Crunchy Ramblings

Ah if only they new...

2007-06-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

According to the Vancouver Sun, the UN has described Vancouver as a paradise with a dark side..

It describes Vancouver as a "breathtakingly gorgeous" city with a sizzling economy.
"But there is trouble in paradise. And nowhere is it more evident than in the Downtown Eastside-a two-kilometre-square stretch of decaying rooming houses, seedy strip bars and shady pawnshops," states the UN agency.
"Worst of all, it is home to a Hepatitis C (HCV) rate of just below 70 per cent and an HIV prevalence rate of an estimated 30 per cent-the same as Botswana's."

The sizzling economy bit has me a bit puzzled. Vancouver has a sizzling real estate market and hence a HUGE construction boom going on. I have little evidence of anything else.

Vancouver is a tourist city...and not the good kind. It attracts lots of overseas business and wealth. They buy up the pretty glass towers that we can't afford.

They drive the 'densification' and 'ecodensity' ideas that we are constantly hammered with.

Vancouver is the home of illegal goods. Goods coming in and out of the city. Knock-off's of Channel and so on are available everywhere. Everyone has a fake YSL bag. Well, a certain demographic of our population anyway.

Vancouver is the home of fake lottery scams that target little old ladies in the US. Vancouver is the city that couldn't keep a stock exchange due to the volume of shady activity taking place on it.

Money here is not usually made in purely legitimate ways.

There are no big industries here. Not many head offices left.
So what is generating all the income?

Who is paying for this image of paradise?

I love living here for the scenery and climate. However, the cost of living rises more every single day.

Our city and provincial governments have nothing but dollar signs in their eyes and only working towards one goal....selling the city to the world for the 2010 Olympics.

There is no concern for the regular citizens that make up this fair city.
Health care is a problem.
Housing is a problem
Business are falling apart ....the death toll on the Cambie Line increases every month. So much for small business

It has finally come out that all the promises for housing made by VANOC are highly unlikely and in my opinion was always just words on paper.

For the rest of the world Vancouver is a nice place to play. Lax laws and a laid back style help off shore investors make some easy cash....at the expense of the rest of us.

There is nothing viable in the economy of this city...nothing sustaining. Nothing long lasting.

We are being told to get out of our traditional homes. We are told that family life doesn't fit in here. WE are told that condos are the way to go.

According to Patrick Condon in the Vancouver Sun, June 26, 85% of new housing needs will be for non family housing.

I disagree with this. I say this statistic is being forced upon us by inflated real estate prices and marketers pushing their condos.

Families are being driven to the suburbs whether they want to go or not. Guilted out for a dream of a home with a yard and so forth.

I am very sad at how Vancouver has fallen. I hope to be proven wrong.

But I doubt it.

Another Reason This Pisses Me Off

2007-06-15T11:11:00.000-07:00

....the blame the individual for destroying our planet...yadda yadda....
Yes we do waste energy and on and on....

But am I the one sending myself massive amounts of junk mail that I just scoop up and shove in my recycling box?

Does this procedure mean something? Would the world end if there was NO JUNK mail and me doing this little job every single day???

The amount of paper and glossy card and heavily inked and coloured stock that gets turfed out is obscene.

The energy expended and waste produced by producing all this garbage is what is burning up our resources.

All these industries created by a culture of largess and excess.

Junk mail serves no purpose. What I mean is ..it doesn't feed us. It doesn't provide us shelter....there is no actual NEED for it.

And I am sure there are far better alternatives for advertising their wares than this old and outdated mode.

Would not our postal workers rejoice if they didn't have all this junk to lug around?

The Police RAWK!! - Paid Post

2007-06-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

Win a New York fly-away to see The Police live

For ages before the Grammy's....there were Police sightings all around Vancouver. Nobody would confirm or deny that the crew were here rehearsing!

Well they were here and they DID announce a tour and it WAS starting out in Vancouver and I got to go and see them. And they were amazing. They did a fantastic job....played everything we wanted to hear and did it well. It was a massive nostalgia trip for all there and I am sure every city they visit will be a massive sell out.

I am thrilled that they have a companion CD with the tour. The music of The Police
shaped my youth and a compliation CD is just what we need! I cannot wait spend my summer driving and belting out Police tunes......ahh the memories.

Every song evokes a memory. Their sound inspired and influenced at least twenty years of musicians.

I don't know if I can PICK one favorite song from the police cd but I sure enjoyed their new take on Walking on the Moon and Every Breath You Take.

Listening to an entire stadium sing along word for word is pretty incredible.
I am glad I got to be part of the experience and I look forward to picking up the new police cd.

Harper Goes up a Notch in my Opinion of Him

2007-06-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

I heard about this this on Breakfast Television where they were SHOCKED that our PM would snub the obviously GOD like Bono during the G8 Summit.

You know what? GOOD FOR HIM!

Seriously. Who the hell does BONO think he is?

He is a bloody MUSICIAN for God's sake. What gives him right to TELL people who to run their countries or allocate their foreign aid.

Why would a leader of a country listen to him more than say the people who elected him/her or the people in his government? Because they dug The Joshua Tree?

For a man who moved his business out of Ireland instead of paying (gasp) taxes...the hypocrisy is a little overwhelming.

This man's wealth alone could probably support a starving nation in Africa.

I am all for celeb's helping bring causes and issues to the public eye...but please, remember who and what you are.

Bono needs to put HIS money where his mouth is. Let's see more WORK instead of jaunting around the world rubbing elbows with world leaders.

If She Can't Get People To Listen...

2007-06-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

who can.....

I hope it was not all in vain...

Tagged!

2007-06-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

I don't usually do those over here..but Angela tagged me at this site..so what the heck.

The object of the game is to blog “8 Random Facts About Myself”. Here are the rules:

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog

- I ain't tagging people....consider yourself TAGGED if you are reading this and you want to share some stuff!

- I am also going to try to keep mine in keeping with this blogs 'theme'

1. During my formative years I was very apathetic towards politics. This despite being surrounded by friends who partook in model parliaments and had one friend RUN for Premier!

2. My irritation towards the stupidity and corruption I see around me is slowing building up inside me to the point where I will have to do more than just bitch. And I don't mean become a vigilante..though that is tempting....I am thinking about running for city council and or starting my own charitable organization.

3. My creative writing has ground to a complete halt. No ideas even....sad.

4. I KNOW I don't give this site enough attention. This is the tricky one. The parenting stuff is easy to talk about. WetCoast is my other baby and I want to see that one grow. This stuff is trickier.

5. I find it hard to read and research the world's going on when my kids don't even let me hear the local news. I feel a sense of accomplishment from just reading the daily paper in one day.

6. I am really scatterbrained.

7. I love a great debate and try to not take them too personally...but feel I am not informed enough to pack a punch.

8. I am NOT Anti American! How could I be with so many on the blogosphere that I consider to be friends...not to mention all the real life buddies too!

Oh Hawaii - Paid Post

2007-05-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

I have never been to Hawaii. I hope go soon.

My mom went there with friends and loved it. They rented a condo in Maui. They loved this. They could relax, make their own meals, and work to their own schedule.

I think this is the way to go for families unless you have the big bucks for an all inclusive resort. My son dreams of swimming with sea turtles and dolphins!

I dream of sipping cool drinks on my lanai.

When we are seriously planning our trip, we will no doubt check out this site - Kauai Vacation Homes for accommodation ideas.

This is a great site filled with a huge variety of condo and rental home options and locations as well as information on flights, car rentals and attractions. The homes range from absolute luxury to a nice little place your sleepy head at night. There is a wide range of prices and locations.

So while we await our passport applications and save our pennies, we will continue to pour over photos of gorgeous Hawaiian condos and gorgeous scenery.

Children Killing Children

2007-05-21T18:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend a 13 year old boy died of stab wounds inflicted by a 14 year old.
This occurred in a not so great part of town......I would like to assume that the kids were visiting Science World which is nearby...but I doubt it.

But what a world we live in when things like this happen more and more.

I haven't read all the details, but I don't think it was early in the day.....which makes you ask MORE questions.

And the horrid fact that perhaps being a so called 'helicopter' parent is not such a bad thing after all.

How on earth do you let your kids out of your sight no matter what age they are?

Did it REALLY change everything???

2007-05-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

...apart from those lives lost and the families torn apart by grief and horror......

this is one of the best articles I have read recently on 9/11

Plain and Simple - Fuck 9/11

A taste.....

"What Really Happened on September 11th, 2001

One thing everyone can agree on—from diehard Fox News Faithful to dedicated Infowaris that September 11th, 2001 is a day that changed the world forever. I am of the opinion that all of these people are full of shit and engaged in a circle jerk of mutual delusion. That is offensive language, but I mean it with all of my heart. I would like you to know that I have spent five months working on this article. I am not blowing off steam or throwing a tantrum. I am of the opinion that both sides of the 9/11 debate are full of shit, and here is why: Initiates—

On September 11th, 2001, over 30,000 children around the world died of starvation. Every single day since September 11th, 2001, over 30,000 children around the world have died of starvation.

This is of course a shocking number. The mind insists that it must be exaggerated, distorted, wrong. It is shocking any way you can state it: every 2.4 seconds, a child dies of starvation on planet Earth. Is that any more palatable or less insane? Does it change everything if I say that when you finish reading this article 3-5 minutes from now, somewhere between 70 and 200 children, somewhere on Earth right now, are going to cease living before they even had a chance to find out what “New York City” was?

Doing the math, that means as of today—-- over the past 5 years, while millions of mostly white and middle to upper class human beings with internet connections engaged in arguments about the minute details of a terrorist attack that occured in the United States on September 11th, over 60 million children have died. Because of starvation. I had breakfast today, how about you?"

What really changed?

Our daily lives?

For most of us - no.

For those affected by that day…. I can only guess at their pain.

For those with family and friends currently in Iraq and Afghanistan……I can only imagine the worry. For those who have LOST family and friends in Iraq and Afghanistan….again, I can only imagine.

The terrorist agenda? Has that changed? No…..but they scored a big point didn’t they. First hit on US soil..and it was a doozy. No one will ever forget how they felt that day. No one will forget how horrified they were.

That is a given.

That the people behind it are monsters.

That is also a given.

Whatever ‘theory’ you currently follow….the horror is a given.

Has the political agenda changed – I doubt it.

Has our perception changed?

I think we have been TOLD what to perceive. What to think.

I think we think the world has changed….but really…..

The horror goes on.

No matter how many rock concerts you do…….death and devastation continues across our globe.

This type of thinking scares me...

2007-05-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

What a nice scapegoat....From this site...

"Is our gas $$ funding the terrorists?

The gas prices here in Omaha were all the way up to $3.09 a gallon. I haven’t checked the prices in the last couple of days but they are predicting that it will get all the way up to $4.00 per gallon.

We are changing how we do things around here in our house. We can not afford to have to pay approximately $100.00 each and every time we fill up at the pumps. (That’s just a rough estimate of where this is probably going to go).

I am setting it up so that we run our errands once a week instead of every other day or so. The very last place to hit on the list will be the grocery store’s cold items for the freezer and the refrigerator. That will take care of the cold stuff.

Where we live we are close enough to the stores that we can walk, ride a bike, grab the jogging stroller in order to pick up items that do not need to be refrigerated. I can invest in one of those big plastic red wagons from the home depot to tote the kids around in if I need to.

It is my understanding that our gas $$ may be going towards funding the terrorists. This has to stop and we as American Citizens need to put our foot down and request that we be able to drill for our own oil so that we are not dependent on terrorists to fill up our tanks."

Are we going to blame everything now on the danged crazy Muslim folks!

In Canada the Oil Companies have been reporting RECORD profits.
These companies are not owned by terrorists...they are Canadian and American companies.....they have already admitted that their dire forcast for lower productivity after Katarina never came to pass..but they set their prices like it did.

