Carbon offsets and other mind games

Posted on January 8, 2009 by Cath@VWXYNot?

(This is my entry to the January APLS carnival, which I will be hosting here on the 22nd. Still plenty of time to get your posts in!)

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Regular readers might remember that I like to play a bit of poker. Nothing serious, just a low stakes game with friends. I usually break more or less even, but I do occasionally win up to (gasp!) $20.

While I consider my $10 buy-in to be part of my regular expenses, any winnings are “free money” and therefore special. The day after a big win, I might skip making lunch at home, and go out and buy myself something yummy instead. I might treat myself to something funky on iTunes. Or I might have an appie or a more expensive beer the next time I’m at the pub. I mentally offset this expense against my winnings.

The problem comes when I’m still doing the same thing a few days later. Sometimes I offset my $20 winnings against three or four different $15 expenditures. And somehow this seems perfectly reasonable and rational at the time. Free money, woo hoo!

Unfortunately, this bad behaviour spills over into my attempts to live sustainably. As I mentioned in my first APLS carnival contribution, I’m already doing some of the easier things, but struggling with the more difficult items. And my weird little brain tends to offset the former against the latter:

“I’d love a steak tonight. Oh, but red meat, methane… then again I do bike to work, so my contribution to climate change is pretty low, really, when you think about it. Medium rare, please”.

or

“Local apples, or imported bananas? I should really get the apples. But I haven’t had a banana in ages and it would be yummy on this cereal. Hmmm, well, at least I’ll compost the skin”.

or

“Can or bottle of Dr Pepper?* Plastic is bad, evil. But I don’t want to drink all of it at once, and with the bottle I can put the cap back on and save the fizz. The plastic is recyclable. Oh, sod it, there are like two recycling bins on every floor at work.”

At least I’m aware of the problem, right? And I’m starting to try a few little mind games on myself. When I’m looking at a restaurant menu I try to imagine the clouds of methane rising, not just from that one cow, but from a whole herd, all of them there only because people like me like to eat steak. In supermarkets I try to visualise the journey of that bunch of bananas (and all of their friends) from plantation to shelf. And when I’m tempted to buy something plastic, I imagine not just my bottle, but all the bottles on the shelf, floating up on one of the pristine beaches I’ve enjoyed in the last few months.

The latter image has been especially effective – I believe I have bought my last ever bottle of shampoo, as the switch to locally made soap has been very successful. (Now to work on my conditioner addiction). And the cardboard cylinders of frozen concentrated juice are just as good (and much cheaper) than the big plastic bottles.

But I do need more help! Especially with those food cravings… That’s why I chose this carnival topic. I’m hoping that some of you more experienced APLS have some better mind games that I can use on myself.

Oh, the power of the carnival host. Mwa ha ha ha!

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*I drink pop like once every couple of months, just in case you’re shocked and horrified!

Posted in Carnivals, environment, food glorious food | 21 Comments

Puck off

Posted on January 7, 2009 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I’m not going to comment on the result of last night’s World Junior Hockey Championship gold medal game*, for fear of a certain Swede coming up here and clobbering me. I wanted to focus instead on one particular aspect of TSN‘s pre-game coverage.

Between live on-ice updates and taped interviews with coaches and former players, the announcers chatted with a studio guest – none other than that smug git our esteemed Prime Minister, Stephen Harper.

Mr E Man turned to me incredulously.

“What the fuck’s he doing there?!” he asked.

“It’s a good thing”, I replied. “If it starts to look like we’re going to lose, he’ll suspend the game and hope the Swedish team self-destructs before play restarts”.

Fnar fnar.

Seriously, how is Harper still PM? And while we’re at it, how is Bush still POTUS? The instant change-over you get in the UK and Canada is too short a transition, but the American transistion is waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long.

Methinks 2009 will improve greatly when both men are gone.

————————

*Other than a brief “woo hoo!”

Posted in politics, silliness, sport | 10 Comments

2009 sucks

Posted on January 6, 2009 by Cath@VWXYNot?

