Hemlock B Bootsalotta

We have a new yoga instructor at the back clinic, and I'm not sure if I like her. She moves us through the positions very quickly and we didn't get much explanation of how to get into the new moves she introduced us to. The previous instructor used to go slowly and make sure our core was positioned correctly before introducing any strength components, and although I tried to do that on my own, I found I was rushing to catch up. Also we didn't get direct, "So-and-so make sure you use this modification" that I'm used to - just the instruction to slow down or stop if anything hurt. For that I can take a standard yoga class. She also didn't know about the vertigo, which tells me she didn't actually read the files before we arrived.

So pretty sore this morning, and a lot of that is in the not good way. I'll try again next week, but I may just switch to another time slot with a different instructor.


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While I was waiting for the bus this morning a car stopped for the light in front of me. It happend to have one of those super loud music systems that rattles everything around it and can usually be heard playing some really popular dance hit that has lyrics you can't repeat in front of your grandparents. Only instead it was playing a piano concerto.

There are a lot of days when I think I should bring the camera along with me when I go to work. (The camera on my phone is next to useless.) Today it was because of the bell box painted up to look like a purple bear and the (I'm assuming) homeless gentleman wearing a very fetching tri-corner hat. Then again, maybe he was a pirate and he always dresses like that.


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I also passed a clothing store for men with a sign in the window that said, "I'm not a freshman. I'm a fresh man!"

Does that make you want to heave a brick through their window, or is it just me?


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After yesterday's post I was looking around to see if I could find a comprehensive list of ethical companies. Or at least a rating system that says, "these guys here suck a little bit less than those guys over there".

Well it turns out that somebody called Ethisphere compiles a list every year. Uh, I don't know how they rate their companies but the Whole Food CEO has come under a lot of fire in the last year for his attitude towards employee health care. And the list also includes Target, who fought against allowing employees at the Canadian Zellers stores to keep their union when Target took them over. So I'm not going to put a lot of weight behind Ethisphere's choices.

I watched an episode once of that awful show Punk'd where celebrities have practical "jokes" played on them. I remember one episode where some famous woman (can't for the life of me remember who) had a line of designer clothes which she claimed she was personally involved in creating from concept to store. So in the episode she gets called to some warehouse by these fake cops who show her evidence that children were being imprisoned there and forced to work on her clothes. She kept saying, "I had no idea," over and over again.

And you know, as much as I hate pranks of all kinds, if her response was legit and not just edited to make her look stupid, then I find it hard to be sympathetic. If she honestly can't say there must be some mistake, I know where my clothes are being made - well, maybe they are coming out of sweatshop somewhere.

On the other hand, from what I've seen of reality shows, that's a pretty massive "if".

One of the things we did last night was wander around the house and locate all the things that glow in the dark when the lights are turned off.

The TV doesn't need to be "on" all the time when we watch it once a week. There is a clock on the microwave and one on the coffee maker, we don't need both of them. We never use the VCR in the bedroom for recording, it doesn't need to be powered all the time either.

We already power 90% of the house through extension cords and power bars. We're going to rearrange them slightly so that anything that isn't say, a refrigerator can be switched off when it's not being used.

The best part is that the money we save on electricity eventually gets spent on insulation.

I was thinking about something totally different tonight, and somehow two things converged in my head, and I started wondering.

How does the carbon footprint of leather shoes compare with those made out of petro-chemicals?

I think this popped up because I was reading about PETA's public statement that one cannot be an environmentalist while consuming animal products and then I started thinking about how I really can't see myself wearing clothes that are made of artificial fibres, and it kind of snowballed from there. Most leather comes from cows which are horrible for the environment. Artificial substitutes are made from a non-renewable resource, but the issue is less about running out of the stuff as it is what kind of mess we make using it.

So what do you think?

Avaaz.org is trying to get 100,000 signatures on a petition to be delivered to the Enviornmental Ministers of the G8 nations this week.

Petition basically says, "Climate Change is important, get off your collective ass already." But in you know, polite speak.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/climate_action_germany/cf7.php

I'm still catching up with the news. Jesus.

One quick thing; Other people have pointed towards this; The Manilow Fund For Health and Hope is a charity founded by Barry Manilow that normally directs funds towards charities such as AIDS, cancer, abuse and homelessness. They are currently running a fundraiser for Katrina survivors. For every dollar donated, it will be matched by both the fund and by Barry Manilow himself. Three dollars donated for every dollar you send.

I've done a quick search for more information about this charity, and I haven't found anything negative. If anybody has additional info, please do pass it on. In the meantime, it seems to be the biggest bang for your buck I've come across.

Today when I was driving down to the highway, I passed the new windmill in the CNE grounds.

Holy fuck! It's huge.

It's gorgeous. It towers over the nearby buildings.