Vancouver has been paying around $1.26 a litre. They have said they will charge what the market will bear and being that Vancouverites seem to put up with a lot of overpriced crap....here we are.

The big mega corporations of the world must love it. They used to get blamed for the ills of the world..now you just point fingers at the terrorists and everyone goes 'aaaah....THOSE evil bastards.'

Are we going to blame Global Warming on the terrorists now....is this their next evil plot?

I am Boggled by this.....

2007-05-01T16:09:00.000-07:00

Really I am...

And Skippy was too.

Apparently people are pissed (US people are pissed) that someone running their OWN country would decide what to do with their OWN oil.

Not only that but who they want to sell it to....the nerve!

This is my favorite quote..."Chavez is playing games with our country’s oil supply and, ultimately, American consumers. Chavez has made it clear he wants China to be Venezuela’s biggest oil customer, instead of the United States. Such a policy,artificial market manipulation when you think about it, would likely drive prices up. "

Don't the American Oil companies do this anyway? Isn't that what most big business does? Isn't that what most big corporations do and their governments pat them on the back for it because it keeps the economy humming?

Is this just because a country might not LIKE the US? Might not want to do business with them and instead focus on another super power?

Chuck around all the rhetoric and propaganda you like...this all boils down to business and money.

*******

Oh and apparently some people really dislike this Code Pink organization. I had actually never heard of them till reading some right winger blogs about it. Apparently they are in the pocket of dangerous commies and even Iraqi insurgents.

Apparently you are a wacko and a traitor to the US for even breathing the words 'impeach' even though it is fact and not fiction regarding the many laws he and his cronies have broken while in office.

But hey...I am just a pinko commie Canadian.
What do I know!?

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.....

2007-04-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

I have had pile of newspaper articles and notes on meaty issues I wanted to talk about and I just haven't had the energy or brain power.....

I promise....I will get to something soon.

How about you tell ME what you want me to rant/talk about!

Do Left Leaning Folks See More Truthiness in Things?

2007-04-17T15:35:00.000-07:00

Check out The Wonder Years who found this report on a 'study' done!

I mean really...who watches Fox News....and not just for a laugh.
I have read on some sites that people think that Fox is the most NON BIASED news source out there!!!!

There are bloggers out there who have branded me some sort of traitor for not agreeing with them on the wonders of Fox and Bill O'Reilly and their take on Bush and the War!

When Fox thinks that our own crazy Canuck is a good candidate...you gotta wonder.

I love Steve Colbert.

Real Estate in Vancouver

2007-04-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact that we have a pittance for a down payment - we keep looking at places that strike our fancy.

We checked out a couple of open houses yesterday.

The first one was depressing as it was in the same complex and floor plan of a place we SHOULD have bought years ago when the asking price was $329K and not $525K as it was today. The place has a great floor plan and nice big yard. However, for over half a million bucks, you could have done a better paint job on your place? Not to mention that there had been no upgrades done anywhere - kitchen, bathrooms - and the place was over 30 years old.
This is something we have noticed a lot.

The second place was a townhouse that we could actually afford. It was in a great location, with parks and forest trails nearby. It was an end unit with a wrap around yard and in a nice quiet family oriented complex. But again. Not one upgrade. The kitchen was ancient. The carpets old and cheap. The doors and closet doors were made of the same crappy fake wood that is in our rental town home….really old fashioned and ugly. They had ‘finished’ the basement in their own style - faux brick wall for their “wine cellar” - and NO UNDERLAY under the really thin and again cheap carpet.

We would have to spend a fortune to gut the interior of the place to make it livable. We can’t afford that. Not unless they knocked off about $30k of the asking price…and being that they already had two offers coming in, oh well.

The panic buying that is still going on in Vancouver boggles me. People are spending millions on shabby old homes without batting an eyelid. People are rushing to buy not yet built condos.

It has been said by one of the biggest realtors in Vancouver that our fair city is now considered a ‘resort’ town. A place where people buy properties to rent or only stay in for part of the year. So the soul is being sucked right out of this place….it will get worse and worse till after the Olympics and then watch out for all the For Sale signs when the rental condo market drops.

I mean how many people can afford a rent of thousands of dollars?

How many people can pay mortgages of over $3000 a month either? Wages are not rising to match the housing prices?

Just how are people managing?

New Brain Tumour Treatment - PayPerPost

2007-04-16T11:35:00.000-07:00

While I and my family (touch wood) have been largely untouched by Cancer, we know many people who have fought the battle. Some have won, some were not so lucky. The one thing that pulls us all together is a need and a want of the best and newest technology available to aid in the battle.

The Gamma Knife is an amazing piece of technology for aiding in brain tumor treatment with it precise targeting of tumors that can grow in our brains.

The Gamma Knife used in conjunction with a immobilizing head frame, allows the physicians to safely and accurately focus on the tumor without worrying about affecting the rest of the brain.

The system reduces the spread of radiation to the rest of the body with its pinpoint accuracy and shielding of the machinery itself.

I would urge people facing surgery or who know someone dealing with a tumor to visit their highly informative website for more information.

Why I Love BlogHer!

2007-04-11T09:37:00.000-07:00

Seriously...these women rock!

I don't know if codes of conduct for blogs will ever work...but people have to grow up.

I am constantly amazed at the pretense of in your face blogging I see. People calling people out. People harassing people, insulting people.....all behind the safety of their little blogs.

I really do think that bloggings shows peoples TRUE nature. Their inhibitions and ethics seem to go out the window when it comes to blogging.

Terms like Slander and Libel do not cross their minds.

Add to that the cyber stalking and bullying, the plagarism, the copyright theft,.......the blogging world is like the wild west.

It would be nice if people had their own codes of conduct.

I also don't think that you can lay down a blogging law across the board. Forums, fine...but for everyone...you are relying on or hoping for common human decency to show up out there....

I have my doubts.

War and Patriotism

2007-04-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

While children welcomed the Easter Bunny into their homes, and Christians marked the resurrection of Jesus, others were steeped in the midst of darker moments.

6 more Canadian soldiers were flown home in coffins this weekend from Afghanistan. Victims of another hidden bomb.

51 soldiers have lost their lives over in Afghanistan since 2002.

Nothing compared to the 3600 lost at Vimy Ridge in 1917. But we share the enormous pain of their families and friends and comrades.

As the death toll rises and fighting and violence continues in Afghanistan, people naturally wonder just how long we will be there. And yes, some people think Canada should pull out... walk away, after all what is one tiny messed up country mired in civil unrest and violence got to do with us?

Why SHOULD our soldiers risk their lives in that far away place they ask.

And while I abhor war and and the many excuses for it, I think we do need to be in Afghanistan....because the consequences to the innocents would be unimaginable. The Taliban needs to be destroyed and we need to clear up the terrorist cells and those supporting the Taliban and the many other militant groups as soon as possible. This would be a message to all those groups hiding in and around Afghanistan.

I however, don't think that the current strategies are working. There or in Iraq. I think the street fighting and suicide bombings and hidden roadside bombs could seriously go on forever.

It is a war of attrition now in both of these places. Something needs to be done.

I however, have no answers.....what do I know?

And why did I mention Vimy Ridge?

This weekend marked the re dedication of memorial there. A beautiful memorial. A breathtaking honour to the thousands of Canadians who gave up their lives for that one decisive battle so long ago.

In the title of this post, I mention the word 'Patriotism.' Patriotism gets used a lot in conjunction with the military. After all you are or you are told you are..fighting for your country.' That is a very patriotic thing to do.

Patriotism is seen in different ways all around the world. Patriotic feelings are very personal.

Recently, as I surfed around the blogosphere, I have come across a few 'patriotic' sites.....I think all of them were American. Emblazoned with flags and much honouring those who have and are fighting 'the war.' There are sites by actual military personnel. I find these sites fascinating as I know little of life in the military. There are sites by families of those in the military....I share their worry and their pride in their military family members. There are those by ex military and those who are just plain patriotic.

American patriotism seems to an outsider like me way more 'out there' than those of other Western nations. Canadians are no doubt just as proud of their country, but we are not so overt about it. Neither are the British...they tend to be a bit more self deprecating, but their pride does shine through.

What I don't like to read or see is how patriotism can be used to attack someone. I don't like how a person is accused of being 'un patriotic' because they are against the "war" in Iraq. Or that because they don't support said war, that they are not supporting the troops.

I hate this...I find it very distasteful.

Not agreeing in politics and governmental motives has nothing to do with supporting or not supporting the men and women doing their jobs, nor is it unpatriotic.

Perhaps because of the debacle and lack of welcome that the veterans of Vietnam experiences, that this has become such a hot issue.

People have a real fear that Iraq is indeed the 21st Century's own Vietnam. And while it might well be, I really don't think people will take it out on the troops.

I also don't like the idea that you are unpatriotic if you don't fully support the government in their every decision.

Most of our governments are elected. Meaning WE put them there. They work for us. It is up to us to make sure they are doing the job we asked them to do. This goes for all Western Democracies.

I wish we didn't have war. I wish we didn't have the need for war.
But we do. And probably will do for a very long time.
It is human nature.

I wish we could help all the countries ruled by heavy handed monsters. I wish all countries could have the freedom to form their own FAIR systems. Systems that work for them.

And while I think the war in Iraq was for all the wrong reasons and that the world was lied to.....I think we need to figure something out and finish the job. And sooner than later, so that no more men or women are brought back in coffins. And no more innocents lose their lives and livelihoods.

So while I don't have a Canadian Flag on my websites, I am proud of troops.

I actually come from a fairly military family.

My Canadian Grandfather was in the Seaforth Highlanders during the Second World War. My Great Uncle was in the RAF. He was an engineer on the big bombers. My Great Aunt was a WREN. She manned the radios that kept in contact the many ships out at sea. My moms cousin was in the RAF too. My Step-Grandmother was in the Canadian Military. There is some Great somebody too who survived the First War also.

The military and the war have had a profound effect on my family for many generations. It shaped and changed many lives. Many tales are passed on. Memories shared.

Am I patriotic? You bet I am.

Web 2.0....is it better?

2007-04-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

The new web or web 2.0 seems mainly to be about making money. Profit seems to be taking over content.

Exaggeration, perhaps...but when you find sites like Digital Point, that host forums where people look for and sell their writing services for sites that need content, you gotta wonder.

Sites like Digital Point cater to the gajillion sites that are there purely for the ads...and there mostly for Google Ads. At least then they are not stealing content.

Another thing that has sprung up and is sort of creepy being that each site looks exactly the same, is money making websites, or sites about SEO, etc.

They all seem to worship at the feet of John Chow and aim to mimic the very look of the website.

wotZcool.com is an example of the clone blogs. There are many more I could link to, I picked these purely because I had found them either through MyBlogLog or SpiceyPage. And yes, thanks for visiting guys. I am intending no insult here.

I mainly find it fascinating. For personal bloggers who also dream (mostly) of earning revenue from their blogs, they work hard at design and themes. They want to stand out, they want to be remembered. For this lot, the effort seems to be to be as similar as the guy next to you and, what? Hope that their luck brushes off onto you?

Are these sites making money? Who knows. John Chow claims to and thus his following.

But how many sites can we have on the same topic, linking to other sites with MORE tips and tricks on blog optimization, that for these guys seems to mean, talk about blogging, talk about ads, talk about traffic? And when does it get boring......how much money CAN be made from these types of site?

More Evidence of why Vancouver Does Not Get It

2007-03-28T13:04:00.000-07:00

I realize these rants are boring to people who don't live in Vancouver or have ever visited, and I really should just stop reading the local paper.

But headlines like: USUAL MAYHEM - Granville Street is like a Ticking Time Bomb from the March 26th issue of the Vancouver Sun just set me off.

Now Granville Street sucked the moment they built an underground mall beneath it, promptly killing all business above. They made sure business was dead by also not allowing traffic except buses and taxi's to drive along there.

