say is smoking is the official medicine of cancer.
   
     These are a listing of local gyms near me, to date I have gone to the Burnside 24 Hrs 4 Days/Wk (Main Gym for me and love it, always clean and friendly staff, When I went for my introduction with the personal trainer we were there 30 minutes or more past he end time for her shift but she had no problem with that at all) and the Scotia Square (Been their once, not impressed, was rushed out before closing, TV's were turned off at least 10 minutes before closing and that was after I was told they were closing soon, their Vending machine was out of order and bathroom was dirty; needless to say I showered when I got got home.) I am gonna try and get to the other gyms close by and see what they are like.

     Now to be fair this is my opion of the 2 gyms I have been to myself, I recommend everyone at some point try it out and make your own opinions, Good Life Fitness does provide a "3 Free Visit Pass" for everyone, the link to that is here for all to see and fill out. Link

Club Info Source: Link

Burnside 24 Hrs 4 Days/Wk
     202 Brownlow Ave. Unit CCY
     Dartmouth, NS
     Coed Club
      Tel:  (902) 481-2348
     Fax: (902) 468-2581
     burnside@goodlifefitness.com

Scotia Square
     5201 Duke Street
     Halifax, NS
     Coed Club
     Tel:  (902) 492-9289
     Fax:  (902) 492-0110
     scotiasquare@goodlifefitness.com

Penhorn Plaza 24 Hrs 4 Days/Wk
     555 Portland Street, Unit A015
     Dartmouth, NS
     Coed Club
     Tel:  (902) 464-5433
     Fax:  (902) 464-1619
     dartmouthpenhorn@goodlifefitness.com

Park Lane
     5657 Spring Garden Rd.
     Halifax, NS
     Coed Club
     Tel:  (902) 425-2348
     Fax:  (902) 425-2877
     parklane@goodlifefitness.com

Joseph Howe Drive Atlantic Superstore
     3601 Joseph Howe Drive
     Halifax, NS
     Women's Club
     Tel:  (902) 453-7724
     Fax:  (902) 455-5029
     halifaxjoseph@goodlifefitness.com

Park Victoria
     1333 South Park Street
     Halifax, NS
     Women's Club
      Tel:  (902) 422-6696
      Fax:  (902) 406-3930
     parkvic@goodlifefitness.com

Clayton Plaza 24 Hrs 4 Days/Wk
     70 Lacewood Dr.
     Halifax, NS
     Coed Club
     Tel:  (902) 457-2226
      Fax:  (902) 457-7377
     cpark@goodlifefitness.com

Portland Landrance
     650 Portland St.
     Dartmouth, NS
     Coed Club
     Tel: (902) 435-0818
     Fax: (902) 435-3798
     portlandstreet@goodlifefitness.com

How I feel After A Great Work Out At Good Life Fitness

Written By Kevin Cresswell
     Now Please Post a Reply with comments as to what you think about this.

Nova Scotia Child Maintenance & its effects

     The child support in Nova Scotia is 1 sided for the parent that has the children. the monthly money that is given to the parent that has the children is solely based on the income of the parent that does not have the children no matter how much the parent that has the children makes, for most they have a minimum wage job but there are a few of the lucky people that do not, that goes for either parent.

     I like many others have the minimum wage job while my ex has a job that pays well above minimum wage but yet what she makes hourly is not taken in to account for the money that has to be paid out by me to her, she gets my money plus money from the government and her job as well as more GST when it is issued plus baby bonus and or any other government program for single parents that is out there. most people that have the kids get more money monthly than they make at work while the one that does not have the children don't make much more than you would get while being on social assistance. The only way for the parent that does not have the children to get ahead is to have a job that is off the books (Which if you speak to a lawyer they will even agree to that) but even then that can come back and bite you in the end.

     also if at any time the parent that doesn't have the children gets a pay raise in any way other than a minimum wage increase it has to be claimed and thus the monthly payout is increased again so any pay increase is nullified and a hindrance for the one that got the raise for they are no better off. Also if child maintenance says you owe back pay then they will take their normal cut of your pay cheque plus they will take the arrears as well bit by bit, but in most cases like mine they were taking up to and including 90-95% percent of my pay every 2 weeks, so working 50+ hours a week on the books can net you after tax's $100-$150 if your lucky. but yet when you go and try to point out to the system what they are doing to you everyone says you called the wrong person and or department and you have to talk to so and so and the cycle restarts itself again. And with all of that being said the person paying the child support has no say in how the money is spent once it has been paid out which is wrong and should be changed.

