Reality, or something like it...

NOW AT GREENGEEK.CA!

2006-07-06T18:03:00.000-04:00

This blog has moved... Check out my new blog, at http://www.greengeek.ca!

VEGAN FOR A WEEK - REFLECTIONS

2006-05-30T02:52:00.000-04:00

I did it, I was vegan for a week. Vegetarians are relatively mainstream now, but vegans aren't. In just one week of eating vegan, I had people look at me like I was crazy, I had family members tell me I was going to get sick from not eating properly, and my food choices were far more limited than my normal vegetarian eating habits. I got to experience feeling like an outsider, as I realized just

VEGAN FOR A WEEK - DAY 6

2006-05-29T00:20:00.000-04:00

I went to Niagara Falls today with some friends, and had no trouble at all finding vegan suitable food. Tim Hortons was happy to make me a veggie sandwich sans cream cheese, and I even found a burger place that has veggie burger combos that are all vegan. I also met a friend's cousin today, she's been vegan since january as well as an activist for animal rights and environmental issues so we had

VEGAN FOR A WEEK - DAY 5

2006-05-28T01:17:00.000-04:00

I got up today at 10am and felt good, after just over 6 hours sleep. Just last week I was getting 9+ hours per night and still feeling groggy, so this is a fairly significant change. The funny thing is people keep telling me that I'll get sick if I don't get enough sleep, yet I feel much better with less sleep. Several people have expressed concern that I'll get sick from missing some nutrients,

VEGAN FOR A WEEK - DAY 4

2006-05-27T02:47:00.000-04:00

This is getting easier, and whatever was making me feel sick last night has gone away. I went to bed at 5am, got up at 11am, and felt great all day. I have found that I'm eating less this week than I normally do, but it doesn't seem to be affecting my energy levels at all. I don't think I'm meeting my daily caloric requirements, so I might have to start eating more... not at all what I thought

VEGAN FOR A WEEK - DAY 3

2006-05-25T22:28:00.000-04:00

I still didn't get the same sleeping effects as the other night, so I'm reasonably sure it's not the diet that was responsible for my super-awakeness. I'd intended to wait to post this right before I went to sleep tonight but right now I feel quite ill. I'm sure it's related to this diet experiment, I'm just not sure how...One of my new roommates (Matt) is allergic to eggs, so these past few days

VEGAN FOR A WEEK - DAY 2

2006-05-25T04:48:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure why I was so wide awake yesterday, but today I didn't spring out of bed early in the morning. Not even late in the morning. I set my alarm to sleep about 5 hours, and ended up sleeping about 8.. Not quite the result I'd hoped for. I slept fairly well, but then again I usually do unless I'm stressed about exams or something. It's only day 2 and already I'm having some trouble finding

VEGAN FOR A WEEK

2006-05-24T03:21:00.000-04:00

Last November when I decided to become vegetarian, I had the vague notion that someday I would likely go completely vegan. Over the past few weeks since school ended I’ve been making it a point to eat less animal products, and several days ago I finally started noticing some effects from this change. Yesterday I decided that I would go vegan for a week, to see how I liked it, and I also decided

HOME ENERGY EFFICIENCY

2006-05-23T04:42:00.000-04:00

If you mention alternative energy or energy efficiency to an average person, they might think of things such as solar panels, wind turbines, or even geothermal systems. Many people are building “green” houses currently, and often begin their projects with the idea that they want to build a solar powered house. Or they want to build a house that’s heated geothermally. This decision is often made

THOUGHTS ON BEING HEALTHY

2006-05-12T02:23:00.000-04:00

Recently I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who asked me why I’m vegetarian. She told me that a friend of hers was vegetarian for several months and didn’t lose any weight. I told her that’s not why I became vegetarian last year, although it’s definitely a major reason why a lot of people stop eating meat. A diet consisting of beer and pretzels could be called vegetarian, but it’s

WHEN IS $600 NOT $600?

2006-05-05T22:07:00.000-04:00

Several days ago I submitted my rent payment, and 2 days later I noticed that the cheque still hadn’t been cashed yet. I dropped by the superintendent’s office to see what had happened, and was told they’d look into it ASAP. A full 2 days after that, I received a phone call saying my cheque had bounced. Oh crap.So what happened?? I'd been so caught up with final exams and saying goodbye to

THE FINAL FRONTIER... OR NOT..