But it survived. It was a mix of newsagents, comic shops, books stores, tattoo parlours, arcades and some porn places that valiantly hung on. It was a sleazy street, but a fun one.

Slowly over the years various clubs have come and gone. Bars open and closed, but lately MORE clubs have opened and survived.

This had made this one small strip party central for young clubbers. I emphasize young, because that has been the target market and that has been the root of all the problems down there.

Young folks from the burbs hit downtown and party their little brains out. They get drunk and get in fights. Nothing new, no. But when it is focused on about 4 blocks......it does not work well.

What gets me is why the city has not paid attention to this area properly. Not thought about branding and mareketing the area properly.

I will use San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter as an example.

I LOVED this area. Have had a blast everytime we visited San Diego. Loved the variety and styles of bars, clubs, restaurants, and stores. Something for all ages and stages.

And I realize that they have their share of problems too, no city is free of crime, etc., but at least they have worked hard at turning what could be a sleazy club area into a landmark tourist destination.

What has our City Council thinking?
Everything our city does seem to be based on making money via real estate deals and condo development. No long term planning. No tourist development.

They keep marketing Gastown as a major destination and the looks of horror as the cruise ship crowd pour onto the streets filled with drunks, homeless and addicts is amazing.

Yes, it is the oldest part of Vancouver. Yes the architecture of some of the buildings is nice and yes, there are some great eats and some good stores. But not much. Gastown had its day.

And sure it could be great. If there was consensual planning between the City and developers and retailers. But there hasn't been. And their won't be for Granville Street either.

The Olympics will be a huge wakeup call for the City. If they have ignored the tales from tourists horrified by the homelessness and mess so far....THAT will be the reckoning.

In the meantime we watch our city turn into sleazy party central

Second Chances - PayPerPost

2007-03-23T08:34:00.000-07:00

I am a firm believer in 'second chances.'

I am a firm believer in people having the opportunity to get the help they need.

That is why I support places like Stone Hawk.

I can only imagine what a dark pit drug addiction must be. Having people who have been there and understand help you climb out of that dark place, must make fighting the addiction a bit easier.

And the people who created Stone Hawk have been there. They know and they want to help.

Stone Hawk has an 76% plus success rate. This is amongst the highest in the US.

Their goal is to make you clean and healthy, both mentally and physically. They want you back out and living the life you deserve.

Stone hawk is located in Michigan with locations in Albion and Battle Creek.

Vancouver - City of Corruption

2007-03-22T18:07:00.000-07:00

Vancouver in the papers again.....just not OUR papers.

Wow….

(I hope this link works)

Washington Post

“Vancouver prefers to revel in politically correct politics, a squeaky-clean environmental image, and a laid-back mood fostered by persistent melancholy rain. But it also is a haven for some of the most wanted fugitives in the world and for con men working scams in the shadow of the law.”

They used Lai Changxing as an example. Sitting here in his luxury condo while the ‘wheels of justice’ grind away.

Rakesh Saxena has been under house arrest in HIS luxury home for 11 years now. “But he insisted, “This isn’t a great life. With due respect, this is not the place I would choose to live. From my perspective, it’s a backwater.”

Great huh? So you can see what the people who come here to just exploit our laws and so on really think of it here! This is why we have a crummy real estate market.

This is why there are hardly any head offices here. Did we not HAVE a stock exchange at one point?

Again, Vancouver is pretty on the surface……but man oh man….there are so many people out to make a buck at any cost. This includes the business men, city hall, the provincial government…the list goes on.

No wonder joe average doesn’t stand a chance.

Who Blogs and Why?

2007-03-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

HBM and her mom stirred up quite the discussion all over the net these last few days.

The words 'Narcissism' and 'Privilege' have been thrown out there and the reactions and discussion has been really amazing.

Life of Pie sums it up the best, so I will let you read her take on it.

It boils down to judgements and perspective I think.

True. We in the Western Civilization where computers are affordable or accessible and the concept of freedom of speech is still more fact than propaganda ARE lucky and more privileged than others.

And how the hell is it spelled? I always went with Priviledge but I guess I am totally wrong and Privilege is right!!

Anyway....I don't really think Bloggers DO fit into one class. Not here or in the rest of the world.

As soon as free services like Blogger, and Wordpress showed up, you opened the opportunity to have a website to ALL not just those willing to spend money on hosting and web design and development.

With computer prices getting lower and lower and more and more people of all stripes surfing the net.....gone were the days of techie elitism.

So who blogs?
Everyone? Everyone with access to a computer that is. And anyone with the inclination.

I don't think it is all navel gazing.
There are all kinds of blogs out there.

Parenting blogs get picked on a lot because we are not supposed to be so angst or whiney or even have the TIME to blog if we are parents.

Others get picked on because they use their blogs as journals.

People seem to be affronted that we might want to share or that people might want to read our opinions.

I love it.

I love that the world is a smaller place because of the internet.
I love that we can read personal perspective on issues we see in the news.
I love that we can find other people with the same values or ideas or humour.
I love that we can be entertained.

I love that the internet IS for all and not controlled by governments or corporations (yet).

I blog because it keeps my brain working and helps me focus on my world.
I read blogs because it is better than the tv and better than the papers.

I feel that I am communicating with people.

What a gift.

Why do you blog?

Get Savings Online - Paid Post

2007-03-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

Shop Online? I certainly do. I would not have had Christmas last year without online shopping.

When you have two small children underfoot, being able to peruse the selection of books, cd's and dvd's at places like Amazon.com from the comfort of my computer, is a lifesaver. And when you discover that there are discounts available in the form of online coupons? Even better!

CouponChief.com is your one stop shop for a dizzying array of discount coupons from stores like Amazon.com, Target, BestBuy, Travelocity, Expedia, and the list goes on.

It really is a great way to find out about new special deals, discount coupon codes and promotions. From now on, I am going to check these guys first before starting my online shopping or even when I start planning our family vacation this year.

online coupons

My Moment of Fame...

2007-03-19T16:29:00.000-07:00

Over on Crunchy Carpets

Check it out!

PayPerPost Keeps Getting Bigger and Bigger - Paid Post

2007-03-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

I signed on with PayPerPost a while ago, but messed up my opportunities with all my 'redevelopment' of my blog world.

I finally qualify now and am very interested in all the opportunities for pay posts, affiliate deals and so forth.

Quite a few of my favorite blogs are doing really well with their PayPost program, and I have to say that they have NOT taken away from the quality and content of the sites.

If you already have good and frequent content, some interesting ads do not spoil it. In fact, I end up reading and clicking on a lot of the ads.

Word at the PayPerPost home base says they have some big news up their sleeves and they cannot WAIT to tell everyone! I wonder what it could be? Their program has been expanding so rapidly and they have getting bigger and better. They are offering more and more opportunities for you to monetize your website. Could they have some fun news about PostiCon07? Could a brand new partnership be in the works? Could they have more incentives for their referral program? Or perhaps some exiting opportunities for those interested in Review My Post! Visit the PayPerPost website in the next few weeks and sign up yourself to find out!

The Myth of Sisterhood

2007-03-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

Mostly, when we speak of women and or motherhood, we use a lot of words like community, support, networking, and so on. Lots of happy, helpful terms that fill us with visions of women pulling together. Of women who just by gender and maternal status alone, can and willingly leap in where needed, offering aid and support to their fellow womenfolk - the sisterhood.

And while yes, this does happen and women DO help each other out, it is not the whole truth. And I wonder if the concept of this 'sisterhood' is a hindrance or something we SHOULD be all struggling to attain.

The feminist movement came up against this (and still does). The mighty 'WE' seems to be made up of many voices with diverse ideas about what a feminist is and or wants.

The biggest example that we have seen for a while was the whole 'Mommy Wars' thing. Who was the better mommy? The one who stayed at home or the one who went to work? These sweeping questions left a lot to be desired. Some people felt like stay at home moms were 'letting' down the team,' so to speak, for not following their career dreams and smashing that glass ceiling. This assumed that ALL women seemed to be career women before they 'sacrificed' all to stay at home with their kids.

Again, massive generalizations about the needs and wants of women.

While basic rights and freedoms, respect, understanding, etc is a necessity for not just women but all human beings. The details really need to be left up to the individual.

But this is where the sniping and griping and bitchiness seems to show up.

The sister 'hood' is a dangerous and tricky place to hang out.

It is filled with groups and loners alike. All with very different interests and attitudes and those individuals will either have their own groups of like minded individuals around them or they will be lone rebels. Don't expect help or sympathy from someone not in your circle.

We have all seen it or been a part of it. We have watched topics on blogs explode with nasty comments, snide remarks and clear lines drawn in the cyber sand.

We see the wagons circle to protect the one in the centre of the fray and thus the ripples of outrage and disgust flow from blog to blog.

People roll their eyes and mutter that it is just like high school again. And yes, it is. I don't think things really change all that much. Anyone who has worked in a largely female workplace will recall moments of backstabbing bitchiness. Snide gossip that filled coffee rooms. Women can be and are their own worst enemies sometimes.

So while I have met some extraordinary women. I have become part of some amazing communities online and in real life where, yes, the women ARE amazing and strong and supportive, I get the feeling that this is not the norm and instead something we perhaps need to all strive for.

I recently listened to Kirsten of Motherhood Uncensored on Blog Talk Radio have a chat with one of my fave's Crank Mama about the whole 'alterna hipster' label and parenting. It was a fun and light look at the big hoora that had been circulating around the blogosphere. You can hear my take on this on CBC Radio One on Monday at 11 am. (End Shameless Plug!) Now some at Strollerderby have me labeled as the 'anti-hipster' and that is fine, but not entirely true. I think some people have a strong dislike of me because of my comments on the whole drinking thing too. (all too much linkage to dig up!) And that is fine, we all can't be pals. We all can't share the same views on issues. That is life.

Now, Kristen and Elizabeth did a great job of keeping it light and I could tell that they worked very hard to not sound judgmental or snobbish about the various topics around the hipster thing. But I think they had to work quite hard at this. And this is not saying anything negative about them at all. I think we all can come of sounded very self righteous when spouting our opinions vs. other opinions - just look at this post!

But I think their radio discussion was a perfect example of why we are not and never will be a 'Sistah hood.' Not in the sense of total feminine solidarity.

We all have our ways of doing thing and our opinions about them. Different things are more important to one woman than another. And thus we compare. We compare, we size up, we evaluate. We use outward appearance to gage the person/woman before us. We judge by what is said about parenting choices, lifestyle - suburb vs. urban, marriage vs common law vs singledom, working or non working and on and on.

I don't think we can help it. And I sometimes think it isn't meant in a bad way. We use others to reflect back a report of sorts back to ourselves. Similarity or Dissimilarity means we must be doing something right...or wrong.

No matter what, we seem to be very insecure. Is this a generational thing? Is it because we do tend to overanalyze things? Are we more insecure about our choices as women and mothers than previous generations? I don't know.

But I can't see how the self and other analysis that goes on can encourage sisterhood, except in that we may shed a glaring light on the total lack of it. Or very little of it that really is around no matter how much we chuck around nice phrases and huggy awards to nice blog posts or whatever.

I would like to see everyone step back see each other without the veil of evaluation of everyone and everything around us. Maybe putting ourselves in other's shoes more or something. Maybe by admitting how insecure we are.

Not that disagreement is wrong. But especially in the blogging world, I don't think we should take so much so personally. We shouldn't get shirty. We can debate and agree to disagree and so forth. We can try to 'turn' someone sure, but I think the high schoolness needs to go.

Everywhere.

AGLOCO - It keeps getting bigger and bigger

2007-03-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

This is NOT a paid post.
I have been watching more and more monetized bloggers linking up and doing the referral thing.

I am very curious about it all.........so I signed up. Their idea is that we all share the money to be made out on the internet. The converts I know swear it is NOT a pyramid scheme.