     The intent of the money is to be there for the children to get them what they need food/clothes/schooling, but unfortunately most parents that get the money spend it on stuff they want or say they need instead of using it for the children. it is not uncommon for the single parent to have the newest toys TV's, Cell Phones, Computers, cars and such all because of the monthly income they have from the Ex's and the government and their own jobs as well (They live high on the hog while the other is living on the slop).

     What should be done is have the monthly maintenance fees be accounted for as to where they go and how it is spent, also the actual monthly payment should be calculated on both parents income, for example, my income from my job is lower than my ex's; so say if i make $11/H and she makes $13/H the $2 difference should come off of what Is paid to her (Putting me at a lower rate of pay and making it a little easier for us to live), this way the parent without the children can live in a 1 bedroom place and not a low income place and afford to have food on a regular basis instead of depending on friends and or family for help with money and or food to survive pay cheque to pay cheque. People have always cried unfair and or discrimination for one reason or another yet no one has ever done anything about the child maintenance that is paid on a monthly basis by the large portion of the population.

     This link here http://bit.ly/P6TzEV will give you a calculation of approximately how much you would have to pay monthly based on the number of children you have and what province you live in.

     And as it states on that link

• The number of children;
• The province or territory where the paying parent lives; and
• The paying parent's gross annual income.

     At no time does it mention the person that has the children because to the government it does not matter how much they make just what you make and how much they can take from you. Also the rates that are to be paid have a habit of changing, the last change was done on December 31, 2011.

     If you base the monthly payment say on $26000 gross income a year the new payment http://bit.ly/NIEs6p would be $380.00 + 1.3% where as the old payment http://bit.ly/N72lmU would of been $388.00 + 1.67%. As for the % after the dollar amount I assume is a monthly fee collected by the government probably for handling or what not.

     Now the $26000 gross income is based at $11/H, but after tax's all that is seen is $22039 (Approximate), that is almost $4000 that is not seen by the average person but yet is taken in to account when paying child support and should not be, that should make the monthly child support payment be $312 + 1.72% that's a difference of $68 a month, that can and does go along way for food and such.

     Now the Total Monthly Income (Gross) for $13/H is $2253.33 which in turn is Annually $27040.00 but has a tax pay out over the year of $4209 which in turn leaves them $22831 yearly ($1902.58 monthly) after tax's.

Canadian Income Tax Calculator 2012 was used http://bit.ly/MzQhtt

     With that stated  without any deductions of any sorts there is no real big difference in the pay at the end of the year, but when filing tax's there is a big difference in the returns that are given back between the 2 people. So why is it that child maintenance is taken before tax's are deducted yet when filing for your yearly tax return you can not claim it in any form.  "Q - Can parents claim or deduct child support payments for income tax purposes? A – This depends when the child support order was made. The Income Tax Act was amended in 1997. Before the amendments the rules were that the paying parent could claim child support payments as a tax deduction, and the receiving parent had to claim the support as income. If your child support order or agreement was made before May 1, 1997, the old tax rules continue to apply, unless you obtain a new order or agreement or vary the order after May 1,1997. Child support orders made or varied since May 1, 1997, cannot be claimed as a deduction by the paying parent and the receiving parent does not have to claim the support as income." Source http://bit.ly/L70Zds

Women & The Workplace

Women & The Workplace

By: Kevin Cresswell

I just read a article titled “Here's To women & their Work – No Matter Where It Is Done” by Brenda Mac Donald (“Two Cents' Worth”) which is a freelance writer from the Halifax Municipality area, the article is in the March 14, 2011 Dartmouth (HRM East) Community Herald.

She writes about women & the work place & their stature within it & or being a stay at home mother. She does make a good point in that women are not truly treated equal to the male counterparts as they should be; especially if they can do the work just as good if not better than the male counterpart for the same job/position. What sparked her in to doing this article is something that she read in a paper on March 07, 2011 which was done by a Jennifer Kim which was published in the Chronicle Herald from the Canadian Press Article called (Child-Care “Gap” Will Hurt Economy). Now Brenda MacDonald does not know Jennifer Kim & can only go by what was printed in the article which she states “I do not know how much of her interview was edited out”.