2006-04-30T23:48:00.000-04:00

I was out yesterday with Jenn, and when I got back one of my new roommates said I had 2 phone calls while I was out. My grandmother had called, and the other call was from the Frontier Centre; they apparently wanted to meet with me Monday morning. I asked my roommate who they were, and he said they didn’t say, but he copied down the name and their phone number. I have no idea who the Frontier

TOWARDS A PAPERLESS FUTURE

2006-04-25T02:51:00.000-04:00

I came across an article in the NY Times today, about a new e-paper reading device, which sounds like it does all the stuff that I bought my tablet pc for, for a fraction of the price. I can't wait until everybody has one of these things, and we can stop wasting so much paper. Earlier this month a Belgian newspaper started testing versions of electronic paper, using a device called the iLiad

COMMENTS ON TORONTO'S GARBAGE SYSTEM

2006-04-24T16:23:00.000-04:00

When you throw something in the garbage, do you know where it goes? If you live in Toronto like I do, chances are it's going to Michigan. I was given an assignment in one of my classes regarding the garbage disposal process for Toronto, and in doing some research I found that most people either don't know or don't care where their garbage goes. You may be surprised at how much this lack of

LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL.

2006-04-24T01:38:00.000-04:00

My mom called me today, to tell me that she'd completed a 10km charity walk this morning! Not only that, she and her friend were the first ones to finish their chosen route! Congratulations, I'm really proud of you! The last time I walked 10km at a time, I got a blister so bad that I couldn't walk for a week! I should really look into getting some new boots.I've spent most of tonight studying, as

PART TIME BUSINESS

2006-04-23T00:44:00.000-04:00

Just a few random thoughts while I'm taking a break before I start studying for final exams. My job at the school ends when the semester finishes, so I need to start looking for something new until I start university. I've run a successful home-based business before, doing web design and web hosting so I'd like to look into that again. I've always been interested in the idea of making money from

EARTH DAY

2006-04-22T21:17:00.000-04:00

This past week was perhaps the most stressful of my life... but I made it! I didn't sleep for about 3 days, and wasn't feeling very well, but overall it went ok. My research paper was finished and handed in on time, and I presented my paper on friday morning, with a great reception. I'm now 1 week away from graduation, with only exams left to worry about.Friday was also my school's Earth Day

I AM SLOWLY GOING CRAZY... CRAZY GOING SLOWLY AM I...

2006-04-17T01:15:00.000-04:00

There's been so many things I've seen that I wanted to blog about lately.. I saw a guy on a unicycle waving and yelling "westside!!" to people on the street.. I saw a guy in a truck listening to.. I kid you not... circus music, cranked way up. I've also discovered Alizée (a french pop singer), who may be the cutest girl on the planet... wow. <3Life has been crazy lately, and it will no doubt get

SCHOOL? I THINK I USED TO GO THERE..

2006-03-27T02:20:00.000-05:00

I was bored this week, so on tuesday I walked about 10km across the city, along Bloor St.. (For fellow Torontonians, I walked from High Park to Chester & Danforth) I now have an awesome souveneir, a blister the size of a loonie on my heel.. damn I love my boots..... I also went to see V for Vendetta with some friends... good movie, definitely worth seeing!As of friday night, the strike is over..

DEFINITELY A CULTURAL BIAS...

2006-03-20T22:44:00.000-05:00

The teachers are still on strike, although they're talking with the government again so it might be over soon. In the meantime, I guess I'd better start doing some of the homework I've supposed to have been working on for the last 2 weeks! So what have I been doing all this time? Sleeping in, watching movies, cooking, and working on my computer... I bought a pair of Seagate 200 gig SATA drives

IT REALLY WAS LOUD...

2006-03-12T23:35:00.000-05:00

There's a perfectly good reason why I haven't posted in 3 weeks, and as soon as I make one up, I'll be sure to mention it.My flight to BC was great, except for the person in front of me who kept trying to put her seat back, which hit my knee.. but she kept doing it.. nonetheless, I had a good flight and an excellent week! I'm going to enjoy living there, so beautiful and green.I got back, and

SPRING BREAK!