So far this year, and in no particular order:

  • My mother-in-law slipped on some ice and broke her arm – both bones, just above the wrist. She didn’t need any surgery, and seems in good spirits, but 2 months in a cast might change that. One of her sons is with her right now, another is going at the weekend, and we’ll probably go up the weekend after that.
  • My brother-in-law’s apartment flooded when a pipe burst in the apartment above him. So he, his two kids, and his puppy are homeless for a month while everything is fixed. Luckily his insurance covers everything, including temporary accommodation.
  • A good friend is reluctantly leaving Vancouver and going back to the UK, largely because of the lack of affordable day care. This is the second good friend I’ve lost for the same reason in a 6 month period, and I’m thinking of opening my own day care so my remaining friends will stay here.
  • The awesome tenant in our basement suite is thinking of moving to the US in the spring to join her boyfriend. As Mr E Man said, “make him come here! We’ll never find another tenant who’ll look after our cats and give us home-made butter tarts with the rent money!”
  • The state of the roads means I won’t be able to cycle until next week at the earliest, and then only on the main roads – it could take weeks to clear the side streets. Until then I’m stuck taking the fucking bus, which I hate. Yeah, I know things are much worse in Edmonton / Toronto / Wherever, but that’s part of the reason I didn’t want to live there and chose to move to Vancouver instead!
  • The oh-so-pretty lattice work arch over our gate, that the purple clematis climbs over in summer, collapsed under the weight of the snow and is now lying sadly in a 3-foot snow drift in the garden.
  • Several other friends are either sick or having various personal crises.

Seriously, I think I’d like to skip 2009 and go straight to 2010.

Posted in family, personal, rants, snow, Vancouver | 12 Comments

Snowed under…

Posted on January 1, 2009 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I’m back! Ever so slightly hungover, but the jet lag has gone. Staying out until after 2 am on our first full day back seemed to reset my system.

This is what happens when you leave your car outside for two weeks during record snow falls… this is NOT normal weather for Vancouver! And it’s still snowing!

I hope everyone had an excellent Christmas or other festive break. Our first week in the UK was awesome, but unfortunately the second week was spoiled by a 24-hour norovirus that my sister brought with her from London and that swept through the entire family. It hit me next, at about 11.30 pm on Christmas Eve, so I was the only one to miss Christmas dinner. I did get to open my two stockings though – chocolate, fruit, chocolate, whiskey, more chocolate… just what I needed! Mr E Man and my Dad went down next, and my Mum was just getting over it as we left. Lovely.

Still, at least I lost some weight over Christmas, for the first time in my life…

So, back to reality – I worked from home yesterday, and am due back in the office tomorrow. As usual when coming home from a trip, I’m feeling a bit snowed under with laundry, other household chores, work stuff, and an avalanche of blog posts – I’ll get to them soon, I promise!

Like Mr E Man, I need to start digging out. If only it would stop fucking snowing…

Happy New Year, everyone!

Posted in drunkenness, family, personal, photos, snow, Vancouver, virology | 21 Comments

Right, I’m off

Posted on December 16, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

My chariot Nissan Maxima awaits… as do approximately 19 hours of planes, trains, automobiles, and hanging around at airports.

It’ll be worth it for the two weeks of fun in the sun UK with friends and family. I probably won’t be blogging, other than maybe the occasional photo. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas / Hanukkah / Winter Solstice / Summer Solstice / Festivus / Kwanzaa / New Year / Hogmanay / Winterval / Winterlude / Cephalopodmas / Other / None of the above!

See you in 2009!

Happy Cephalopodmas!
(photo from Pharyngula)


(You really, really should check out the Cephalopodmas link from the Digital Cuttlefish. Here it is again. My favourite part:

So we flew, over trees, over hills, over mountains,
(Keeping moist by, sometimes, flying low over fountains)
We flew over deserts, with sagebrush and cactus;
Some day we’ll invade, so it’s really good practice.

Go read…)
Posted in nature, personal, photos, silliness | 15 Comments

Seasons greetings of your choice

Posted on December 16, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.
I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2009, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make Canada great. Not to imply that Canada is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only Canada in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the recipient of said wish.
By accepting these greetings, you are accepting the aforementioned terms as stated. This greeting is not subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself/himself/others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.
Sincerely the wisher…
Cath, who sadly can not claim credit for this wonderful greeting she just received from a friend. And who is also leaving for the UK tonight, and will therefore not be blogging until 2009.
Have a good one, everyone!

