Cool!

Make Your Own Cardboard Furniture : TreeHugger

Thought some of you might find this cool:

Recycle Your Old Jeans Into Furniture : TreeHugger

TheStar.com | Canada | Media outlets argue for 'right to be wrong' at the Supreme Court

Interesting in the age of blogging etc. I like the question "How would you define media?"

Discuss.

(Hey, maybe I've found a new use for my Livejournal, if only I could go back and make every single old post "private".)

Boy who became father at 13 raises 'worrying' questions - Telegraph

The boy's father has 8 other children. Talk about setting an example.

Five Things Every Legal Practice Should Know About Web 2.0 :: Blog :: Headshift

Trying the new "Post to Livejournal" feature. Maybe it will get me posting more often.

The following is part of the post linked above:

Twestival = Social Media for Social Change

Testing posting from the Mashable blog.
(With the "Share to Livejournal" tool.)

From the New York Times

Babies Know: A Little Dirt Is Good for You

(I was tipped off by Slashfood.)

In a newsletter that I received in my inbox today there was a story about the funeral of Staff Sergeant Dvir Emmanueloff, the first Israeli soldier to fall in the Gaza War.

Reading it, I started to cry.

It's online here.

Thank you, City News, for posting bizarre stories:

Angry 4-Yr.-Old Shot Babysitter For Stepping On His Foot: Cops

...I had commentary and deleted it.

Wife Charged With Murder After Allegedly Setting Husband's Genitals On Fire

...Did they really have to use the phrase "searing pain"?

$15 turtleneck, which I needed, at Mark's Work Warehouse.

DVDs at HMV:
$27.99 + tax got me four movies. At $6 each I got Reality Bites, The Breakfast Club and Garden State, which I used to have but lost. At $9.99 I got the 2-disc Deluxe Edition which isn't that impressive of Across the Universe. I downloaded that movie and then burned it because I wanted to watch it again. Now I have a legit copy.

I almost bought a printer at Best Buy, which had line ups longer than I've ever seen. I knew what I wanted and went with the intention of buying if in stock, but the box was too heavy for me to carry home. Taking a cab didn't occur to me as an option until right now. They also have a $70 multifunction printer by Brother. it's regular $200. Online it's still $70 but the in-store display said otherwise. The HP printer's description had me at "duplexer". Being on sale was plus, as was the regular price of $187.99. I strolled through the aisle with LCD monitors. I'll probably get a monitor at Tiger Direct but I'm glad that I saw what each size looks like. A bigger one would be great if I decided to hook my monitor up to my laptop to watch TV/movies on DVD. Won't happen. Will probably stick to 19 or 20". I think my current monitor is 15" so anything will be bigger.

Went grocery shopping too but didn't buy anything interesting. I have ice cream in the freezer and a bit of a snack cupboard (the cupboard becoming available for that designation when I began to live alone).


Dinner: Salad with fake meat, nuts, cheese and chipotle ranch dressing. Steamed French beans with grated baby parmesan and a drizzle of Sriracha. The beans kick the salad's ass. It's the Sriracha hot sauce.

I apologize for how mundane this post was until the part about the steamed French beans.

Reality Bites! Janeane Garofalo! Steve Zahn! Ben Stiller! Winona Ryder before the controversy!
The Breakfast Club! John Hughes and... those guys.
(Yes, I know who.)

Wishing all my gentile friends a Merry Christmas!
Spread some goodwill.

I have no idea how to attach my sleeping bag to the outside of my backback.

The backpack is a big, camping one. It's got the loops to hold an outside load.

If I can't do it I'll buy a sleeping bag there. However, I don't want to do that.

Packing is in progress.

There are currently 10 people on the trip, which means that I will always have a "roommate", and its a combination of Americans and Canadians with most of us born in the 1970s and 90s, just one older gentleman. The tour company rep that I just spoke to guesses that there's a father-daughter on the trip.

Getting nervous, because I'm always nervous before a flight. I'll be in the departure lounge - possibly boarding - in 24 hours.

Just found an envelope that my mother gave me once, with stuff from high school and elementary school (it wasn't in my archive box). It includes creative writing from grade 4 along with a journal that I had to keep from school. Page 1 is folded over sand says "privit pleas do not read [sic]". It's about a Hebrew teacher that I didn't like. Apparently she was mean, didn't give the class enough time for lunch ("...it takes most of us 5 to 10 minuts [sic] to get settled.") and the previous week assigned the wrong homework, telling us later that we'd all done the wrong homework. I hope that one of my teachers or my mother did read that. The next page has a note to me and my mother that says that haven't been doing my journal entries and need to show this to my mother. In a statement to my mother the teacher said that I was supposed to have 10 pages, double space, that day. My mom had to sign it.

I see that in grade 4 I favoured my brother over my sister. :) Funny, I wrote about my sister beating me up. I don't remember this.

Young me was cute and couldn't spell. Indeed, I recall being a remedial spelling class in elementary school.