2006-02-20T02:24:00.000-05:00

So yeah.. she's not interested.. I'll comment more on this later, maybe... Anyways...Midterms are half done, and this week is spring break! That means I'm flying to Victoria BC for a week! sweeeeet. I'm going to check out the university, and look at some apartments.. I've also been thinking about getting back into martial arts, and after looking at the Victoria Yellow Pages, and there's a

MOST...EMO... POST....EVER.

2006-02-15T20:21:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay in posting, I've been sick again and I've had stuff on my mind...A while ago the realization hit me that I really like one of my best friends... I guess I'd been pushing that thought out of my head for a while because she used to be my roommate's girlfriend.. anyways, I asked her out to see a movie (Underworld 2, good movie although I liked the first one a bit better), and

IT'S OFFICIAL

2006-02-03T21:03:00.000-05:00

Dear Mr. King:On the advice of the Admissions Committee, I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science program at Royal Roads University, beginning September 2006.Yep.. I'm officially moving to British Columbia.

YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME....

2006-02-01T20:15:00.000-05:00

During a conversation this morning before class started, it became apparent to me that my school's spring break doesn't start on the 27th of Feb as I thought... rather it starts on the 17th! Sounds good, right? Yeah, I guess... but I'm flying to BC for a week on the 23rd. Looks like I get 2 weeks off.. Ooops...

OH SNAP!

2006-01-31T23:50:00.000-05:00

Bleh, I've been DAMN sick for a few days now. I never realized until this week how much I used to rely on chicken noodle soup when I had a cold... I wonder if there's any fake chicken noodle soups available for vegetarians....I've recently discovered a new band I like, Tegan & Sara. I saw their video Walking With A Ghost on MuchMusic the other night, and so I downloaded purchased their latest cd,

SHOULD I BUY A GAS MASK NOW OR WAIT AND SEE?

2006-01-24T22:55:00.000-05:00

So yeah.. Harper won.I'm trying to convince myself that maybe it won't be so bad, after all there's still the Liberals and the NDP to keep the Conservatives in check... But I worry that he'll cozy up to Bush, try to send Canadians to Iraq, allow American missle sites on Canadian soil, and sell the Great Lakes water to the USA... I WILL be protesting if he does ANY of those things.So.. let's wait

SO MUCH FOR DAILY POSTING EH?

2006-01-22T02:04:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. I've been busy and I've also been a bit sick, just a sore throat and some sort of sinus infection. I've been resting a bit this weekend, so it's feeling much better now. I sent off the last of the documents for my university application, and also got myself a personal trainer.. now let's see if I can get whipped into shape before I go to university.. :)

THIS IS GETTING KINDA SERIOUS...

2006-01-13T01:20:00.000-05:00

This morning I was walking to the subway with my roommate, and we were discussing this odd weather. It's early January, and yet we're sweating. I was outside with just my sweater on today as I had to walk to my program coordinators office, and I was too warm. A long-sleeved t-shirt would have been perfect for today. That's just not right..... I think I'll see if I can get someone to speak at an

IS A GOOD OUTCOME EVEN POSSIBLE?

2006-01-09T22:44:00.000-05:00

I watched the Leaders Debate on tv tonight, I missed the first segment of the show because I was washing dishes.. so if there was anything mentioned about environmental issues, I must have missed it.Although I don't like the policies of Mr. Harper, he did do a very good job during tonight's debate. Many good points were brought up, however my opinions weren't changed significantly by this debate.

HERE WE GO AGAIN...