Posted in Uncategorized | 106 Comments

Santa not so secret

Posted on December 14, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Yesterday was Mr E Man’s family’s pre-Christmas party. Everyone tends to spread out for the day itself, so those of us in and around Vancouver always get together for an afternoon and evening of drinks and delicious food before the main festive craziness begins. My sister-in-law usually hosts, but seeing as her place is under renovation and all four of them are living in the tiny basement, we volunteered to host this time.

I may have mentioned before that while I do most of the bog standard weeknight cooking, Mr E Man is actually a much better cook than me, and handles all the special occasion fancy-pants dinners. Last night he made roast pork with a pear-apricot-maple chutney, roast potatoes and carrots, spaghetti squash with dill and pine nuts, and leeks with a cheese sauce. Various other people brought salads, snacks and desserts, and everything was delicious.

Other than the food, my favourite part of the evening is the secret Santa. This is an unknown phenomenon in my (much smaller) family – everyone buys something for everyone else. But in my in-laws’ family, all the adults buy something for each of the six nephews, and everyone else does secret Santa.

Wrapping the presents for our nephews. Instead of name tags, we attach chocolate letters for each boy’s initial – a brainwave I came up with five years ago. Someone at the store that makes the letters always asks us what we’re trying to spell.

Every Santa needs a little helper.
“Mine iz G for Google? Or C for Cheezburger?”

Only two nephews made it yesterday, but the seven-year old made up for the absence of his cousins by having enough energy and enthusiasm for a whole gaggle of nephews! (His thirteen-year old brother is a bit too cool). He loved his presents, and his yummy chocolate K.

The identity of the Secret Santa stays secret for about 5 seconds after the present is opened, because whoever bought that particular gift is always so eager to explain what it is and why they bought it. My brother-in-law – a brand new boat-owner – wasn’t quite sure what I’d got him, so I had to explain how the radio / flashlight / cell phone charger combo unit can be charged through the mains, by a hand crank, or by the sun – and that blew my cover. Mr E Man got a kick-ass kitchen knife from his brother – who immediately started to tell him how good it is. And the lovely wrap I got was labeled with the name of a shop a few streets away from my mother-in-law’s house.

Still, it’s a great tradition. And as hosts, we got some extra gifts – chocolates, and some fancy soap. Oh, and the most disturbing Christmas card I’ve ever seen.

The inside says “He knows when you’ve been naughty”. Yikes!

I love my in-laws.

Posted in family, food glorious food, furry friends, photos | 11 Comments

Updates…

Posted on December 11, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

…in case anyone is remotely interested!
The author of the intelligent design novel that I reviewed last month stopped by to offer comments. I shamefully didn’t respond to his rather lengthy comment until today, but hopefully he’ll come back, especially since I suggested that he take all the advice our resident authors can offer…
I’ve also posted answers to my 5:56 book meme, and clues for my mystery music lyrics meme.
Can you tell that I’m suffering from pre-Christmas burn-out and a lack of original blogging ideas?

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Curious meme

Posted on December 11, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I’m having a really hard time coming up with original blog post ideas at the moment. I blame pre-Christmas burn-out, plus Mr E Man being off work, with the result that I spend my usual blogging time (6 – 8 am) drinking tea and chatting to him. Not that I’m complaining… especially since he has assumed all cooking duties, and drives me to work when it’s raining.

Anyway. Here’s a cool meme I saw at Curiosity Killed the Cat. As well as bolding the things I’ve done, I’ve put the five items I’d most like to do in italics.

1. Started my own blog – duh
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower – just single shooting stars
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo – not in public, although I have played (brief!) classical guitar solos in public, as part of an ensemble
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea – preferably from my own boat. Sigh – one day.
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty – I’ve been to Liberty Island, but didn’t go up
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train – usually in a seat, once (oh bliss!) in a bunk bed
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort – no, I’m from England
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors – yes, if you mean England and Scotland, but not if you mean Ireland.
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied – kinda, mostly
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing – it did not go well and resulted in me being dumped by my rock climbing fanatic boyfriend
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David – I’ve been to Florence, but the line-ups were crazy and it was nicer to be outside anyway
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain – it’s not as romantic as it looks in the movies
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies – we don’t do this in the UK, although I was in the Girl Guides
62. Gone whale watching – although I have seen whales from the Vancouver-Victoria ferry a few times
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma – in the UK, I’m not allowed in Canada
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating – I did catch a fish once, but Mr E Man prepped it
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Ridden an elephant

Posted in meme, personal | 17 Comments

The Call

Posted on December 11, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Holy December Batman, this time next week I’ll be in England!