Advertisers, search providers and online retailers are paying billions to reach you while you surf. How much of that money are you making? Most likely NONE or very little!

AGLOCO thinks you deserve a piece of the action.

AGLOCO collects money from those companies on behalf of its members. (For example, Google currently pays AOL 10 cents for every Google search by an AOL user. And Google still has enough profit to pay $1.6 billion dollars for YouTube, an 18-month old site full of content that YouTube’s users did not get paid for!

AGLOCO is building a new form of online community that they call an Economic Network. They are not only paying Members their fair share, but they’re building a community that will generate the kind of fortune that YouTube made. But instead of that wealth making only a few people rich, the entire community will get its share.

What's the catch? No catch - no spyware, no pop-ups and no spam - membership and software are free and AGLOCO is 100% member owned. Privacy is a core value and AGLOCO never sells or rents member information.

Apparently, the more referrals a person gets, the more credits. If you use this link to sign up, I automatically get credit for referring you and helping to build AGLOCO.

Search and Win - Paid Post

2007-03-09T13:46:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is cool. Winzy Search and Win is a search engine just like your googles, etc., except they add the extra incentive of the chance to win cash and other prizes just for using their search engine. And from the looks of it they seem to have a LOT of prizes to give away.

Currently they have a new contest running, which is their version of Deal or No Deal. You get to open a bunch of suitcases, revealing the cash amounts within, and the bank will show up from time to time offering to buy back the original case you chose. Just like the TV show.

Now, I will be honest with you. I am not one for playing 'online' games or joining things just for the prizes and so on. But with Winzy, I really think this is a fun way of attracting customers and building loyalty. I think I will sign up. They have a toolbar that you can download too. Heck, who doesn't want to win $500 cash or an iPod!?

Check it out and tell me what you think.

Retail Bait and Switch?

2007-03-02T16:19:00.000-08:00

Is this illegal or are they just stupid?

Last week, we received a flyer for Zellers with some nifty sales. Zellers is the Canadian version of Target. Just not as good (don't laugh).

One thing that got me excited was a faux leather (Naugahyde) Ottoman with storage and reversible top that turned into two little trays. It also came with two little foot stools. All for $99.99. Can't beat that.

Obviously not. The store did not think so either.

The sale started last Saturday, so my mom and I popped in on Sunday to check them out. There was not one to be seen anywhere. We found a salesperson and asked. They thought they had had one and sold it the day before. They told us to check during the week to see if they had more coming in.

This I did. I was told by 'someone managerial' that they expected at least 4 more in that nights shipment. I was also told that they had not realized they would be that popular and so had only had two per store.

This morning I called them, got a sales clerk in the furniture deparment who told me that 'no, there was no shipment and if they were getting some in, I should have gotten a rain check. I had been told I wouldn't need one before.

Hung up and called again. Got a manager. Was told that they had only gotten the two and had sold them prior to the sale. He said that they would have more in a few months.

When I ranted to my mom about this she pointed out that this sounded vaguely illegal. So I went and googled 'Loss Leader' and 'Bait and Switch.'

"advertising a sale while intending to stock a limited amount of, and thereby sell out, the loss-leading item advertised is legal in the United States. The purveyor can escape liability if they make clear in their advertisements that quantities of items for which a sale is offered are limited."

I am unsure of the retail laws in Canada, but I would assume that they would be similar.

I am really cheesed about this.

I know I can buy this type of thing elsewhere, but when you are on a budget, extras like furniture accessories can be way out of league. I was so happy to find something affordable that would do the job for now!

Learned my lesson I guess. It was too good to be true.

Find the Right Partner - Paid Post

2007-03-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

I will preface this post by stating that I am extremely grateful to be NOT in the dating pool. It can be a painful and difficult search to find Mr. or Mrs. Right, no matter what you are looking for out there.

I am glad to keep seeing and hearing that online dating is no longer an embarrassing thing for people to try out. In my opinion, in our busy and crazy world, any tools to help find dateworthy folks is a good thing.

JustSayHi.com is one of those sites and the great thing about it is it is FREE! Free is always good. Free and user friendly and no strings attached is also good. One thing I liked about it right away was that they also have a forum where people can strike up conversations with others in the dating game and cover all sorts of subjects and I can only imagine that this would help you get to know the person better too! Their application forms are simple and straightforward and just designed so they can get some basic information on your status, likes and dislikes, etc.

Their site covers the USA and Canada and there appears to be a wide variety of ages and types that have signed up already.

So, if you are tired of looking for love in all the wrong places......JustSayHi.com might be where you find the date of your dreams!

Random Ramblings

2007-02-28T07:14:00.000-08:00

Having a hard time focusing on KEY things that are bugging me these days. Things flit into my sleep deprived attention and drift back out again. I have to write everything down.

On our local news I have noticed quite a few reports about schools being closed down due to shrinking enrollment. This seems to be taking place in previously family dense and growing neighbourhoods. I wonder if this trend is connected to the Lower Mainland's INSANE real estate prices. The most recent area to be hit is Coquitlam/Tri Cities. This is a dense family oriented and growing area. We had even looked at living there. It was ( a few years ago) an affordable place for families to move. Especially if you wanted a nice traditional house with yard etc. But on the MLS listings now, the lowest priced single family 3-bedroom home I could find for Coquitlam was a $319,900, 33 year old house...not very attractive and needing updates. Not bad but then after that the price started to climb with the next listing being at $335K and then $385K....so not much choice if you are on a 'NORMAL' income.

Because while real estate prices in the Lower Mainland have gone nuts over the last few years, people's incomes are not. In fact (another ramble) BC and Quebec share the honour of having the highest percentage of seniors below the poverty line. The rest of us are not in great shape either.

On another rambling note....apparently Mr. Al global warming for dummies Gore was in the centre of a rabid Republican smear campaign over his apparently high energy bills at his own residence. HYPOCRITE was being screamed from frothy mouthed pundits. Nobody looked closely at WHO released the report, the background, the agenda...blah blah. So just business as usual for the media and punditry. Now I am not a HUGE Gore fan. I take him with a grain of salt as I do most political types. I was NOT that impressed with 'An Inconvenient Truth' apart from it's ability to explain 'dem hard science words' in friendly easy terms. I also am fed up with the whole environmental message that WE have to change our ways to save the planet with nary a mention of big business changing THEIR practices.

But the constant sniping and stretching of reality by the various factions out there is getting stupid. I found this interesting site called Lying in Ponds that looks at the mess caused by partisanship. Check it out.

And my final ramble for today. Ok, don't laugh but this thought sprung into my mind as I watched X-Play on G4 Tech TV. I don't even play video games, and I like this show. I like the ironic and self deprecating humour and am quite fascinated by all the video games being produced these days. What struck me was that shows like this, CHANNELS like this, was the prime example of the 'kidult' and 'grupster' lifestyle that so many seem to be raging either for or against.

One thing I pointed out to my crunchy husband was that the majority of games come out of Japan and Korea. Video games dominate life there. The market is huge. And there is no derision turned to adults who play video games. It just is. It is accepted. Mostly. Unlike our western world where an adult who plays video games is looked at as...what? Nerd, loser, immature, shut in......the list of labels and jokes is endless.

But why? We adults now are the generation that grew up on the burgeoning world of Atari and Nintendo's. Why would these kids who started out with the first gen of game play and arcade play stop playing as the technology gets better and they age? Did people who grew up watching the first grainy tv's stop watching when they hit adulthood. No. So why would the video game generation stop now either.

I think the concepts like 'kidults' and so on are just what this generation is all about. Maybe there isn't the obvious leap into adulthood nowadays like there was in previous generations. So then yes, the lines blur between child and adult. But it isn't being 'hip,' it is just being us. And fine some folks may be 'cooler' than others...but for the most part we aren't trying to be rebels or hip. We are just who we are and so that is how we parent too!

Ok...enough ramblings. That should hold you guys for a bit.

Long Term Sacrifice for Short Term Glory

2007-02-13T15:37:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you have gotten the impression yet, but I am not enthusiastic about Vancouver hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics.

I used to enjoy the Olympics but have become jaded and fed up with the constant stories of political bribery, doping, and the loss of the 'heart' of the whole concept of the Olympics.

The costs alone of putting on such a spectacle puts me right off. Especially when our city has so many LONG term issues to deal with. Better things to spend the money on.

So I didn't bother watching the unveiling of the new Olympic Clock yesterday. It is now three years to the opening. My mom told me that she was disgusted by the releasing of helium balloons into the sky to mark the occasion. More pollution.

I was glad to hear about the protesters 'spoiling' all the fun.

While I don't necessarily approve of the Anti Poverty Group's tactics.....their message is important. And should not be trivialized like it was by the biased reporting in the Vancouver Sun. A paper obviously anxious to be a part of the whole hoopla.

Their main message is about the lack of housing for those unfortunate enough to fall on or below the poverty line. God help you if you have any mental illness or drug addiction. Vancouver does not want you nor does it want you to be seen during the Olympics.

They have been doggedly fighting with City Hall. Begging them to address this situation. Mayor Sullivan avoids them and answering their questions as much as possible. City Hall is too busy enjoying the condoization of Vancouver. Condo's that are replacing any room houses and cheap rental places. Condo's that developers charge lots for and help ramp up assessments and property taxes that tumble into City Hall coffers.

Homeless are bad for property values.

We saw this twenty years ago. When Vancouver started prepping for Expo 86, rooming houses suddenly started chucking out their tenants and 'renovating,' hoping to cash in on the influx of tourists during the event. I could even forgive this, Expo was a 6 month event, that is a lot of new people for a long period of time. Worth the money. There was also a flurry of activity to effectively move the 'riffraff' out of sight of the visitors.

The homeless situation is a lot worse now than it was then.

What will Vancouver do when all eyes are upon it this time?

When I heard that the soon to be developed false creek lands were going to be used to house the Olympic Village, I knew there would be trouble.

I had been reading the City Hall reports and news reports about this development. The development was supposed to include a fair chunk of "affordable" housing - some sort of undefined social housing or rental property.

Each report I read saw this portion shrink.

When a deal was struck with a developer, the affordable bit all but vanished. All because of the Olympics. All because of the developer wanting to make as much money as possible and the city to spend as little as possible.

You can see that by the end of the Olympics the village property will be sold at market value.

Market value is insanely high in Vancouver.

So much for social housing.

While the legacy of having much improved sporting facilities built is a nice thing and a good thing for those involved in those sports. I would like to think that many of these renovations would have happened down the road anyway.

And again, is it worth the costs? Costs that are coming in FAR higher than ever projected. The overruns are going to be astronomical. I am not sure if an Olympic event has made a profit in the past. This one will not.

And after the two weeks of fun and excitement, it will be back to the same old same old. Three more years gone by and money spent and nothing solved.

Still no social housing programs. No help for those who need it. The fat cats fatter.
More smiling politicians soooo happy for all the marvelous photo ops. And not a scruffy homeless person in sight.

Finding the Right Insurance - Paid Post

2007-02-12T14:41:00.000-08:00

Finding an insurance broker or just getting insurance can be a bit of a hassle. It really doesn't matter if it is home, auto or life that you are looking for, you have to do your research and decide which quote works best for you.

Insurance PortalOnline can help you in your search.

They offer a variety of insurance options for Life, Auto, and Home. Their site is very easy to navigate and they offer as much helpful information on the basic insurance policies that they provide. The quotation forms are basic and will get you on the right track in your insurance search.

Insurance PortalOnline also offers a lot of helpful information about the insurance available to help you narrow down your choices before you are in contact with a broker in person. They describe the type of policies in basic terms and avoid confusing you with too much technical talk. Insurance can be bewildering enough.

All in all, for my American visitors, I think companies like this offer a great service when dealing with a complicated, expensive and important decision like Life Insurance.

Grups Revolt!

2007-02-12T12:38:00.000-08:00

Well Time Magazine thinks they are revolting...

