Yay! I have nothing to wear!!!

I never thought that would be a good thing, I also never thought losing weight could have a downside (though it's very small downside).
Two weeks ago I bought a belt, it was the first time in many years that it was actually to hold my pants from falling down, let me tell you, it was very rewarding and exciting.

Now I am facing a new "dilema" (lol), even with the belt, the pants are looking a little silly. I look as if I am trying to dress like my 19 year old brother with big baggy pants. It isn't entirely flattering but I am loving it none the less.

Shopping for clothes has become a LOT more enjoyable then it's been in a long time, though I may have to get a couple more jobs in order to start rebuilding my wardrobe.

As a testament to my success, most people know that if you don't see someone for a long time you will notice their weight loss (or gain for that matter) much more. I have actually hit a point where the people I work with, who see me daily, have started to notice.

I doubt I'll ever post before and after photos but for the low one time fee of $29.99 I'll share my secrets with you too!

Madeleine "Maddie" McCann

Madeleine McCann is a 3 year old girl from Britain who was with her parents and 2year old twin siblings on holidays at a resort in Portugal.

Little Maddie's parents (Kate and Gerry McCann) seemed to think it would be wise decision to leave the three children alone, with an unlocked patio door, while they dined at a restaurant 100 yards away. They claim they could see the door to their suite and went back every half an hour to check on the children, a claim which is now being disputed by staff and/or witnesses at the hotel, who say the parents did not check on their children at all, but remained at their table the entire evening.
Now reports are coming out that this was either a kidnap to order scheme carried out by a pedophile ring, or perhaps even a revenge kidnapping for a reason that has not yet been revealed (though I can say with confidence that if I was in a position where someone could be seeking revenge against me I wouldn't be leaving my 3 young children alone, in a foreign country, in a hotel room).

Well, not too surprisingly, upon their final return they found the door and window open and little Maddie was gone!

What shocked me more was that when I read one of the newspaper articles someone who was interviewed said that the first thought on anyone's mind was that we've all done that. I beg your pardon? I admit that I will leave my son in the house (he's 9) to go take the garbage out, maybe even to run to the car. I tell him where I'm going, I lock the door, he is instructed not to open it and I take my cell phone in case I can't get back for some reason.

The other thing that I find absurd./suspicious is that while this may be passing incorrect judgement, I will assume the parents would have been able to hire a nanny for their trip, if not at the very least the resort offers childcare services for those dining on site, and babysitting service at an extra charge for those venturing elsewhere to dine or sight see.

I can not get over the disgust I feel towards these parents, I think that regardless of the outcome of this case they should be charged with child endangerment.

Cell Phone Loyalty

I just wanted to take a moment to give some kudos to Nokia cellular phones.
I got my first Nokia cell phone in about 2001, I signed up for a 3 year contract and got a free phone. I never had a case for that phone and I am the first to admit I am a very bad phone abuser.

By the time the 3 year contract was up and I qualified for another free phone, the first one was probably being held together by rubber bands, tape or both.
With the next 3 year renewal I got another Nokia phone, I didn't consciously choose Nokia, I think it came with a pretty cover or something petty like that, well, in 2006 and qualified for another upgrade with contract renewal. Oops, I went into The Source and got 'talked into' some goofy thing with MP3 and camera capabilities. I didn't even need the phone because the Nokia with the pretty faceplate could still do everything (even with no numbers and while held together with tape or elastic), I just needed a charger which was $30, or I could get a new phone (with charger) for $15.

So 'upgrade' I did, actually what really happened was that I downgraded, to a motorolla.

The day after I bought it I realized I didn't want the camera and that I had made a huge mistake, I went back to the Source and was told 'no refunds or exchanges'. Within a week or two I had dropped the piece of crap, just like normal, only this time the freaking thing stopped working, well, that's not entirely true, you just couldn't text, add a contact to the phone book or do anything other then dial or answer calls.

Well, eventually I paid $30 to have my sim card reset to Nokia, $30 more for a charger, and went back to the rubber band wonder, after a while I had someone graciously donate an old Nokia artifact and I realized that I am totally Nokia loyal and I don't think I will EVER go to any other brand of phone (unless they realize their products are too high quality and start lowering their standards).

Random, unfinished musings

I am all over the map with this blog, it's kind of fun.
I hope no-one missed the fact that my picture and banner are now a bleeding heart flower. I get that a lot, in fact so often that when I sign up for forums and I must put a location I generally choose 'the left wing of my bleeding heart'.
I love the fact that I have never taken that as the insult it's supposed to be, I just say "at least I have one".
I had a busy day today, I had to go the the DTES for some errands this afternoon, first I was at a place where people go to eat, have showers or do laundry because they either have no home, or nothing with these facilities. I am open but I admit I was a little nervous. I have spent time down there in years past and maybe it was the nature of my visits but they weren't generally pleasant. A gal came up to me and said 'sweetie, you dropped your smile', I laughed and felt a whole lot better after that. As I got where no-one could see me though, I burst out crying and just couldn't stop. Eventually someone came by, or was sent over, thinking something awful must have happened, not really, just society.
After that it was off to PACE, The Exotic Goddess Sexpo is in September (the 21st) so it's time to start planning.........
See I had a bunch of good stuff to say but Facebook just got the last hour of my life so the rest will have to wait until tomorrow :(
Ok, here I am and I thought I would leave that little facebook blurb in as a segway for it's own post that it will no doubt receive soon.
Now where was I? Right, I was all over the place.
Well, I kind of lost those thoughts so I will end here (I've read today's paper so there's lots of other little fires sparking right now) with the undiagnosed emotions from yesterday. I'll be back to write about PACE and the Sexpo in no time, and I'll do some further analysis of what ails society and what I think could help.

