Spent the w-end watching movies, eating cheese, running and helping out pop with his bump-out reno project. I also had two dinners with ma and pa. It was enjoyable.
I watched a couple of dvds from the library and have many more on the waiting list. Some of these discs are so scratched up by the time i get them, that i miss whole parts of the movie haha. Oh well it is free. That is why I think vhs is the better technology. I never get screwed around by the film quality (only once in a blue moon). Vhs is more durable I guess.
-Pressure continues to grow on Tim Hortons to switch back to freshly made donuts but I don't think it will happen. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/future-of-tim-hortons-baking-system-uncertain/article1569626/?cmpid=rss1
With strong profits and expansion into the States, we can forget about it I think. I will try Carling Bakery and may give T om and Son's another dry but i find the freshness questionnable and the selection is poor at times since the order is botched and they don't have a lot of stuff. I believe they are windinw their business down. Not sure. I read on Ottawafoodies that Stittsville Bakery closed.
-Talking about when donuts used to be freshly made on premises got me to thinking about how Harvey's used to have fresh-cut fries, but got rid of them around the turn of the millenium. It is no wonder I think that with the sorry state of fries in fast food places, there has been a proliferation of chip trucks across our fair city. See below to see what I mean.
-There is an Arby's again in ottawa so I will have to go try their BLT, Curly Fries and a shake. It is in Kanata but they don't post their hours on website. On hazeldean rd it can be found.
-Here is a CTV website competition to name the best chip stand in Ottawa. I wonder if they have considered the Chinese man ina van near Tunney's Pasture behind the Beer Store. They have over 304 comments/suggestions so happy reading.
http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100730/OTT_Chip_Truck_Say_100730/20100730/?hub=OttawaHome
-I continue to deliberate over whether to enlist in espanol again. The price is $248 now with the HSt and such. Kinda steep I find for what you get. We shall see.
-Ambleside is looking better these days. Clean-up and such. Threw out a lot of papers and stuff that i hoarded over th epast 3 years.
-With the increased family size now I really have to send an e-mail around to my family to take stock of all the birthdays and anniversaries that exist. Hey, i won't recognize the day with a gift, but I'd still like to know!
-People are buying i-phones, i-pads and pens are prob next, but I don't care much. I'll stick with 80's/90s until the gov subsidizes me to switch.
That is all for now even though I am sure I am missing a bunch of stuff I wanted to comment on. Guess I don't have the energy or inclination.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Doesn't anyone say goodbye anymore?
Hello all,
What is new? Things have been stable at old Ambleside save for a collapse of my bed spring and mattress the other day and the incessant pigeon dropping on the balcony. Re: the bed, this is the result of a poor support frame or lack of. There is no underlying suppport on the frame and the couple of support pieces aren't even secured to the frame thus they shift and then give out on you. I will rectify this and solve the problem for good.
Otherwise, I bought a car (2010 Accent), went on a trip with papa ertl to the American Southwest and coached ball again in the Spring.
Last weekend I visited Aron in Guelph and had an excellent couple of days with JB in TO, the big city. We had a ball. St. Lawrence Market, Harbour Front, Philly's, Baseball at WestPrep, 7-11 Slurpees, AdBo, etc. It was pretty f***** TO.
As the fall approaches I will attempt to re-enlist in french training, a spanish course, possibly Big Brother, and classroom outreach. If I can do 1 out these 4 things, I will be a happy man.
One other thing I am trying to do is get better at billiards, pool in particular. My first attempts failed last year when the interest course I signed up to with the Ottawa District School Board kept getting cancelled, ironically for, well lack of interest in the course (not enough ppl). So in June I thought, ahaha let's be smart about this and go to the source, so I called up the board and asked for the teacher's info (phone number etc). Well the woman on the phone didn't like that idea too much so I was stone-walled in my first attempt. Next, I thought that this idea would be full proof. Since I knew the name of the teacher from the catalogue I did a trusty 411 search and found a couple of entries for B. McGraw. I rang up one of them and the number was out of service. I cursed society's transition to cell phones as the sole phone line for people (removal of home phone) as I may have lost out. Sure enough though, the 2nd of the 3 entries turned out to be the guy. He was nice and we struck up a rapport over a 15 min phone call. I left my info and was confident he woudl get back to me to arrange a private 1 on 1 session at the Broken Cue pool hall. We even agreed on a rate of $20 an hour with me paying for the table time. Surely, as weeks went by I never heard from him. I have given up now on him and will keep persevering in my quest. Next up: Craiglist!
I guess this experience reminds me that people are not as reliable or devoted as me. I truly do go down with the ship. A similar thing happened when I was searching for VHS at the Mendez Gift Shop in Vanier. I went there picked out some titles, then told the woman I had a list of ones I was seeking. She said, "Sure, give me the list and I will look for them!" Success I finally thought! But, she did not have a fax number. I would have to e-mail her husband from the kijiji link with the list. I did so immediately upon getting home but never heard from him! Shucks.