2006-01-09T01:26:00.000-05:00

In a few hours I start my final semester at school... this school anyways. I'll be glad to be done, because I've spent most of the past 5 years here so far.. that's a lot considering I'm only in a 3 year program.Not a lot happened this week, I saw a woman on the subway who was carrying what appeared to be a bag of soggy kitchen garbage.. just like in the Glad commercial... she was wandering up

AN EXERCISE IN FUTILITY

2006-01-03T18:18:00.000-05:00

For the past 2 weeks since I've been on break, I've adjusted my sleeping patterns to what they are any time when I don't have school.. bedtime gets shifted to roughly 5am, and I wake up any time between lunchtime and 2pm. I started back at work today, and I was scheduled for 8am.. which means I need to be up at 6am. So.. I managed to convince myself that I was exhausted and tired at 10:30 last

A CANADIAN NEW YEARS

2006-01-01T02:03:00.000-05:00

Where do I even begin? Downtown was cool, we walked around for a bit before going to city hall because Shawn Desman was performing, plus there were strobe lights. When we got there, it was as crowded as a mosh pit, an analogy I'd later realize was quite accurate. We waded into the center of the mob to try to get a better view.. at one point we were climbing through some bushes, I'm not quite sure

THIS WILL BE MY LAST POST...

2005-12-31T21:37:00.000-05:00

...for 2005.Where has the time gone? Last year I got volunteered to sell beer tickets at a country western video dance party... no clue about the 4 years before that.. and in 1999 I was sitting in a friend's basement, each of holding a flashlight waiting for the lights to go out. At 11:59 I said "see you in the next minute, of the next hour, of the next day, of the next month, of the next year,

WAIT, WHAT DID SHE SAY?

2005-12-30T01:49:00.000-05:00

This morning my mom woke me up because my dad was going to drive me back home to Toronto. When she woke me up, she said she was going to bake me an apple crisp to take back with me. I didn't take much notice of what she said because I'd been awake until well after 5am. (gotta love vacations!) When she called me again, she said she'd made the apple crisp, and because I don't like things that are

I KNOW THIS SOUNDS EMO BUT...

2005-12-28T17:12:00.000-05:00

Today is my last day visiting my parents for christmas vacation, and I went to the local health food store to pick up some hemp protein powder and some greens.. while I was there, I met a girl that works there. I've seen her there before, but I'd never talked to her before today. She's smart, she's nice, she cares about health and the environment, she's vegetarian, and she's absolutely beautiful.

WIDE AWAKE....

2005-12-28T03:47:00.000-05:00

I shouldn't have had 3 mugs of chai tea tonight.... or the masala roti with chili sauce for a snack at 1am...I'm going to do a juice fast when I get back home....

I CAN'T REMEMBER...

2005-12-27T00:58:00.000-05:00

What did I do today? I remember waking up sometime after lunch, and then I remember dinner.. and now I'm talking on msn... what happened in the meantime? I've been vegging out so much the past few days that I honestly can't remember anything from today... Kind of interesting, in a social experiment sort of way.. but pretty useless when I'm trying to think of something to write about.Random

HAPPY WINTER-EEN-MAS!

2005-12-25T21:53:00.000-05:00

Another christmas come and gone.. my last one as a resident of Ontario actually. Too bad it rained all day. Oh well, at least I got a lot of new pairs of socks.. and tea.. and a food dehydrator.. and a sweet new hemp shirt from my sister :)I got my dad Season 2 of Corner Gas, and I watched every episode today.. I love that show.. and I think I have a bit of a crush on Karen...

ON THE CHOICE OF BEING VEGETARIAN...

2005-12-24T16:30:00.000-05:00

I get the impression that a lot of people don't take me seriously when I say I've decided to become vegetarian.. especially my parents. My dad rolls his eyes at anything even remotely healthy, and in fact goes out of his way to specify non-organic food on the shopping list. I made dinner last night, a veggie stir fry, and what does my dad do? He goes outside and barbecues some hamburgers, then

HOME..

2005-12-23T00:14:00.000-05:00

I didn't get a chance to post last night, as I got home late.. I didn't even get to the bus station until 4:45, and I was still in line at 4:56.. I finally just asked the people in the front of the line if they would let me duck in front of them, since they weren't in a hurry.. they were cool about it, and let me skip to the front.. I bought my ticket and ran to the bus.. made it with 1 minute to

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL....

2005-12-21T01:28:00.000-05:00

Today was an expensive day.. last night a friend mentioned that my sister's website was down, so I checked and indeed it was offline.. A quick check to the account control panel revealed the reason, I'd forgotten to update the account with my new email address, and therefore I'd missed all their emails saying I owed them money... oops. So after a few emails today, the site is back up. Then I

HEMP COOKIES = GOOD MOOD?

