October 31, 2007

Happy Halloween!

Jack-o-Lantern

The Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz

Jack-o-Lantern 2

Our Canstruction 2007 skull scupture, recreated in orange flesh.

Photo by Mike Savage.

October 22, 2007

Gateway opposition is strong and growing

A brief Monday lunch blog today highlighting some of the best arguments against Gateway so far. Via Beyond Robson.


Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan recently delivered an excellent speech to members of the public about opposition to the Province’s Gateway project. It is one of the most informative and compelling arguments to date. Congratulations on a moving and inspiring speech! Watch the YouTube video.

Corrigan said to visit Burnaby’s website for info.

October 20, 2007

Freaky Friday or, How to survive a transit breakdown

Take public transit in Greater Vancouver often enough and you’ll know that for the most part, it’s pretty decent. Things tend to run smoothly on a daily basis and the SkyTrain lines are your best friend for fast, reliable service.

Except when it isn’t.

Drawing

My friend referred to today as “freaky Friday.” A short morning SkyTrain delay — ironically, the day I get a ride to the SkyTrain I end up getting to work later — due to a problem train, a fire in the Downtown Eastside, and later on, two apparently simultaneous events: a small plane crash in Richmond and a gas leak in Surrey right across from King George Station, the last stop on the Expo Line.

Our on-the-ball “resident news correspondent” in the studio (P has Reuters as his home page) was shocked to find out someone else heard about the plane crash first. Unfortunately, no one knew about the apparent gas leak and, regardless of whether it’s a true claim, the resulting road closures that at rush hour put the busy area into a panic. It was 4:30 pm when it happened and an hour later I left work completely oblivious to the challenges that I was to face in getting home.

Continue reading Freaky Friday or, How to survive a transit breakdown »

October 19, 2007

Canstruction Vancouver website relaunch

Canstruction Vancouver website

Canstruction® Vancouver has had their website redesigned and the fun, new site is now live! Highlights include image galleries of canstructions from their 5 annual events. The next one happens February 24th – March 2nd, 2008 at Canada Place.

Canstruction® is an international event to support local food banks. Teams led by design professionals, architects, and engineers build amazing sculptures from full cans of food. The Vancouver event benefits the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, to which all cans used and donated are given. Join in the fun and support this great cause! Get involved by joining or entering teams, attending the exhibit, volunteering, or becoming a sponsor. See you there!

October 15, 2007

Plagued by plastic bags

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind — the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

I spent my Friday evening with purpose: le nettoyage. I tackled three key spots in my living room that were riddled with junk, amalgamated some unpacked stuff sitting around in two boxes since last year (oy), and subsequently made good space in my kitchen closet. I’d have to say half of what was lingering in that closet, however, was plastic bags.

Big ones, small ones, some the size of your head. Give ’em a twist, a flick of the wrist… and stuff them into four or five groups of screw-it-I-don’t-care-if-it-says-it’s-recyclable-or-not-it’s-getting-recycled-NOW bags. Gone, goodbye.

And at the end of it all, there are still more.

Continue reading Plagued by plastic bags »

October 7, 2007

“The manufactured meal”

I’ve updated AfterTASTE (my other blog and grad project) with a tidbit about Thanksgiving dinner and a link to an article at the Globe and Mail, titled “The manufactured meal”. Visit AfterTASTE for more information and my thoughts on it.

No Monday lunch blog tomorrow, obviously, seeing as it’s a holiday up here… although maybe if you’re really lucky. 😉

Thanksgiving weekend cookout

It’s 1:30 am and all I want to do is eat pizza.

It’s true, I haven’t had pizza in months, but the reality is my kitchen smells like heaven and there’s leftovers in the fridge. It wouldn’t be called “leftovers” if the aroma hadn’t tempted me into sampling it — twice. Truth be told I already had dinner hours ago, with the rest of the sauce and pasta. Tomorrow is my family’s Thanksgiving dinner, and it’s a potluck, so I made roast potatoes and carrots with lots of olive oil and herbs. YUM! Obviously I sampled that aromatic dish, too. So where does the pizza come in? Monday is Thanksgiving dinner with the mister’s family, and apparently we’re having pizza. My heart sank… since I cannot eat commercial pizza due to dairy, sugar and soy sensitivity. (The first two make my skin panic and the latter makes my digestive system panic. Actually, all three make my digestive system angry at me to some degree.) I also am or was sensitive to corn. Anyway I took it upon myself to make my own pizza, knowing that otherwise I would a) sit there and whine and eventually eat it anyway because everyone else is, or b) just indulge, pretending I haven’t got a problem. So, problem solved.

I just realised it’s been 6 months since I started this “new diet.”

Well, Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

October 1, 2007

Island Time

The regular Monday lunch blog was bumped due to an afternoon studio workshop.


Right away our facilitator asked what we’d be doing if we weren’t there in the meeting. I said I’d be writing my lunch blog, which is true, though it occurred to me later that if I didn’t have to work I’d still be on Vancouver Island with my folks.

Possibly the shortest trip I’ve ever made to the Island, I begged my parents to bring me along to visit some extended family and friends. It sure was a surprise to see how gorgeous the area is this time of year. All the fall colours were out in glorious, rich tones that we seldom see here, whether because of the different types of trees or even just the climate. (Victoria is generally warmer and drier than Vancouver; our leaves seem to mostly turn brown and sludgey.) The sun even popped out for a visit yesterday evening.

Continue reading Island Time »