Check out my posts on the topic at Crunchy Carpets and click on the Strollerderby links for the full firestorm of the reaction.

More Get Paid To Blog Alternatives

2007-02-11T15:36:00.000-08:00

I have noticed a few bloggers out there signing up with BLOGSVERTISE.

It appears to be the same principal as PayPerPost, but I am not sure about how extensive their list of advertisers are. However, the price range seems to be about the same for Blogsvertise, but on the low end of that scale, and they don't seem to be as strict about HOW or WHAT your right about the product or service.

The principal behind Blogsvertise seems to be that getting the name out is just as important or more important than what is said by the blogging public.

If they approve my site, I will try it out and see what sort of products or services they have up for grabs.

Global Wha???

2007-02-04T20:54:00.001-08:00

So now EVERYONE is all freaked about global warming. And well we should be.

But it was maddening listening to Cross Country Check up on CBC Radio....old Rex sure draws an, em, OLD crowd.

A lot of retiree's were calling in and stating how 'we' have to do something about emissions, etc. A lot of folks who were driving 1970's giant gas guzzlers and burning wood fire's and having sprinklers run all day and air conditioners all night....you know.

I once again lost it when some pratt from my home town called in to reiterate that we all should be riding our bikes. Now while I agree that for SOME riding a bike is a great way to get around. Keeps you fit and saves on gas money and horrendous commutes. But really, get serious. The only few in VANCOUVER who can realistically commute by bike are people who live a max, what, 40 minutes from their work. And also...these people must also be single and or childless...and probably male.

So this narrows it down to people who in Vancouver proper and commute downtown. I don't know anyone riding their bikes in from Maple Ridge or South Surrey.

It also narrows it down to people who do not have anything else going on in their lives. When I commuted by car and by transit, I was usually stopping to pick up something. You know, prescriptions, groceries,....or I was lugging things home that had been purchased on my lunch hour. How else do busy working folks get things like birthdays and Christmases taken care of?

Commuting for a lot of people means killing two birds with one stone. And what do you do with the children you have to pick up from daycare or after school car when you are on your cute little bike?

So there you go. For those that can...great. But shut up already.

I am not done yet.

While I agree that change can and should start from the ground up...us demanding safer cleaner products, etc. That really is too small a scale for this sort of thing.

Think about it. China is spewing out vast amounts of pollution into the air. Their technology is totally based on fossil fuel burning for power generation and so on.

Relying on cheap fuels mean that the products they produce....mostly for us, are therefore, inexpensive for the buyers.

But what IS the cost really?

So yes, no doubt if we demanded that countries like China cleaned up their industrial pollution....the cost of the products would rise. The Chinese businesses would have no choice. But what if those further ahead in the game offered to help SAID countries change over to better, cleaner and more energy efficient fuels? We may have higher prices for a while..but long term, things would even out and everyone would win. Long term.

Is that too wacko an idea?

I don't think pointing fingers is going to help things. A lot of polluting countries are just not developed enough to have any other choice. Not if they want to stay in the eye of greedy buyers from the west.

This has to be a global effort. That means that the huge and greedy oil companies and car companies and truck companies and so on, need to find alternatives that they can market and exploit to their hearts content, that they can sell and produce just as easily, but won't kill us all.

It really means a total paradigm shift in how we ALL think. On all levels.

I just don't want to keep hearing the governments and corporations look to us with happy recycling programs and so forth to solve the world. It means asking questions about how the products we use were made..the energies and pollutants expelled, the waste from it.....we need to ask WHY we can't have more solar power and CHEAPER solar powered whatevers. We need to ask why we are not building more wind turbines and tidal turbines. We need to ask why anyone would THINK of building anything that required Coal or oil.

Once guy pointed out that if we (Canada) had not let slide our rail system...most products could be moved by rail instead of gas guzzling trucks.

Hmmm.

Rant over.

Technorati Tags: global warming, cbc, bikes

The Movement is Growing!

2007-02-04T08:59:00.001-08:00

First Skittles asked us nicely and now Thermal is challenging us all to switch off our WORD VERIFICATION!!!

GO FOR IT!!

I think it is more annoying than useful to the majority of us bloggers!!!

It is the Valentine Month...Share the love and make commenting more fun!

Are We All Sad And Lonely?

2007-01-31T16:59:00.001-08:00

The Vancouver Sun published This Story today....

So is this true?

I think he has a very biased idea and stereotypical idea of what blogging is.

Yes granted, there are probably a few lost souls out there.

But when I think of the mommy blogger conferences, get togethers, charity, and so on that have been born of the blogosphere....I think he may need to rethink his position.

Michael Keren, who has written Blogosphere: The New Political Arena,
suggests individuals who bare their souls in blogs are isolated and
lonely, living in a virtual reality instead of forming real
relationships or helping to change the world.

He also says...

Keren praises the Internet as a great place for self-expression, but he
also suggests that blogs often have the opposite effect by creating
feelings of loneliness for those who aren't lucky enough to reach
"celebrity" status.

And while I think this may be true for some and I am sure we all dream of being paid and famous bloggers in some form.....I think the majority blog for their own personal reason.....not massive sitemeter numbers.

Technorati Tags: blogging, vancouver sun, lonely

Trial by Jury or Media?

2007-01-28T14:27:00.000-08:00

In BC we are in the midst of a gruesome murder trial.

A trial about a even more gruesome and horrific murder spree 'allegedly' committed by a Robert 'Willie' Pickton.

Pickton is on trial for 6 of 26 murders of women he apparently invited or lured to his pig farm. Most of these women had been on a missing women's list for many many years. Most of these women were either homeless, prostitutes, drug addicts or all of the above.

I personally have no interest in hearing every tidbit and detail about what is heard in court. I can only imagine and that is fine with me. All I hope is that the trail does NOT get bolixed up and some sort of justice is met.

What has gotten my interest, or curiosity or whatever you want to call it is the visions and words of the families of these women. A lot of them have traveled far and made many sacrifices to attend the trial They want answers. They want closure.

As would all families of victims of murder.

And they all seem to be loving and kind people.

So what happened? Why were these women on the street? What drove them all away to end up 'whereabouts' unknown by their own friends and family?

Where were these loving people for all these years?

I find it all very very sad.

The 'Downtown Eastside' is a hellhole like no other. Not in our so-called Western civilization.
This is where the forgotten congregate. You cannot sink any further than this.
Drugs are used openly in the streets. The alleys are used as shoot up corners and toilets. People lay drunk where they fell and others step over and around them.

It is a nightmare and this is where the majority of these women who were killed had been existing.

Why Vancouver allows this place to exist is beyond me. Though I have no answers on how to deal with it. Not now.

It has been like this for a very long time. It is Dickensian in it's despair.

You can imagine the Olympic committee are having fits about it all. Let the world see this version of our so-called world class city. Let the world see what we do with the mentally ill and the drug addicted and the generally down trodden and out of luck people.

Where are the resources? Where is the help?
Some of Pickton's victims had children!

I have no answers. Only questions. I have no clever summation for this post. Thought I can see how creatures like Pickton no doubt viewed these women as less than human and therefore his actions were 'easier' for him and his kind, because really we allowed them to exist in inhuman conditions and live inhuman lives and all the civic types worry about is how to hide them from the world.

I hope that the attention and media frenzy around the trial brings about one thing....that people start asking the right people the right questions about what is to be done about this place and the poor people eking out a living there.

Writing Assignment

2007-01-25T11:38:00.001-08:00

It was going to be a long day. But worth it, Cleo was sure. She new something was down there and if she had to sit on the lawn all day, well that is what she would do.

She cocked her head to hear the faint rustlings better. Her lips twitched involuntarily at the thought of the tasty catch that lurked under the earth, directly below her.

“ Cleo!!! Cleo come on in!”

Cleo sighed. Did SHE not understand that there work going on here. That Cleo was going to be too darn busy sitting here to ‘come in’ anywhere, unless, she thought, unless there is food. She stood up and stretched out finally feeling the chill of the damp grass beneath her and ambled inside. Lunch.

After lunch, Cleo once again meowed to be let out. Her befuddled human complied with a sigh and she ambled back out side to check the progress. She stood very still and cocked her head again. Yes, she could hear the sounds much better now. It was getting MUCH closer. Soon, she thought, soon you will be mine. She searched around till she was sure she was directly above the activity. She settled down and tucked in her little front paws.

Baffled chickadees swooped over her head on the way to the feeder. They couldn’t understand why they were not the objects of the cat’s attention.

The human came outside to ask her what was going on. Cleo answered with a twitch of her whiskers and that was it. The human asked if she wanted to come inside the house. Cleo ignored her. She could now FEEL something underneath her.

As the afternoon wore on, Cleo’s attention started to drift, the grass was cold beneath her and she could feel ants tickling her paws. Time for a good clean. She set to, starting at the left hindquarters and she soon became absorbed in her ablutions.

So absorbed that at first she didn’t notice the grass moving beside her. Did not notice the first little bits of dirt being pushed upwards. With a start she swung around and froze whiskers and ears straining. This was it, she thought gleefully, I will finally see and hopefully taste what lies beneath!

She watched the growing mound with fascination. Every muscle was tensed and ready. She could smell the creature, a loamy, musty scent. The dirt piled up and up, Cleo gathered her back legs up under her, ready to leap upon her prize.

Suddenly there was a commotion behind her. The human was yelling and laughing, “A mole, a mole!”

“Cleo, NOOOOO!” As a tiny pink nose poked up out of the mound of earth, and just as Cleo tensed for the catch, hands swooped down upon her and pulled up and away, away from the prize, she struggled and yowled in protest. She was taken inside and the glass door was slammed shut against her nose. What was the stupid human thinking! In frustrated helplessness, she watched the little creature peek up out of the dirt, then slowly snuffle back down and gone. Gone from her clutches.

Stupid human.

2007-01-24T16:32:00.001-08:00

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR ME, I AM MOSTLY HANGING AT WWW.CRUNCHYCARPETS.COM

This site won't be as exciting....

Or maybe it will?????

Ok...I think I am just messing with people's heads...

2007-01-23T14:35:00.000-08:00

So I think, despite me and my clever friends still fritzing around with the word press CC...

I think I should just move shop over there.........

It is too much surfing for all and sundry to put up with all these sites...

So please set your links to www.crunchycarpets.com.

If I don't have you linked there let me know..that roll is based on an old blogroll..though I think I have almost everyone on the del.icio.us website.

I think I will keep this up for my writing practice and so on....but the main one SHOULD be CC..and hopefully when my friend can help me with the things I was complaining about...all should be fine.

I hope I don't lose all my friends!!!!

And link to http://weecuppatea.blogspot.com/...... because my mom plans on doing a lot more writing and we have lots of stories to tell.

Kerry/Crunchy

6 Weird Tags....

2007-01-22T21:15:00.001-08:00

My new buddy Terramia tagged me with the 'six weird things about me' tag.

Now, I did this one ages ago...back on the old and gone CC....but I really think there is probably more than 6 weird things about me really...I am sure all my readers could come up with a few too!!!

So that made me think....Is it things I think are weird about me or things that people think are weird about me or is it things that I think that people think are weird about me???

Hmmmmm

I mean my neighbours think I am weird....

Because I don't drink Bud, I don't have my kids in a gazillion activities, I read, I play outside with my kids, I don't have loud trashy parties, I care about the environment, I care what the complex looks like,....see more than six already.

My husband thinks I am weird for so many reasons you would probably be safer asking him.

My mom thinks I am weird...again, go ask her.

The pre school teacher think I am weird...or maybe I am just paranoid...I don't know.

Six General Weird things.....

1) I can't get out of bed without scratching my head. I am almost OCD about it.

2) I cannot lay my clothes out the night before. Never could.

3) Despite the shabby appearance of my house, I am obsessive about cleaning my kitchen and bathroom countertops.

