The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

8 + WATERLOO CHRONICLE * Wednesday, February 6 Peter WINKLER PUBLISHER EDITORIAL Bob VRBANAC EDITOR ext. 229 editorial@ waterloochromicle.ca sports @ waterloochronicle.ca Jennifer ORMSTON REPORTER ext. 203 jormston@ waterloochronicle.ca Greg MACDONALD REPORTER ext. 215 rdmacdonald@waterloochromcle.ca Gerry MATTICE ext. 230 RETAIL SALES MANAGER sales@ waterloochronicle.ca SALES REPRESENTATIVES Norma CYCA ext. 223 nevea® waterloochronicle.ca Bill PIHURA ext. 228 bpihura@ waterloochronicle.ca Carly GIBBS ext. 222 cgihhs(fl‘walerlmxhr\midc.ca CLASSIFIED 519â€"895â€"5230 CIRCULATION 519â€"886â€"2830 ext. 213 Canadian Publications Mail Sales Publication Agreement Number 40050478 International Standard Serial Num ber ASSN 0832â€"3410 Brenda SOKOLOWSKI ext. 202 bsokolowski @ waterloochronicle.ca ADVERTISING WATERLOO CHRONICLE Audited Circulation The Waterloo Chronicle is published each Wednesday by ‘Metroland Media Group Ltd. ONTARIO PRESS COUNCIL ThesWaterloo Chronicle is a member of The Ontario Press Council, which considers complaints against memâ€" ber newspapers. Any complaint about news, opinions advertising or conduct should first be taken to the newspaper. Unresolved complaints can be brought to: Ontario Press Council, 2 Carlton Street, Suite 1706, Toronto, ON., MSB 113. COPYRIGHT The contents of this newspaper are protected by copyright and may be used only for personal nonâ€"commerâ€" cial purposes. All other rights are reserved and commercial use is proâ€" hibited. To make any use of this material you must first obtain the permission of the owner of the copyâ€" right. For further information conâ€" tact Bob Vrbanac, Editor, Waterloo Chronicle, 279 Weber St. N., Suite 20, Waterloo, Ontario N2J 3H8. 279 Weber St. N.. Suite 20 Waterloo, Ontario NZJ 3H8 519â€"886â€"2830 Fax: 519â€"886â€"9383 LETTERS POLICY Letiers to the editor must contain the writer‘s full name, signature, address and telephone number. Addresses and telephone numbers are used only for verification purposes and will not be published. Names will not be withâ€" held. We reserve the right to edit, conâ€" dense or reject any contribution for brevity or legal purposes. Letters may be submitted by fax to 519â€"886â€"9383 or by email to editorial@waterâ€" loochronicle.ca or by mail or delivâ€" ered to Waterloo Chronicle, 279 Weber St. N., Suite 20, Waterloo, Ontario N2J 3H8. www waterloochronicle.ca EMAIL editorial @ waterloochronicle.ca FAX 519â€"886â€"9383 31,292 Wth Waterloo city council struggling to find $500,000 in cuts to fund a proposed infrastructure plan, it‘s interesting to note some of the numbers that came out of the city‘s travel budget last year. old do ee Emoe ol e I2 C While it was to be expected that Waterloo Mayor Brenâ€" daâ€"Halloran would be the top traveller â€" as she repreâ€" sents the city on the local, national and international stage â€" it was interesting to see that the city‘s chief administrative officer, Simon Farbrother, was in fact the top spender. â€" 2s y s Sure there were extenuating circumstances, like winâ€" ning the Intelligent Community of the Year Award, which required some travel to places like New York to receive the honour. But was a China trip really necessary? And was it particularly necessary for the city‘s CAQ to go? b The city‘s CAO is the top bureaucrat in Waterloo, and as such is instrumental in the dayâ€"toâ€"day running of the city. All the events and occasions that require a more symbolic representation of the city are usually handled by the mayor and council. You don‘t often see the CAO at a ribbon cutting or a litâ€" eracy day at a local school, but you will find the mayor and members of council. That‘s what the politicians do â€" they represent the people of this city. Shouldn‘t the same p'rinciple hold for international junkets? _ _ In total, after a Freedom of Information request made by the Chronicle, we figure that the city‘s CAO was out of the office for more than a quarter of the year last year. Sure, he‘s in constant contact with city hall with all the modern communications technology available, but wasâ€" n‘t his physical presence needed a little more often in a year when the city was breaking in a new council? CAO should stay grounded This council had a steep learning curve last year and faced a number of important issues, including westâ€"side development. Shouldn‘t they have the city‘s most senior bureaucrat there to guide them? At least one councillor, Scott Witmer, thought so. 2008 VIEWPOINT But every once and a while there is a sporting event that rises above the mundane and becomes about more than the bread and circuses meant to disâ€" tract us. Take Sunday‘s Super Bowl finale between the New Engâ€" land Patriots versus the New York Giants. Pretty boring game until the fourth quarter really, and all the hype that went into building up the game was mindâ€"numbing. Everything except a little spoken word piece by Oscar Awardâ€"winning actor Russell Crowe. He added a certain graviâ€" tas to the day speaking about the idea of perfection, and humanity‘s pursuit of it since the dawn of reason. He harkened back to Arisâ€" totle who originally philosoâ€" phized about the concept and defined it as that which is complete â€" that contains all the requisite parts. It‘s something so good that nothing of its kind could be better. It‘s something that has attained its true purpose. It physically made me pause when I heard it, and once again proved the power of words to move us. I went on YouTube and other sites to see if I could download it, or at least get a printout of the speech. It wasn‘t available and I‘m still looking. _ 80 That‘s because I thought it nicely encapsulated what the New England Patriots were trying to do on Sunday night â€" find perfection in an imperfect world. Sure, it was only a football game, but it was also a chasâ€" ing of the ideal that spoke to Plus, it would be a chance to finally shut up the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only undefeated team in NFL hisâ€" tory, who have been less that gracious to other teams tryâ€" ing to eclipse their record. The remaining members of the Dolphins toast the demise of another team‘s pursuit of immortality. I perâ€" sonally think it cheapens the high standard they set when they break out the chamâ€" _ Because the pursuit of perfection is something that speaks to all of us. It‘s an ideal because we know how hard it is to achieve perfection. Yet we continue to try to move towards that perfect state, the goal of reaching it still moving us forward. That‘s why, despite so many detractors, I was actuâ€" ally cheering for the Patriots to have a perfect season. It would be the fairyâ€"tale ending so many of us want but can only find in chilâ€" dren‘s books. As we get older we get further removed from the concept that life is perfect because we know how hard that it is to achieve. Especially someone like me who works in the newsâ€" paper industry and puts their work out for the public to judge on a weekly basis. You don‘t know how quick some people are to point out our errors by emailing about a misspelled word or some misplaced punctuation. You hope the message isn‘t lost in the delivery, but often your very credibility is challenged because of it. That makes it a very diffiâ€" cult tightrope to walk every week when we all know there‘s no way you can achieve perfection, despite your best efforts. Just ask the Patriots, who have now become a metaphor for all the rest who have come up short. You never know when there will be a Giant standâ€" ing in your way to ruin your happy ending.