Moral: Some things you just don't remember, and not doing your homework doesn't mean that you're ruined for life. Parents, don't tell your children this.

...Called my parents. Told my dad about it and read the teacher's note to him. He laughed.

• Finish a press release I did last week (working on it now).


• Finish a job application, or three.


• Finish a web page for my mother.


• Laundry [update 10:20am: in progress]


• Library for book pick up


• Go to The Bay for a sample size of a face moisturizer I like (travel sized for trip) sort of


• Watch Heroes (doing it now as I get other stuff done)


• Go to MEC


• Chiropractor sort of


• Gym


• Stop by the tour company's office or call.

I'd also like to get rid of this headache.

8pm: Phew, most done. The stuff I'm working on for my mother's website will be in constant state of updates but it was good enough for now.

I struck out at the Bay but did indeed go. now I have two books for the flight and I doubt I'll get through one.

Stopped by the tour company office but they'd already closed.

I need to pick up some more ibuprofen tomorrow and maybe buy a sun hat. I don't think I'll really need one in the rainy season.

Tomorrow I pack.

[Update Thursday December 4: This is a slightly modified version of the original post. I've added a line or two and removed a bunch. I removed the post for a day.]

While I was deep in thought in the shower I started thinking about my vegetarianism/pescetarianism. I had some thoughts:

For over a year I've been saying, "I don't mind if animals are killed for food, what I do mind/don't like is how they're treated." (How they're fed, the hormones and antibiotics they're given, etc.) I've said that I believe that "You are what what you eat eats", the Michael Polan ideology. I've realized though, that I do mind that animals are killed for food. At least, a little bit. I care about how they're treated in life and death. This is why I say that in theory I only want to eat organic meat, but realistically I prefer not to eat meat at all.

I prefer organic meat as an idea but in practice meat rarely appeals to me. It's become dead animal to me. I always feel conflicted when I do eat it.( Read more... )

I started posting this on Saturday night:

-Had an awesome shabbat with the "Grivemans", livelife73 and ryestar and family. Great hosts. Their kids are amazing. I'm still feeling their cuteness in my heart and wish I could hang with the kids more often. So much love in that family.

-Taste T.O, one of my favourite food blogs, linked to my other blog. My post was #1 on their list. I think they know of me because I posted a reply to their blog with a correction, one of them emailed me back a thank you, and I replied with a "you're welcome" (which I didn't need to do but was feeling friendly).

-Small talk with an acquaintance who instant messaged me on Facebook: She asked how my new job is. I told her I don't have one, that I had a new job 7 months ago and it was a six month contract. She asked how I've been enjoying my time off, what I'm doing, etc. I focused on the positive in a short answer: Basically that I've been getting stuff done around the apartment and spending time at the gym. She then said, "nice lucky u". And it irritated me.

I answered:

Yes, I'm so lucky. I have no income.

In other words no, not lucky, but trying to make the best of it.

How is unemployment "lucky"???
I guess it's easy to not think about it when you're busy with your own job and the idea of "getting stuff done" around the apartment is a nice one, but really. LUCKY?? I'm not on vacation, I'm UNEMPLOYED. Unemployed means no income.
When asked what I've been doing am I supposed to say "Worrying about my mounting debt and oh, my rent and student loan were both paid by my line of credit this month"?

I wanted to smack her, but she's a krav maga instructor. I generally want to smack anyone who types in letters instead of words and doesn't use punctuation, as is the case with "nice lucky u".

[Concluding the part written Saturday.]
**

I didn't make it to my desired class at the gym yesterday because it was full, so I did a half-assed workout (a couple of machines) and then sat in a coffee shop with my laptop for a few hours surfing and writing the cover letter of a job application that I need to complete today, or in the next couple of days. I didn't make it to the gym today because I was at home working on another application. It seemed more important to do this than to put it aside until I got home. When I'm in the zone I need to go with it.





I'm prepping for my trip, making sure I've got documents in order, notes all in one place, packing list organized. I'm borrowing a backpack from my sister this evening and might need to make a run to MEC tomorrow for some stuff such as more walking socks (which I could get at Running Room), a backpack cover and possibly new hiking boots, depending on how mine feel.

The weather forecast in Peru? I arrive in Lima on Friday where it's expected to drop down to 18°C/65°F and partly cloudy. The next two days will be spent in Cusco, where the forecast says showers and a high of 19°C/66°F for Saturday and 22°C/71°F on Sunday. Machu Picchu, where I'll be spending my second last day, is supposed to have rain and a high of 29/30. So, rain all week. It occurs to me now that my head is going to hurt the entire time. It occurred to me earlier that hiking and camping in the rainy season is not a great idea. I really should have researched this before planning the trip.

Back to it.

My mother on my currently-hypothetical, future wedding: "Don't wait too long. You've got three years."*

Me: "Then what?"

I then tossed out some options: "I get spinster status?... I have to buy a bunch of cats?...."

My mother "I hadn't thought that far ahead."

There was context but it's unimportant here.

*My sister is three years older than me. I'm single.