4) I only recently got 'good' at going to sleep without reading at least a couple of pages....I think exhaustion won out.

5) Despite my overweight and slightly frumpy appearance...I really do love fashion.

6) I feel my coffee tastes better if I put the milk and sugar in FIRST.

There...

Two cool things....

2007-01-22T11:38:00.001-08:00

When I reloaded Mozilla due to my corrupted Bookmarks, I also loaded up all the little extras they offer.

The biggie for me was this site called del.icio.us Basically, you can have your bookmarks tie into this site incase my files get messed up again! Also, they have a super way to organize and categorize AND you can share your tags and bookmarks too! Thank goodness that Mozilla backs up stuff! I was able to retrieve those files and I just saved them as documents.

Another one that I am getting giddy about is Performancing.com. They have an ad network...one that nobody has leaped on for me anyway. But...they have a blog editor. This thing is a little note pad icon on the bottom of my screen. I can write posts for ALL my blogs through this little set up! And for an ex or almost ex blogger user, this is a nice set up and the layout is similar.

They also offer loads of other options and help and info too...Metrics and all that techie stuff.

Try it! Go to the Mozilla homepage and check out all their extras!

Hee..so it isn't my 'official' site yet....

2007-01-18T21:51:00.000-08:00

still working on it mentally and physically....but.

Ya gotta check out my banner!

I am sooo happy!

Witness the rebirth of Crunchy Carpets

2007-01-18T11:02:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Things about Crunchy Carpets and 13 Movies that I love


1…. Raiders of the Lost Ark (had a HUGE impact on me)

2. Alien

3. Aliens (Get away from her you Bitch! - probably the most quoted film in my circles)

4. Terminator

5. Terminator 2

6. Ben Hur (been watching that since I was a kid! Know it line for line!)

7. Meet Me in St.Louis....sniffle through it every Christmas)

8. Matrix (lets not talk about the next two..this one was amazing!)

9. Black Narcissus (again...huge impact on me as a child and I didn't even 'get it')

10. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (been nothing like it since!)

11. Naked Jungle (over acted melodramatic Chuck! I love it!)

12. The Sinbad movies (Ray Harryhausen at his best!)

13. Abyss

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Oh and PS.....

2007-01-17T17:06:00.000-08:00

I do not have Carcinoid Syndrome.

Right now they have NO CLUE what caused the weird attack.

They are suggesting a Gastroentinlogoist or whatever it is.
My Chiropractor wants me to consult a naturapath and work on diet which is fine by me too.

We will see what MY doctor thinks.

Ok, he did say something cute...

2007-01-17T17:03:00.000-08:00

In the car Adam asked dad and I which Doodle Bop we liked the best. Crunchy Dad said he liked the green one. There is no green one.

Dad: The Green one. You know, that one...I like him.

Adam: (rushing along) Ok that's great...what one do you like mom?

Pause

Adam: Wait. Dad were you making a joke?

Adam: There IS no green one!!!

I just loved how his brain screeched to a halt in mide stride as he realized the information did NOT compute!

Wednesday is Inside Adam's Brain day...

2007-01-17T10:53:00.000-08:00

However, he has me stumped and not in a good humour about it right now.

He played every game he could last night to stay out of bed and was still awake at 11pm last night.
Being that he still woke up just after 7 am.... I was not a happy camper.

If you can figure out what in his brain made him scream and cry and be convinced that I 'ON PURPOSE' missed a DoodleBop song on the CD in the car yesterday even though I did not,....I would love to know.

For More Chuckles....

2007-01-16T21:22:00.000-08:00

Check out Wee Cuppa Tea.

I have told a tale of the Crunches.....

My turn now!

Tuesday IS Blogsite Review day.....

2007-01-16T13:34:00.000-08:00

And while I wait for Crunchy Husband to leave the bathroom so I can finish drying my hair...here is my instalment.

For this week, I scrolled up and down my blog roll with eyes closed and ended up on this one.

What do I say about Puntabulous!? No really.....what DO I say about Puntabulous???

I love the man....and the gamine young lady that has joined the ranks there....Olivia. She is far to witty and droll for her age.

These two have waaaay too much fun and waaaaay too much time on their hands. Their photo-debates will attest to that. Specially the topics.....like 'Which Disney Princess is the biggest Hoochie Mama!'

Super Viagra is just disturbing...again a troubling if humorous look into the mind of Mr. Puntabulous.

I am still wondering when he actually works! Though we have photos of that too!

The site is just plain fun. They are both very frank and very open and their self depricating humour is wonderful and refreshing.

With all humour.....blog or not, you have to like THAT sort of humour.

Me, I want Craig to move to Vancouver because I have the PERFECT man for him.....and plus for the entertainment value alone!

HaHa...My Mom Sent Me This!

2007-01-16T12:07:00.000-08:00

PET RULES to be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door - nose height.

Dear Dogs and Cats,

The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food.

THe other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw

print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it

becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in

the slightest

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack.

Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help

because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very

sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to

ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they

sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched

out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails

straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is

nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom.

If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it

is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your

paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through

the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for

years -- canine or feline attendance is not required.

The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's

behind. I cannot stress this enough!

To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message

on our front door:

To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets:

1. They live here. You don't.

2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the

furniture. That's why they call it "fur"niture.)

3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.

4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted

son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn't speak clearly.

Remember: In many ways, dogs and cats are better than kids

Because they:

1. Eat less

2. Don't ask for money all the time

3 Are easier to train

4. Normally come when called

5. Never ask to drive the car

6. Don't hang out with drug-using friends

7. Don't smoke or drink

8. Don't have to buy the latest fashions

9. Don't want to wear your clothes

10. Don't need a "gazillion" dollars for college.

And finally,

11. If they get pregnant, you can sell their children.

I think I am Killing my Computer

2007-01-16T11:30:00.000-08:00

For the last two days I have watched my bookmarks slowly vanish!
Thank goodness for my links and blogrolls...but I had non blog bookmarks and I really wanted them!

So after much searching and so on, I found a back up of them...phew. I have no idea how to get them back ONTO my bookmarks..but at least I have a back up.

But I think my hard drive is getting a bit overwhelmed with all the blogging stuff.

I may have to buy a new computer.

So that was my morning.

I have backed up my documents and photos onto a disk but what else should I do? I have found all these sites where you can have blog rolls and so on....but what about protecting all my blog and host info? Is there anything I should be freaking about?

Now I am paranoid.

Last night I managed to dig up a few more Wet Coast Women and so that is exciting...always fun to find new friends. I just need to get the content exploding there.

Mom wrote a Adam story on Wee Cuppa Tea. I have a story for that site too..just need to get the time.

See ya later.

Can the world be fixed?

2007-01-15T13:16:00.000-08:00

Or do we have our heads too far up our asses to care?

Zero Boss brought this to my attention and being that I voted for Doctors Without Borders PSA's on our BlogHer ad network....we all should think about this.

How can we get excited about iPhone's and the new season of 24 when this is the state of our planet.

Not only should we be horrified by the tragedy that is going on right now all around the world. We need to be horrified by our media and our short attention spans.

It shouldn't need stupid things like Live 8 and some rock stars and celebrities telling us to think about our planet and the people living on it.

We need to rethink how we live our lives. How the luxury we exist in is partly due to the squalor and horror that others survive in.

We need to think about how not only our governments deal with each other on the global platform but how and what controls the power and corruption of the of the megacorporations out there. Who is calling the shots? Why can't things be 'fixed?'

We can't keep just sending paltry charity to these countries. We can't keep with bandaid approaches to such ENORMOUS problems.

More has to be done.

We need to start asking the right people the right questions and demanding answers.

Greetings World...

2007-01-14T20:19:00.000-08:00

I don't want to sit here and moan and groan about my life. How cutting down on my antidepressants AND having my period AND having something called a fistula is reeeeeeeellly bringing me down.

I also can't think of anything really clever to say right now.

However, my MOM wrote a funny story over at Wee Cuppa Tea.
Go read that.
Comment. It makes her all giggly.

Goals......stepping stones for your life

2007-01-11T20:17:00.000-08:00

Scribbit, our mother/scribe blogger friend in the beautiful Alaska has a writing challenge going on.

I think it is a great topic, so since I missed my chance this week with Mr. Sternberg, I will give this one a go.

The topic is Goals. Goals for your blog, goals for your family, goals for yourself, goals you had in 2006 or for 2007, etc.

*****

I have not been one for setting goals. Not specific one's for myself. 'Be Happy' was usually as specific as I liked to get. I have always been concerned with failing myself on top of failing others.

I have always tended to keep my goals as 'wishes' or 'wouldn't it be nice' dreams. That way I felt that they were a bit more flexible. Gave me more room to interpret the outcome. Getting my tattoo was as big as my personal goals usually get. And I did!

My husband has always had goals. Things he envisioned for himself at particular times in his life. He checks back on his list quite often.

He is a goal setter. He likes to have goals, both long and short term. It is how he plans his year out first and onward.

I actually kind of like it. He is a true family man. He loves planning and laying out the goals of our little team and then reviewing the end product. I think it helps shape his accomplishment as a man and as father.

It works great for pessimistic, glass half empty me. His goals, past and present remind me about what we have, and what we have accomplished. It puts life in perspective and makes you thankful for what you have. It also allows you to pat your self on the back for those 'goals' that you did achieve.

Goal setting in this house ranges from listing the big ticket items we want to purchase in the next year to personal goals for ourselves and what we want for our family.

For the two of us, setting goals together is part of the strong foundation of our marriage. We make the goal and then we work on it together. Then congratulate ourselves for achieving it.

For the material things...that is easy. But for the more 'mental' challenges? That is tough.

And is it right? I mean do we set ourselves up for a feeling of failure if we don't reach these goals or expectations? Can you set a goal to be a better person? What is the definition of that? Who decides if you ARE indeed a better person?

For me, I tend to do small steps....Weekly goals. This week I will not lose my temper. That seems about the size I can handle. I am sure others can look further and deeper into their future.

In 2006 our goals were pretty simple; Buy a new car. Go on a family vacation. We got the car and we went camping! I think painting the house was in there too. We got half way through that!

For 2007. Hmmm. I would LIKE to have buy a new house as a goal. But that depends on SOOO many factors. My husband wants a big vacation as a goal this year. We both are hoping that our web business ideas take route this year. Our BIG team goal is for him and I to be able to work together.

For me? I suppose getting in shape and losing 5o pounds would be a sensible goal!
However, I think the more important one is for me to just chill out and have more fun with my family. To relax. To go with the flow. To not worry. I think if I achieved THOSE goals, the rest would all fall into place.

So goals for us are things that keep the family together. Keep us on track. Keep us feeling together and united in our plans for our life.

Pretty important.

What are they to you?

Trees or People?

2007-01-11T18:40:00.000-08:00

I live in Vancouver. It is a beautiful and scenic part of Canada. We have mountains and we have the sea and we have pretty mild weather too.

Until lately.

This winter we have been lashed by windstorms. Sometimes with hurricane force gusts.
There has been much damage, from downed power lines, to trees through roofs, and the worst visible damage....the damage to Stanley Park.

Stanley Park has always been marketed as the Jewel of our city. A great hunk of forest in the heart of the city. And for the tourists and those lucky enough to live close by or afford the parking, it is indeed a gorgeous place to visit.

And yes, the storm has caused some major damage and it has been very sad to see ancient trees turned to match wood in a blink of an eye. Some of these monsters were over 500 years old.

But what has set me off is that one of our local TV stations is doing a 'Save Stanley Park Fund.' They are looking for donations to give to our city and the Parks Board to 'fix' the park. And yes, I am sure a lot of things will cost a lot of money. The seawall is damaged. Roads are torn up, some of the venues are no doubt in need of repair. The lost revenue for the restaurants and concessions must be fairly high.

But isn't that what contingency funds are for? Is that not what a good chunk of our taxes goes to?
Is there not a budget for emergencies?