I for myself have never had a problem working for a female or having them work with me, I treat the males & females the same & expect the same from them no matter what.

Now Brenda does make a very good/excellent point that the mothers that do stay at home to care for their children full time do have a very hard job, they normally get paid very little in a monetary value & work exceedingly long hours every day of the week with little to no time off for themselves through the week/s & or months, but they do get paid the overall best benefits anyone could ever ask for, they get constant hugs & kisses & the chance to see their child & or children grow up & get them to see the first steps & words & them smiling all them time. For me there is nothing better, Unfortunately I was the one that unfortunately had to continuously work the over time & take the shifts that were given to me to make sure we could make the ends meet every month. So for me I cherished every minute I had with my children when I could, But I do know I would rather of been the stay at home father & let my other half work instead.

Brenda also goes in to saying that “she asked a passing acquaintance what she did & she was told that 'I don't work, I'm a stay at-home mom'”, later in the day when she was thinking about it the word “JUST” even though it is a small & trivial word, tends to minimize & diminish even the most wonderful things; & I agree with her being a stay at home mom or parent is not as easy as some think it is, in actuality it can be harder than a 8 hour work day at a actual job itself.

Now the article Brenda does make reference to “Parents” but it appears to be a main focus of mothers in general, she does reference a website of www.internationalwomansday.com & March 8^th in conjunction with “it is a global day celebrating the economic, political & social achievements of women past, present & future” which is a great thing in of itself; but why is it that when it comes to parenting most of the achievements are seen as being lacking from the mother & not the father of the children as well, there are not just dead beat fathers but also dead beat mothers as well, but in the news print & or media all that is usually noted is the fathers.

I agree that women & men need to be treated as one in the same whither its work in the house “ tending to our future our children” or out of the house. I say it's time that people take their blinders off from their eyes & stop walking around with their eyes wide shut & provide the respect & admiration for one & all for what it is they do no matter what it is & do not judge people from the surface that they see; man & women were created equal & have the same faults no matter how big or small they are.

Nova Scotia's Winter School Closures......

Nova Scotia's winter School Closures......

     Why is it that when there is any amount of snow that is dropped from above and remains on the ground you can almost guarantee a closure of local schools in the HRM and or even the entire province of Nova Scotia these days.

     To clear this up and make it known I am originally from Kingston Ontario; So I have seen snow and rain and high winds and even very thick fog when I was in school. I came to Nova Scotia back in late 1998 and have been here since and love it because of the atmosphere and people and culture.

  When I was growing up and attending school both public and high school it was very rare to have a snow day or school closure for almost any reason. The worst that would happen is that the buses would be pulled off or possibly delayed from getting to the school for the people that had to take them, but yet we were always required to go.

     But in Nova Scotia I have seen more than my fair share of school closures and the shut down of the entire city itself. The first year that I was here there was 1 morning that I got up to go for a walk in Downtown Dartmouth to explore the area. I walked outside and proceeded down Windmill road towards the downtown core and thought nothing of the light snow (Less than 1/2 a foot of snow) and wind that was present. By the time I got downtown I had realized that as of yet I had not seen any buses or cars or anything on the road and all the stores and shops were closed.

     I had come to find out through the new on TV that the city was shut down because of the bad weather, I could not believe that they had shut the city down because of the weather. From that time on anytime there was any bad weather as they called

it the schools and or buses would shut down till it was all cleared up; I honestly think that the definition of a snow day/city closure like in this article HERE.

     I completely agree with local radio host Rick Howe from News 95.7 that the Nova Scotia’s snow day policy should be reviewed and updated to properly reflect how it is handled when schools (Companies) are closed and or opened due to the weather, for we the people no longer in school are not the only one's suffering but the child of the future due to them not getting the proper education that they are going to need to have the proper jobs and such.

     If something is not done about this issue soon then the future could possibly look a lot grimmer than it is now due to improper education of our future society.

The average hospital visit

The average hospital visit

Well it all started about 5:00 pm on February 09 2011 at work; I got excruciating pain in my right leg, I found it hard to stand let alone even walk on the leg.

So with all the pain I ended up going to the Dartmouth General Hospital, I got there at approximately 7:00pm. I went through the Triage nurse and then off to the registration desk and then proceeded to go to the waiting room. I did not have to wait all that long (Approximately 30 minutes) before I was called in.