2005-12-20T00:52:00.000-05:00

Not a lot going on today, did some packing tonight to go home for the holidays.. washed some dishes and I'm baking some organic hemp gingersnap cookies for the office christmas party tomorrow..For some reason I'm in a pretty good mood today.. either I'm looking forward to having a week's vacation... or the smell of cookies baking is like prozac for me.Either one works. :)

WHY DO I FEEL LIKE THIS?

2005-12-19T00:56:00.000-05:00

I went to a christmas party at my cousin's place tonight, it was fun.. Got home, watched the simpsons and family guy as usual.. then went online, also as usual. Then something not so usual happened.. I got an email from my ex tonight. I wasn't expecting that.. I haven't talked to her since shortly after I broke up with her in October.. the email sounded so normal, basically a "hey how's it going"

COMPLETE?

2005-12-17T01:02:00.000-05:00

Exams are over... finally.. that's it for my hardest semester. I'm glad it's done.. but on the other hand, things are changing.. 2 of my friends have graduated and have left work, I likely won't ever see them again. Also, my awesome boss has been switched to a different part of the department, so as of january I'll have a new boss. He's one of my friends, really good at his job, and a great guy,

SO....CLOSE...

2005-12-15T23:51:00.000-05:00

I had 3 more exams today... damn, I thought yesterday's exam was hard! Wow. One was 12 pages, and another was 15... the one in the middle was 4, I finished that in about 8 minutes.. wish they were all that short/easy!I'm really getting burned out... I just want to sleep, but I can't. I've got 1 more exam, and then work for a few more days. Then I'm officially on christmas vacation. I intend to do

WAKE ME UP WHEN IT'S ALL OVER

2005-12-14T22:25:00.000-05:00

I got so stressed out about my law exam last night that I couldn't sleep.. and it didn't help that there was some sort of medical emergency on the subway this morning.. I was only 10 minutes late though, so it was ok. As it turns out, I was well justified in being worried about the exam.. it was a lot harder than I'd expected. Essay questions, I ended up writing 13 pages. My average time for an

DAMMIT

2005-12-14T00:30:00.000-05:00

I have my first law exam tomorrow.. "Environmental Legislation & Assessment", is the class. I'll be honest, I hate this class. Of all the classes I have, my 2 law classes are the most boring... by far... it doesn't help that most of the stuff we're studying is specific to Ontario law, which is useless to me since I'm moving to British Columbia in a few months. So anyways, the exam is tomorrow at

BOO WRITING

2005-12-12T22:13:00.000-05:00

3 exams done so far.. the 2 today were ok, finished the first one in my usual 15 minutes.. but the second one was harder than I expected. Took me 25 minutes, because I had to write half a page per answer.. my handwriting is slow and messy, I prefer typing.. either way we had 3 hours and I finished half an hour ahead of the next person. Maybe next time I'll do better.I was waiting at the bus stop

1 WEEK, 8 EXAMS... WISH ME LUCK

2005-12-12T00:02:00.000-05:00

I spent today finishing up a lab report, and studying for my 2 final exams tomorrow morning. My PVR recorded Simpsons and Family Guy, I'll check those out tomorrow probably.. At least I have no classes or exams on tuesday, just work.. so I can relax a little tomorrow night. Maybe I'll have something interesting to post then.

FRIENDS

2005-12-10T13:57:00.000-05:00

Until I got to college, I never really had a good group of friends. Sure, I had some good friends who I still talk to, and other people I called friends, and we hung out together.. but for the most part, the group dynamic generally consisted of us making fun of each other and doing stupid stuff. Most of the other people I used to hang out with in high school, I haven't seen since the last day of

EXAMS

2005-12-10T01:08:00.000-05:00

I'm doing a double courseload this semester, I have 9 classes.. why so much? I was studying electrical engineering, and was 2 years into that program when some crap happened and I decided to switch my major to something a little more in line with my personal interests, so I switched to environmental engineering, but the time when I transferred was the start of the winter semester, so I went into