Right now our city is suffering its version of a 'deep freeze.' This mean emergency shelters are being opened to help the people who live on our streets and, no doubt, in Stanley Park. These people need blankets, clothing, food, shelter.

Right now organizations like The Anti Poverty Committee are fighting our City Hall and our corrupt Mayor in order to bring attention to those most unfortunate in our city. Thanks to events like the 2010 Olympics, our City is quite worried about getting rid of the 'problem' of homelessness. Thanks to events like the 2010 Olympics and the 'worry' about Olympic 'villages' and so on, social housing in Vancouver's new developments like the South, East False Creek area was cut to make it more desirable to developers.

Once again, those on the bottom of the food chain are being shafted.

And what is our local news covering? 'Save the Trees' and 'What are the right tires to use in the winter!' Not one story about the homeless and how they are dealing in this weather.

Instead we watch banks like the HSBC hand over $300,000 to the Park. And watch our local millionaire Jimmy Pattison double it.

Add this to the footage of the yuppy joggers crawling under downed trees and taped of areas because whatever happens 'don't ruin my run!' You begin to get the idea that Vancouverites might be a tad flakey and perhaps a bit out of touch with reality.

Trees fall down. It is nature. Stanley Park is not a Disney Land theme park. It was supposed to be a little bit of nature protected for the city residents to enjoy. It SHOULD remind us about nature and help us remember to RESPECT nature and all that entails...including wind storms.

I would also like to know what the Parks board budget gets spent on. I would like to know what our Mayor does with the money we so kindly donate to this 'fund.'

I imagine the homeless are so grateful we are going to such efforts to save the park.

Thursday Thirteen....my contribution

2007-01-11T08:09:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Things about Crunchy Carpets

And the Foods I do NOT like!

1. Brussel Sprouts

2. Cabbage (unless in coleslaw)

3. Cauliflower

4. Tofu

5. Oysters

6. Tomato Juice (do drinks count?)

7. Dark Chocolate

8. Deviled Eggs (the texture!)(cold boiled eggs period!)

9. Tinned Ham (the jelly stuff sends me over the edge)

10. Any Chinese styles soups (the texture seems to get me)

11. Blueberries

12. Brie Cheese ( I try..but I don't really like it)

13. Pickles

This was hard..I actually LIKE a lot of foods!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday.  Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged!  If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments.  It’s easy, and fun!  Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well!  I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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The fuckers lied..

2007-01-10T19:14:00.000-08:00

Please tell me how I am supposed to drink 45o ml's of a liquid with the colour and consistency yet less (if that is possible) drinkable taste than semen?

The stuff is vile.

It is NOT orange flavoured.

I can barely stomach it!

I don't know how to drink this without hurling!

I think this works for Wordless Wednesday!

2007-01-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

Wednesday IS 'Inside Adam's Brain'.....

2007-01-10T09:24:00.000-08:00

Despite feeling crappy today, I give you this.

Not a conversation with my boy...but this is his list that he refers to each night when he is trying to delay bedtime as muc has possible or wiggle his way into our bed.

Step 1. Claim thirst
If this does not work go to .... (but wait at least 5 minutes between each tactic)
Step 2. Claim I am too hungry to sleep.
If this does not work go to....
Step 3. Suddenly have a headache that requires tylenol
Step4. Suddenly feel that I am going to throw up
Step 5. (the big guns) Suddenly feel like I miss my deceased Poppa and need to talk about it.
This one only works with dad.

If dealing only with mom, realize quickly that you are screwed and while you will attempt EACH step it is without the usual enthusiasm and just going through the motions for traditions sake.

So much for a weekly blog schedule...

2007-01-10T08:06:00.000-08:00

With feeling so crappy yesterday I am totally off my little plan for this blog already.

I don't even have a 'inside Adam's brain' yet.....

My blood pressure felt really low yesterday so I spent a lot of time in bed and on the couch.

I was hoping to get my doc to squeeze me in today to take a proper look at some of my more disturbing 'ailments'...but with this snow now.

Yep..it snowed again. We had this terrific windstorm (again) and more trees trashed and then it snowed. It is supposed to snow on and off all day today!

The kids are verrrrrrry happy.

Hopefully I will feel more bloggy soon.

Health issues...blah blah blah.....

2007-01-08T16:41:00.000-08:00

For all hanging on with baited breath.

Saw my doctor today. He thinks it was more like an allergic reaction. A severe one. He is setting me up for allergy testing now.

After visiting him, mom and I went and dropped my large jug of pee of at the hospital lab and then had lunch at the cafeteria. The fun never ends!

Then it was time for my Echocardiagram thingie. That only took about 20 minutes as I am on the 'fast track!'

The tech thought everything looked fine.

Wednesday night I get to drink an inhuman amount of orange flavoured Barium and then starve my self till 2:20 the following day, when they will do CAT on my abdomen.

Next week I meet with the specialist to go over the results.

I actually feel totally fine today. I am terrified to eat anything. Maybe this is the way I will finally lose weight.

My mom was happy that I had her along today. She has been very worried and at least seeing today that I was fine and the doctors were paying attention was a relief. Plus it was nice to spend 'quiet' time with her.

On a totally unrelated note. Thanks to Chris at Blog-Op I have had the confidence to play with my hosting co's control panel and Fantastico and uploaded WordPress all by myself. Now he has explained how to use FileZilla and so next I will be playing with loading up new themes. Very excilarating.

Thanks Chris. It is a nice feeling to learn new things. I can totally see why people like Wordpress so much.

The Good in the Bad......

2007-01-07T09:14:00.000-08:00

So it was very interesting at the ER yesterday.

Crunchy Husband is the best person to have with you. He is very capable and takes on everything and is so great at knowing just when I need him to speak for me or that I need something. This is why I love the guy.

This is despite the fact that he never wants to see the inside of a hospital again...he has had his fill between his dad and his mom's ongoing illnesses.

We were quiet when we felt like it and we chit chatted and joked around when we felt like that. He made the time go by as nicely as possible. Despite he too being exhausted and frightened. It didn't help that our doc sounded like David Caruso on CSI Miami.

How terrifying to find your wife on the bathroom floor moaning and crying (naked), soaked in sweat and having difficulty breathing. He did what any sane man would do..called my mom. But not before getting me a cold cloth and a towel and help clean me up. All in a calming soothing tone.

So when it became clear that the doctors were a bit mystified by my symptoms we were both fascinated to see what would happen next. What did they do? Pass me onto another doctor....one we were told, was a 'internal medicine' specialist.

He casually dropped in the conversation that he was actually an 'Oncologist'....we all know what that is. Both of us at once knew that they had all been treading verrry carefully around us about what they THOUGHT I might have. Nobody was going to say the "C" word.

What actually did my darling husband in was the mention of a 'hear murmur'...a very faint one. His dad had a quadruple bypass. I watched his face crumple at the mention and could see his pain and worry written all over his face.

It actually didn't surprise me, my old doc had always said I had a funny hiccup in my blood pressure and that was what it was ..this little murmur. No biggie. My mom has one too.

But it was just one more worry for my husband.

I could feel his fierce love for me right there. It was like a warm blanket wrapped around my soul.

The fear of the bad reminded us of all the good. We fight. We bicker. We have good times and bad times. We have ongoing issues....but we love one another. We have loved one another since pretty much the moment we met. Nobody knows or will ever know how close a bond the two of us have. Nobody can feel what we feel. They only see the surface stuff. We will always be together...no matter what.

Anyway....back to the murmur. The only thing the murmur did was push the doctors more toward this one diagnosis. This Carcinoid Syndrome which appears to be a non fatal tumour that has different affects depending where it settles (or where they settle) as it gives out some sort of hormone. They think my symptoms point to this.

We are still skeptical, but are happy to have all the tests in the world to figure it out.

We still think it is more to do with the Welbutrin...which can have bizarre side effects.

Today is back to the real world. Errands to run, chores to do. Children who didn't want to show they were worried to be comforted. Caity is a funny thing. Oh and I have to save all my pee for the next 24 hours in a jug to be kept in the fridge. Beside the dead fish that has yet to be buried.

My life is weird.

Oh and terrified mom to comfort. My mom who has held back and kept away apart from leaping in to help us with the kids. I can only imagine how scared she is. She will get a big hug today.

So the good from the bad? I guess the reminder of how precious we are to each other. To remember to always show how much we care. To remember why we all love each other.

Think of all the good.

Sorry folks....I was a little 'distracted'

2007-01-06T15:06:00.000-08:00

and not in a good way.

Last night I had yet another weird 'attack' and ended up begging crunchy husband to call 911.

I spent ten hours in emergency last night while they tried to figure out what is wrong with me in between long moments of absolutely nothing.

They filled me with Saline and set me up for a battery of tests including an ECG and a CAT on my abdomen.

I have not now slept in over 36 hours. I am going to nap soon. I was feeling refreshed after a shower so I let crunchy husband get some sleep and I kept the kids quiet. While we were gone the blessed nana's helped us.

My mom was over during the emergency and stayed up all night and the other nana's took over this am.

Thank goodness for nana's.

They think I might have carcinoid syndrome. My attack was a horrible bought of diarrea and hives and sweats and hyperventilating all at the same time. Fun huh?

I will keep you posted!

I wasn't going to get personal with this blog....

2007-01-05T19:08:00.000-08:00

but really.

The LENGTHS a married couple will go to get laid.

Having a pre schooler and a toddler in the house is worse than avoiding your parents when trying to 'get some' when you were a teen!

Nuff said.

How do kids get siblings???

The Evolution of Language or I am Just Too Old To Be Hip To Your Lingo

2007-01-05T16:28:00.000-08:00

Mr. Sternberg over at his house had a great discussion going about lost words and the evolution of our languages.

It is amazing watching it change before our eyes.

As in today.

I just got home from an afternoon at the movies with Adam.
Check a couple of the parenting forums and there is a thread that just sent me into hysterics.

Did you know that "Goof" is a bad bad word?
Especially if you are in or from prison.

I was blown away by this. But then realized that words and their meanings are changed all the time.

'Gay' is the perfect example.

Another one that sprung to my mind and found out that it was a 'banned' and therefore edited to look like this '!@#%,' is the term faggot. Used to be a innocuous and common term.

Not anymore.

And apparently 'Goof' is going that way too.

Don't ask me how a bunch of moms know all about prison talk.

It is with heavy heart that I report..

2007-01-04T17:02:00.000-08:00

the passing of Sammy the fish.

Now I am all guilt ridden that I didn't take enough care of him.
He was fed every day..but I would forget the change a bit of the water weekly thing and so we had to really clean out the tank as it got sooo icky.

It really was the wrong tank for a betta anyway.

A moment of silence if you please for a fine fish.

Ouch...tough Writing Assignment...

2007-01-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

Writing Assignment. DUE: Thursday, January 11.

Using first person narration from the gender perspective oppposite your own, write seven hundred words about unrequited love using the title: HEAD RUSH. And just to make it more interesting, your character must have some deformity, imagined or otherwise.

Crunchy Notes (I gotta learn that sticky thing from Skittles!)

2007-01-04T09:28:00.000-08:00

1) I started this blog to help encourage my mom to write. She is an excellent writer. Very funny and clever in both fiction and non and just needs some encouragement.

I am also hoping that I can convince some of my Scottish relatives and the new American one's to contribute.

I will keep you posted.

My mom has a lot of geneology stuff about our family and it is really interesting.

2) Adam's Betta fish Sammy seems to either have a bacterial infection or is just getting old. So prayers or vibes or whatever you can manage would be appreciated. The local pet store kindly looked him over yesterday and tested the water for us and offered what advice and 'medicine' they could. He has been swimming about a bit more...so we shall see.