When I was taken in I was put in bed #4 where the very nice nurse that was on duty came in and introduced herself to me and then gave me a hospital gown to put and then checked over my leg quickly and asked me a couple of routine questions and then went to find the resident doctor on duty. Unfortunately all the doctors were busy with more important injuries.

When I finally got the chance to see the doctor it was 10:22pm thus putting me at that point almost 3.5 hours in to me being there; still not bad for being in a Emergency Room with lots of ambulances coming and going all night.

The doctor looked me over and asked me a couple of routine questions and looked my legs over, he then said that I mostly likely have an infection in my leg but could also have a blood clot as well, so he decided to put me on a blood thinner as well as antibiotics just to be safe and requested blood work to be done as well (blood work cam back as being normal), he then directed me to come back again in the morning for a Ultrasound of my bad leg. He then left and the nurse came back in again and provided me with some pills as well as the antibiotics.

She made sure that I was comfortable and that everything was setup properly for me and then started the intravenous (IV) and then left but came back every so often to make sure I was OK and not having a reaction to the intravenous I was getting. Once everything was done she asked if there was anyone she could call to come get me, I thanked her and politely said no.

I ended up getting the last bus home from the hospital, once I got home I set the alarm (Which I slept through) to get up to be back at the hospital again for 8:00am (February 10, 2011), Unfortunately I did not get back to the hospital as early as intended but I did get there (Thank you Denise) at about 9:00am. I went directly to the ultrasound room and I was done there within 30 minutes or so.

Once done with the ultrasound I then went back to the ER again and seen the triage nurse and re registered again, I was called in about 45 minutes later (10:15am); When I went in I was asked to sit and wait in another waiting room just up from the bed I was in only a matter of hours earlier.

As I am sitting there waiting I am watching patients come and go and some even left due to the length of time that they were there and not seen by anyone but the on duty nurse. Now I will say that sitting still and not moving my leg and then all of a sudden getting a twitch in it and my leg moving is very painful, this happened a couple of times so I got up and walked around a bit to try and relieve the pain but it did not help much.

As I am walking around I happen to come across a clock on the wall (And I only found that 1 clock during this visit); I then realized that it was almost 3:00pm; this puts me being there for almost 6 hours of which 5:15 worth of time I was left to sit in this waiting room in a very hard chair with no interaction from anyone other than the nurse occasionally to make sure that I am still there and have not left like some of the other patients did, mean while I keep seeing this one female doctor constantly on the go but seeing her help anyone within sight of me other than a elderly lady that came in after I did.

Now during this 5:15 of waiting in the other waiting room I had asked if I could go outside and get some fresh air to the nurse that had brought me in, she recommended that I not do that so I did not miss my turn; when she said that I was thinking to myself how is it I can miss my turn when no one that came in before me has been seen yet.

So I went outside anyways and came back in again in a couple minutes and I notified her that I was back. Approximately 40 minutes later (putting me at 6 hours of waiting now) this male doctor comes walking in (If I am correct this was the start of his shift and I think he was the one I saw come in with his bike) and walks right to the nurses station and I hear him say to the nurse “Where is this patient that has been here for 5 hours already”, he grab the chart and came over and introduced himself and then asked me some questions and looked my leg over and such; He then prescribed the antibiotics again for me as well as instructions to be off work for a couple days; Within 20 – 30 minutes of him coming over to me I was then discharged with my paperwork and the medications that I had been waiting for all day.

Now I will say that I do not hold the Doctors and or Nurses at fault for the delay in the waiting times to get seen but having to wait 5+ hours for something that only took 20 – 30 minutes to have done unsupervised while sitting in a chair is uncalled for. Something definitely should be done to eradicate these long wait times in our local hospitals throughout Canada and or any other country that this happens in; Now not only am I out of work for 2 – 3 days with a doctors note but I had to surrender a full 6+ hours of my day that I should of been at work and getting paid; Unfortunately not everyone can afford to lose a day of pay like I did while at the hospital for something that did not take long to do at all and was done by the nurse and not the doctor.

Tufts Cove to cost $93 Million

Nova Scotia Power was given the OK on Monday to spend an extra $8.7 million on its Tufts Cove waste heat recovery project. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff / File)

     Here is another article that I was able to come across, this time done by JUDY MYRDEN; It is about NSP (Nova Scotia Power) and the Tufts Cove project to cost $93 million which is up from the original cost that put out on Sept. 12, 2007 in the amount of $66.2 million, this is the second increase since it was put out 3 years ago, the first increase was approved on May 28, 2008 to increase the budget for the project to $84.3 million.