I continue to drive to work and feel bad for the poor naives who must bus. Of course, this will be me again one day and I will hate it. The issue is the same one that has existed since the inception of public transit: congestion in the vehicles during rush hour. I don't care for it. If I wanted to live in New York or Tokoyo, I would; I don't need the claustrophobic experience here.
I park at my Parkdale/Gladstone location and then stroll quickly/light jog into the office with my black leather bag.
THat is all for now. If you see my running with my black leather bag, don't hit me if I happen to not have the right of way.
Best
What is new? Things have been stable at old Ambleside save for a collapse of my bed spring and mattress the other day and the incessant pigeon dropping on the balcony. Re: the bed, this is the result of a poor support frame or lack of. There is no underlying suppport on the frame and the couple of support pieces aren't even secured to the frame thus they shift and then give out on you. I will rectify this and solve the problem for good.
Otherwise, I bought a car (2010 Accent), went on a trip with papa ertl to the American Southwest and coached ball again in the Spring.
Last weekend I visited Aron in Guelph and had an excellent couple of days with JB in TO, the big city. We had a ball. St. Lawrence Market, Harbour Front, Philly's, Baseball at WestPrep, 7-11 Slurpees, AdBo, etc. It was pretty f***** TO.
As the fall approaches I will attempt to re-enlist in french training, a spanish course, possibly Big Brother, and classroom outreach. If I can do 1 out these 4 things, I will be a happy man.
One other thing I am trying to do is get better at billiards, pool in particular. My first attempts failed last year when the interest course I signed up to with the Ottawa District School Board kept getting cancelled, ironically for, well lack of interest in the course (not enough ppl). So in June I thought, ahaha let's be smart about this and go to the source, so I called up the board and asked for the teacher's info (phone number etc). Well the woman on the phone didn't like that idea too much so I was stone-walled in my first attempt. Next, I thought that this idea would be full proof. Since I knew the name of the teacher from the catalogue I did a trusty 411 search and found a couple of entries for B. McGraw. I rang up one of them and the number was out of service. I cursed society's transition to cell phones as the sole phone line for people (removal of home phone) as I may have lost out. Sure enough though, the 2nd of the 3 entries turned out to be the guy. He was nice and we struck up a rapport over a 15 min phone call. I left my info and was confident he woudl get back to me to arrange a private 1 on 1 session at the Broken Cue pool hall. We even agreed on a rate of $20 an hour with me paying for the table time. Surely, as weeks went by I never heard from him. I have given up now on him and will keep persevering in my quest. Next up: Craiglist!
I guess this experience reminds me that people are not as reliable or devoted as me. I truly do go down with the ship. A similar thing happened when I was searching for VHS at the Mendez Gift Shop in Vanier. I went there picked out some titles, then told the woman I had a list of ones I was seeking. She said, "Sure, give me the list and I will look for them!" Success I finally thought! But, she did not have a fax number. I would have to e-mail her husband from the kijiji link with the list. I did so immediately upon getting home but never heard from him! Shucks.
I continue to drive to work and feel bad for the poor naives who must bus. Of course, this will be me again one day and I will hate it. The issue is the same one that has existed since the inception of public transit: congestion in the vehicles during rush hour. I don't care for it. If I wanted to live in New York or Tokoyo, I would; I don't need the claustrophobic experience here.
I park at my Parkdale/Gladstone location and then stroll quickly/light jog into the office with my black leather bag.
THat is all for now. If you see my running with my black leather bag, don't hit me if I happen to not have the right of way.
Best
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
My Budget as a Country
The annual A-train budget is being released shortly. The budget talks of maintaining current programs (read: no new salary increase) with not much slashing going on (read: will not starve myself inside Ambleside).
The budget allocates more money to travel this fiscal year with trips to American Southwest and South/Central America in mind, while continuing a freeze on expensive leisure hobbies such as ski/golf. A used set of rollerblades may be added in, however. The current equipment for baseball, x-country skiing and skating will be used for the duration of their useable lifespan, as they are fully amortized by now and continue to be very serviceable.
The CRT monitor continues to be functional and will be retained with a backup CRT standing by. A donation of an LCD monitor was made the the Uhrbach island and this will be deployed when needed.
Possible technology funds to be released include a laptop. There seems to be no national interest in a portable music device like an I-Pod. Instead, Cds will continue to be milked in their dwindling years. Also in the entertainment budget, VHS movies will be pursued for their durability, affordability and convenience.
The largest part of the budget could be the need to replace an aging automobile called the Ford Escort. The attractive financing that exists right now is a strong incentive to upgrade.
Upgrades to infrastructure (Ambleside) will be put off likely for future years, except the possiblity of adding a dishwasher (something beneficial akin to having electronic health records).