Thursday Thirteen

2007-01-04T07:54:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Things about Crunchy Carpets

Thirteen Concerts That I Have Attended

1…. New Order

2. The Cure

3. Sinead O'Connor

4. Simple Minds

5. Moby

6. Eurythmics

7. Sting

8. Dead Can Dance

9. Thompson Twins (Yah...I am THIS 80's)

10. Moody Blues (My FIRST Concert!)

11. Lionel Richtie (I can barely mention that)

12. Sugar Cubes

13. Sarah McLachlan

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Books For Kids

2007-01-03T20:08:00.000-08:00

This book was recommended to me by Mother-Woman and funnily enough I already knew the writer and artist from his beautiful artwork on the Moon Shadow series, Sandman and Dracula.

I bought it for Adam this Christmas and read it to him last night. The lovely Buddhist tales were entrancing enough for my hyper little boy and the art fascinated him.

Go check it out and NO this is not a paid endorsement. It is a really nice book!

Inside Adams Brain No. 1

2007-01-03T09:34:00.000-08:00

Sigh. Due to the holidays and so on we have had a hard time getting Adam back to a decent bed time routine.

The other night he wanted to stay up a little longer and we said ok, but only if he was quiet and watched the show with us. This was impossible for our hyper active little boy.

Dad switched the tv off and said we might as well leave if he was going to keep it up.

Adam: Go ahead. You two go out. Go have dinner or something.

Dad: Really? You want us to go?

Adam: Yep. I can get Caity to bed. We will be fine.

Dad: You want to stay here on your own.

Adam: Yes....just go.

Me: So, you would rather us leave you alone in the house than even remotely try to stay quiet for longer than two minutes?

Adam: Yep.

Blog Review #1

2007-01-02T09:39:00.000-08:00

I thought it might be fun to talk about the blogs that I love or blogs that I have just found. Share the wealth so to speak.

A few of you out there are familiar with MyBlogLog. It is essentially a community building site. A place where you can make contacts and links and find new blogs.

It is a nice idea. It focuses more on community instead of traffic building and rankings.

I have met some very interesting characters there and they have some fun widgets to add to your site. They have a free subscription and then a paid one where, I assume, you get more access and fun stuff to play with.

Through there this AM, I was sent a message to check out MySiteProfile.

This is a new site eager for new membership. Again, this appears to be a networking, community building site that focuses on Bloggers, Web Designers, and so on.

You can totally customize your profile page. And they have a contest for the nicest design. They have a mini blog section you can set up. Forums, groups, friends and much more. I have just started to explore this.

I like the layout and design of this site. I think people in the 'biz' and people starting out could have a lot of fun here and make some good contacts if enough people join up. It offers yet another place to promote yourself and your site and build up linkages and so on without the competitive feel of some of the rankings sites.

Check em out. Tell me what you think!

New for 2007

2007-01-01T09:56:00.000-08:00

So while Crunchy Husband is totally horrified that I deleted Crunchy Carpets because of 'all that work'....I am ok with it.

I own the Crunchy Carpets URL...I am hoping down the road to set up my own Crunchy Carpets website without the constraints of using a 'free blog' set up like blogger.

I am excited about my community site and want to get that going as soon as possible.

I have lots of ideas and would like to see them at least started for 2007.

Crunchy Husband and I spent an hour last night working on our resolutions for '07 and basically it was to 1)make more money 2) be more proactive in our situation 3) build on our dreams and plans together. Not too bad.

So while I wait for my mighty Crunchy Carpets Empire to form, I think I will have fun with this little blog. I am going to use the 'fresh start' approach to "steal" some cool ideas from other sites....I love that Skittles has special 'theme' days...I think I will try something like that. I already like the Thursday Thirteen thing.

I am trying to get back to reading more, so I think I will try more book review type things too.

Knowing me, there is probably no way I can NOT talk about my family and my kids....but I want to stay away from the 'diary' or 'journal' feel to the blog.

I was finding it too easy to use the blog as a journal and therefore vent or rant about personal stuff based on my 'mood' of the moment and that (IMO) is too personal and too easily misread.

I am a pretty open person, but I think I need to impose some limits on myself.

I am also hoping that if I impose some more limits that I won't spend SO much time on the blog. I was finding that it was easier and more 'fun' to fart around with it and surf all the other blogs instead of doing stuff at home from housework to doing stuff with the kids.

I need to create more structure and discipline for myself. Focus a bit more on my 'real' life.....you know how it goes.

So...I will be here but am going to try to really pace myself.

Hope that all makes some sense.

Creeping up to 2007

2006-12-31T19:53:00.000-08:00

It is not even quite 8 pm yet.

The kids have had one glass of pop and are climbing the walls.

Otherwise...it is very subdued at the house of crunch.

And I mean should ANYONE really celebrate the New Year these days?
Or is it more of a "we survived the previous year" kind of party...seeing the old year out with style.

Maybe that is it.

World wise it has not been a good year.
Global politics are a mess.
People are dying.
The environment seems to be crumbling around us.

On the home front....locally, we have a city in denial over the homeless situation. Nobody can afford to buy a home in Vancouver anymore. Apparently a home can suck up to 64% of your income and that is ok according to the money lenders.

Our whole city is focused on the 2010 Olympics...apparently there is no existence for us after that.

I worry about the world our children will face. I mean, in all probability it won't be much worse than it is today and they will be grumbling and worrying the same as we do.

We can hope.

On a personal level 2006 wasn't that bad. Our family has had fun. We have done ok.
Our kids are happy. We muddle along. We accomplished some goals and others are tantilizingly dangling oooh so close.

I have enjoyed blogging and meeting all the amazing bloggers out there.

I will hopefully continue to do so!

So.....raise a glass to us all.

Happy New Year.

As promised....

2006-12-31T12:58:00.000-08:00

Here are the last two writing assignments that I did...
I look forward to doing more and getting as much help as I can!

**********

Seduction

He could feel her eyes boring into his back. The soft sigh that escaped her lips made the hair on the nape of his neck curl up. He shivered involuntarily. He still refused to turn around. He stared more determinedly at his computer monitor and tried to gather his thoughts again. But he could still feel those eyes, those liquid brown and hooded eyes watching his every move.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested. Far from it, but as much as he wanted to give into temptation, he felt that a war was being fought here and that he needed to make some sort of stand. If only he could focus on his work.

She hadn’t gone away. Another sigh escaped her. He could feel her shift her weight from side to side. He could imagine her small compact form sitting right behind him. Patiently waiting. She knew what was going on in his head. She could wait. She knew that the moment he turned around, the moment they made eye contact…he would be hers. They had played this game many times before and the outcome was always the same. Yet he persisted in fighting it. Fighting her. Fighting her needs.

Finally, there was change, a stirring. He wasn’t getting anything accomplished. He couldn’t think. Not with her there. Not knowing she was waiting for him. Only for him. With a sigh he turned around and faced her. “Come on kitty, come sit on my lap then, you know you want to.”

*******

Obsession

That was it. He had to buy his mother a birthday present. She had already told him what she wanted. Where it was and how much. But it meant going to the department store. It meant going by THAT department. If he went by THAT department then he would HAVE to by something and then he probably wouldn’t have enough money for his mother’s gift.

His eyes slid guiltily past the closet door. The dark closet door tucked neatly under the stairs. Mother didn’t know what was in there. She rarely came downstairs anymore. Probably for the best too, he thought. He couldn’t buy anymore. Besides, what if one of his friends or even worse, one of HER friends saw him in THAT department. It was bad enough that she kept opening his mail. What if she saw his credit card statements? How could he explain it all. He couldn’t even explain it to himself.

It wasn’t sexual. He was quite certain of that. He did get a bit of a thrill when purchasing them, but who didn’t get a thrill spending money on things that they love. Did he love them? No. That didn’t quite describe it either. Did he need them? Nope, not really. Not THAT way anyway. Yearned? Desired? Those words sent confusing thoughts through his head and he could almost feel them, so soft, so supple, and so warm. Comforting. He could sense them in the closet waiting for him. Calling to him. Maybe he would just take out one pair just now. Just to help alleviate the pressure. But what if that didn’t work. What if opening the closet to that sea of kidskin and suede sent him into frenzy and he wound up needing more!

Sigh. No point putting off the inevitable then.

Later that afternoon, he stood at the door of the department store. He needed to plan his route. He could actually avoid THAT department if he chose his path carefully. He took a deep breath and strode into the bright and cheerful store filled with bright and cheerful sales clerks and slightly tarnished looking customers. Or was it the other way around. Hard to tell when everyone had that fixed false smile glued to their faces.

He took on that fixed smile and edged his way down the aisles of his chosen route to the Baggage department. His mother wanted a new Handbag. She had given him the make, colour and price, written out in her swirling handwriting on the kitchen notepaper. All was going quite well till he rounded the last bend. The aisle in front of him was blocked. Totally blocked. Middle aged women in thick coats and thicker shoes, were bunched together, all seemingly trying to push into one small space, where a slightly frightened looking young woman was standing clutching something…. Something obviously important to all these women. He could barely hear the woman over the murmuring. It was a promotion. A free gift. Manna From Heaven obviously to these folks. But it did not help him. His route was blocked and his only option was to either retrace his steps to the beginning, or walk past THAT department.

He was running out of time. He was also becoming angry with himself. He could do this. He was in control. With fists and jaw clenched he turned 90 degrees and plunged into the forbidden zone. He could SEE the handbags ahead of him. Right through that small-enclosed aisle filled with warmth and comfort. The flaccid fingers of the ladies gloves seemed to beckon to him waving their long fingers at him. Soft suede in deep purples and rich browns hung there on hooks, like hands beseeching him to hold them, rub them on his face. Wear them. Cool leathers – lamb and cowhide – fur lined or felt. Lay in smart little boxes, ready to leap out. He could feel them begging – no – demanding to be touched. Aching for fingers to slide into their warm interiors.

A sweat broke out on his brow. He had to get that Handbag. Had to. But perhaps mother would like a nice pair of kid gloves to go with it?

Greetings old and new friends

2006-12-31T09:41:00.000-08:00

I am sure the old friends are a bit befuddled by my sudden disapearance yesterday.

After upsetting my husband twice over posts that I thought were perfectdly innocent I decided that while I have LOVED my blog, my relationship with him was more important.

So I deleted it. The whole thing.

I thought I would be REALLY upset over it..but strangely I am not. I am sad about it, but also know it was the right decision. I need to focus on my real life too.

However, be dammed if I am going to abandon the blog world all together. I am having too much fun and have made too many friends, who I hope to find again..or that they find ME again!

So I am going to scale back on the family stuff. There are lots of other things about ME that I can explore.

Two things that are really important to me is SQT's Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin Blog and Stewart Sternberg's House of Sternberg.

The first because I LOVE talking sci fi and fantasy with such a fun crew.

The second because Mr. Sternberg has given me the encouragement and permission to take his fun 'Writing Assignments' to hone our literary skills. I have done two of them and thoroughly enjoyed the process and the discussion that surrounds everyone's contributions.

This is good for me. I will post the two short stories I have already done when I dig em up from Word.

I have not given up the personal or 'mommy' blog. In fact I am working on and hopefully launching very soon Wet Coast Woman . This is going to hopefully be a meeting place for all the women bloggers lurking on BC's WestCoast.....you know who you are! So stay tuned.

So this new incarnation.....new for the NEW YEAR and all that.....will be a bit more esoteric. I think I am going to try and cover more issues and ideas, opinions and so forth.

I think I will still do the 'Inside the Brain of Adam'....people get a kick out of it and it cracks me up too.

I do hope this doesn't upset people.

I apologize to all the people who have linked to me.
I apologize to all the people that I have advertising 'deals' set up with.

I am sorry for the abruptness of it all.

I am sure people feel that I could have just 'edited'...but it just felt right for me to just sweep the old away.

I lay awake for hours last night thinking about this and realizing that it was the right thing to do and that I felt ok about it.

So. On with the new.

Happy New Year.