     This means that they were approved to increase the spending to get this project done the first time by 18.2 Million not even 1 year after it got started; Now we are in to year 3+ and the project is still not done but they were approved for another financial increase for the project of $8.7 Million more, this does not seam right to me, power rates seem to go up every other year, yet the company is consistently making a profit every year, Nova Scotia Power Inc. earnings rose to $22.4 million from $16.6 million, so they have had almost 8 Million more in profits this year, but yet they still want a rate hike for the consumers, when is enough enough for large companies, no company needs to make this much money after all is said and done; at what point is this going to be considered greed, when all the poor/old age and such can no longer afford to have power where they live.

     Who here wants to have a possible rate increase from Nova Scotia Power of 18% (industrial) and 12% (residential), I know I do not, sure I use power, but I know I am using right around the same amount now as I was back in 2000, my rates have gone from Basic Charge of $21.00 to $21.66 and a per KWH of $0.0835 to 0.11612. That is a basic charge increase of $0.66 (3.1%) and a increase of 0.03262 (71.9%) per KWH used and yet get hit with a high wind storm and we lose power for who knows how long; I say increases like that should have results that can be seen and tested.

local Christmas tree certification

     I just read a article on the News 95.7 website about "local Christmas tree certification" by Doug Cogswell. It states that all lots that sell Christmas Tree's that are grown here in Nova Scotia will have a banner indicating that they were grown locally and cut down within a maximum of 10 days of them being displayed for sale to the public, so other than having to go out and cut down your own tree and then bringing it home; The tree you get should last a lot longer than in previous years due to not knowing when the tree you picked out was cut down no matter what you were told.

     I say this is a good turn of advents to the local consumer and should make it a better time of year for the young children in all of us walking in to our houses and having the great smell of pine wafting through the house.

HHB Toll Increase

     There is a recent news report about the Toll hike for the bridges connecting Halifax and Dartmouth Nova Scotia ("Hearings into proposed bridge toll hike underway"), the current rate for crossing either of the bridges is $0.75 + $0.25/axle ($0.60 + $0.20 if using a MacPass) for a one way trip for a Passenger Vehicle, for a Over sized Vehicle (Anything with more than 2 tires per Axle) is $1.00 ($0.875 if using a MacPass), Buses are charged $2.50 ($1.20 if using a MacPass), "Source".

     As it is now the Bridge Commision already allocates 14.82% of their total income towards Maintenance Expenses, In 2005 the average number of vehicle crossings per day was 37,739, the information listed on page 18 of the HHB "Planning & Partnerships Annual Report 2009-10 "Maintenance expenses decreased by $1,249 in Q4 2010 compared to the same period in 2009. Annual maintenance expenses decreased by $3,936 to $3,736 in 2009/2010 from $7,672 for the same period in 2008/2009. The significant decrease in bridge maintenance is attributable to the Victoria Road Interchange maintenance project expenses that occurred during the year ended March 31, 2009." and they had a Annual toll revenue for 2009/2010 of $24,251.

     So why is it that they have to raise their rates for people that need to cross the Harbour to make a living, this is not only for professional people, but also for other services such as Taxi's and couriers and other services, if the rates do increase for travel across the bridges, then that would lead to the other services would have to increase their rates as well.

     So 1 small change to this service will effect more than just their traffic across the bridges and the congestion but also the other services that use the bridge's as well. I say that there is no need to raise the rate('s) for the use of the bridges.

     I say that if they want to be able to have more money, have them turn the lights off that they installed back in 1999, at that time the estimated cost for those lights to be used was $50,000.00 a year; and with the possible rate increase from Nova Scotia Power industrial rates by as much as 18% (residential rates by 12%) ("Source").


What are your thoughts on this, for me I say no, the increase is not needed and should not be allowed to pass.

Do you like sports!

Do you like sports, if so here is a great place to go to to listen (News 95.7; All News Radio) to them online if you do not have access to a TV to see the games. http://bit.ly/aShWPN

New Local Radio Station

Have you heard that there is a new radio station (Live 105.1; "Live Life Loud") locally operating now, they play all the stuff from the 90's and such, check them out here http://bit.ly/eb6kyn