Yup, a 10 hour flight, 3 hour layover, 1 hour flight and 1.5 hour train ride await, starting on Tuesday night. A total of ~7320 kilometres (~4550 miles) lie between “home” in Vancouver and “home home” in Yorkshire.

I know that many (most?) of you are also a long way from home, and possibly from aging parents. And, like me, I’m sure that many of you live in fear of the call.

You know – The. Call.

The call from home that means “you need to leave for the airport now”.

Last week, I thought I’d had The Call.

Stepping out of the shower at work, I realised that my phone was vibrating in my bag. I frantically started to dig for it under the clean clothes, towel, spare shoes, lunch, and other assorted crap that I haul to work every day. I just missed the call.

Hmmm, I thought, wonder who that was?

My “Recent” list showed that the missed call was from my parents. And that, during my bike ride into work and nice hot shower, I had in fact missed a total of nine calls from my parents.

NINE!

I talk to my parents at noon PST (8 pm GMT), almost every Sunday. And at no other time during the week. This is the way it has been ever since I moved here almost seven years ago1. So nine calls at 8.45 am on a Thursday meant one thing.

The Call.

At this point, a voicemail message alert popped up.

The message was two seconds of silence, and a click.

So clearly this was not the kind of thing that could be left in a message, but rather had to be communicated in person.

It was The Call. It had to be.

I frantically started to punch in my parents’ number. (Have I ever mentioned that I’m a bit of a panic merchant?). I misdialled the first time, and got someone else’s answering machine. I redialled, even more frantically, and my Mum answered.

“Hi, Mum, it’s me – you were trying to reach me?” I said.

(Actually, it probably came out more like “Himusmee, tringrichmi?”)

“Oh, hello love”, came the cheery reply, “thanks for ringing back so quickly! Your Dad thought you’d be at work. I was just wondering, what size feet does [Mr E Man] have? I think I might get him some socks as part of his present. He seemed to like the ones I got him last time”.

“…”

When my heart stopped pounding, I told her that
a) she’d scared the shit out of me,
b) yes, I’m at work, and in fact this phone call is making me late for a seminar, and
c) I have no bloody idea what size feet he has.

“Oh well, it’s not really urgent, just let me know before you come over. Oh, and I got him a [thing], but I don’t know if he’ll like it, so I kept the receipt. It’s from [shop] and it’s [colour] – do you think he’ll like it?”.

“Mum… seminar…”

“Oh, right, I’d better let you get on then. Sorry for scaring you. What’s the seminar about?”

“Genomes2. Bye Mum, talk to you Sunday”.

I love my parents, but they are obviously in need of some retraining. Starting with the existence of time zones3, cell phones, and email.

—————–

1) With one exception… this story really shouldn’t have come as THAT much of a surprise to me, as something similar happened a few years ago.

2) I’m sure most of you are aware of the recent heated blogosphere conversations about the representation of women at conferences and seminar series. This “seminar” was actually a full-day forum, with nine (almost all local) speakers and a panel discussion. Five speakers were women – including the keynote speaker, and also the recipient of a Young Investigator award. Yay! I bumped into the event’s chief organiser the next day, and congratulated her on an excellent event. “It was especially nice to see so many female speakers”, I said. “Oh, you’re right! I hadn’t even noticed!”. Double yay!

3) My sister will probably want to help with this – they once called her in London at 3.30 am on a week night, because they were in Canada and got the eight hour time difference the wrong way round. My Dad is still amazed that it’s only noon in Vancouver when I call them on a Sunday. Mind you, he has also – more than once – responded to news that it’s sunny in Vancouver with a surprised “Really? It’s raining here”. And these are smart people.

Posted in family, silliness | 22 Comments