Affordable Housing in Richmond BC

I don't live in Richmond anymore, I still work there and consider it my home town since I was raised there. I also spend most of my time and money there. I also have family who still live there.

On account of that, issues in Richmond are important to me.
Last fall I read an article in one of the Richmond papers that talked about the lack of shelter options for women and children in Richmond, to make a long story a little shorter, it motivated me to start searching for a way to help. It took some time, many emails and phone calls (which I wish I had tracked to show how hard it could be for a person to help), but I finally found the Richmond Poverty Response Committee.

The Richmond PRC has done amazing work in the community, it's a cooperated effort between organizations who deal directly or indirectly with poverty, housing, food security and more; and Richmond residents who are concerned with the problem and want to help, then of course there's me who is not really any of those but they have welcomed me on board regardless.
The PRC has been waiting for Richmond City Council to release a report/strategy on housing in Richmond. I believe the initial projected release of this report was December 2006 and there have been maybe 1/2 a dozen new dates since then, but as of yesterday the report will be out presented on Tuesday, March 28th at Richmond City Hall.

According to the last report (which I believe came out about 5 years ago) it appears the city of Richmond has done essentially nothing for affordable housing in Richmond. They don't even seem to have followed their own recommendations, including that 20% of all new developments be affordable, even when they themselves are the developer.
I am new to this issue from this perspective, but I believe that the biggest thing the city needs to do right now is hire someone to take action and put the city's recommendations into action. Being a bit of a cynic where governments are concerned it will be interesting to see who the person is, and what perspective they bring to the table. I think it will also be worthy to note what kind of qualifications the city will require for this position, what University degrees one must have, or what experience is needed.

In need of bees

We need bees, I knew that, and recently heard a claim that humans will have 4 years of survival if bees die off.
I knew bees were important but I didn't really realize just how much.....
I don't have time to write much right now, but this is an interesting article I thought was worth sharing.



B.C.'s bee population reduced by 25 per cent
CROP POLLINATION: Experts struggle to explain why numbers down
John Bermingham, The Province
Published: Sunday, May 06, 2007

There's a distinct lack of buzz on Paul Gill's blueberry fields these days.
The Surrey farmer is among thousands of B.C. farmers who are being stung by fewer bees to pollinate their crops.
Higher bee deaths this winter have cut B.C.'s bee population by roughly 25 per cent, but opinion differs as to why.
Was it the wet and warm weather, or could it be the same mystery illness killing bees worldwide?
"It's tough," said Gill Friday. "The next two to three weeks is very crucial." He needs 250 hives to pollinate 100 acres of blueberries, but is still 50 hives short.
Small-scale blueberry farmers are not getting any hives at all. "They can't get them even if they want them," said Gill, who also speaks for the B.C. Blueberry Council.
Provincial beekeeper Paul van Westendorp said the deaths are higher than usual, but he doesn't know why.
He says there is no proof yet that B.C. has seen an outbreak of the so-called "colony collapse disorder" that has been ravaging bee colonies in the U.S.
"Here in B.C., we have not observed the CCD thing. We have observed higher-than-normal winter losses," said van Westendorp, who suspects CCD is caused by a mix of factors, including viruses, pesticides and intense food production methods.
"There's going to be potentially . . . a shortage in pollination units," said van Westendorp.
Vernon beekeeper Ed Nowek, who also heads the Canada Honey Council, said bee deaths have doubled.
In the Fraser Valley, he's hearing of a 25-per-cent decline in bee-numbers at commercial hives, and a 75-per-cent death rate at hobby-hives.
"I feel personally we have seen higher losses, and that perhaps it is something similar to what's in the U.S.," said Nowek, whose phone is ringing off the hook from Okanagan farmers wanting bees.
"This is a pretty serious concern," said Nowek. "It's hard for those farm operations to get enough bees to pollinate. I don't know who to send them to."
B.C.'s top fruit crops -- blueberries, cranberries, cherries, peaches, apricots, pears and apples -- all need pollination. Without it, crop yields can be off as much as 30 per cent, and crops are smaller and have less quality.
Gill has heard that B.C. lost 15 to 20 million pounds of food last year due to lack of pollination.
But a lot of growers don't bother to pollinate, letting Mother Nature take care of it.
Okanagan apple grower Joe Sardinha has noticed smaller numbers of bees, but doesn't know what the impact will be on his crop yields.
"It's yet to be seen what kind of crop does set," said Sardinha, who is president of the 1,140-strong B.C. Fruit Growers' Association. "Overall, it shouldn't adversely affect the supply."
The agriculture industry is worried about the long-term effects of a worldwide bee disease.
"This has the ability to affect food supply all over the world," said Sardinha. "This is a mysterious one. It has a lot of implications."
But Simon Fraser University bee expert Mark Winston doesn't believe there's a mystery illness. The spread of disease and parasites among bees led to the use of antibiotics and to antibiotic-resistant infections, he said.
He also blamed a wet, warm winter, increased pesticide use and the lack of pollen diversity for bees to eat.
"The key issue here is how do you manage any agricultural system that has become very complicated," he said.
"We should all step back a little bit and take a look at how we grow food overall. We are overmanaging systems, not respecting their natural limits and borders."
jbermingham@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2007