For education, the budget includes money for personal interest courses such as billiards or spanish when time in the calendar permits.
For health, A-train country will continue to strongly invest in dark Lindt chocolate which apparently contains phenols and anti-oxidants and unclogs his arteries from all the junk food he eats. Also, there is the dishwasher suggested above which should result in a time savings and be a positive influence on health.
Charity will likely take another direct hit this year, with very little funding announced.
The defense budget is also non-existent as A-train doesn't have a gun.
The A-train country budget is unique as there is no debt on the books and it has a highly liquid asset base.
The budget allocates more money to travel this fiscal year with trips to American Southwest and South/Central America in mind, while continuing a freeze on expensive leisure hobbies such as ski/golf. A used set of rollerblades may be added in, however. The current equipment for baseball, x-country skiing and skating will be used for the duration of their useable lifespan, as they are fully amortized by now and continue to be very serviceable.
The CRT monitor continues to be functional and will be retained with a backup CRT standing by. A donation of an LCD monitor was made the the Uhrbach island and this will be deployed when needed.
Possible technology funds to be released include a laptop. There seems to be no national interest in a portable music device like an I-Pod. Instead, Cds will continue to be milked in their dwindling years. Also in the entertainment budget, VHS movies will be pursued for their durability, affordability and convenience.
The largest part of the budget could be the need to replace an aging automobile called the Ford Escort. The attractive financing that exists right now is a strong incentive to upgrade.
Upgrades to infrastructure (Ambleside) will be put off likely for future years, except the possiblity of adding a dishwasher (something beneficial akin to having electronic health records).
For education, the budget includes money for personal interest courses such as billiards or spanish when time in the calendar permits.
For health, A-train country will continue to strongly invest in dark Lindt chocolate which apparently contains phenols and anti-oxidants and unclogs his arteries from all the junk food he eats. Also, there is the dishwasher suggested above which should result in a time savings and be a positive influence on health.
Charity will likely take another direct hit this year, with very little funding announced.
The defense budget is also non-existent as A-train doesn't have a gun.
The A-train country budget is unique as there is no debt on the books and it has a highly liquid asset base.
Monday, February 8, 2010
more gravy, drink it up boys
This weekend (or at least the Saturday) I went Canadian on everyone's ass, as I strolled downtown in the Escort, parked at the usual family parking spot (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, tap finger to nose) and then sashayed myself down to Confederation Park and the entrance to the Canal to take a skate. You have to keep in mind that this jabroni had not been on the canal for at least 5-7 years so I had no idea what to expect. I didn't know if there would be gangs present, or if I would fall through the ice into the frozen waters of the historic canal, only to never be heard from again. In fact, none of that ominous stuff happened and I am here today writing this blog. I will say that it was quite crowded unexpectingly since it was pretty cold and I went at 4 pm. However, expectingly, it was justified in being crowded since it was the first Saturday of Winterlude. One factor did not cancel out the other and the crowded won out. I always go for the underdog but it didn't prevail here.
Anyway, if you saw the dull blades on my skates before starting out on the rough and used up canal surface, you should have seen them after! They looked like butter knives - and not the blade, but the handles! In the second half of my canal skate, I could barely move at all as the blades were just so dulllllll. It served me right as the last time I had sharpened my skates was probably before Bush started his first term and I had done a lot of outdoor rink and arena skating in between. Ok, well, if you know me and what I get up to - yawn VHS yawn - you would call bullshi t on that since I hardly lace up skates, but still, there was that one summer of discontent where I went every Tues night to the Walter Baker to skate amongst the kids and families. I was their hero! I was their Stone Cold Steve Austin.
As I was saying, after dogging the last km of my skate, my rootie-poo candy-ass was craving some fat and sugar. What better place than the Beavertail stand, of which there was one every 500 m, conveniently located for all us jabronis. As luck would have it, the lines thinned out around dinner time since most people do not say, "hey cletus, lets go git us one of d'em Beavr tail thingies before we eats-us our squirrel for dinner." No, they try not to spoil their appetites.
My gain, as I got one quickly and a warm apple cider to go with it and just ate and drank in the middle of the ice. I went home and then turned slightly American and watched some wrestling tapes I had just bought earlier that day. I watched 1994 Royal Rumble with Razor Ramon facing I.R.S., The Hart brothers taking on the Quebecers ("we're not the mounties!") where Owen (RIP) famously turned heal, and the vaunted casket match between Yokozuna and Undertaker, which was hilarious.
Sunday I slept in long, exercised, laundered (clothes not money), organized my mental compartments and tried to do some reading and stuff. Also finished the movie Simon Birch.
Going back to the beginning of the weekend, I had lots of fun at my dad's 70th b-day party, hosted by Jones and FB. Happy B-day dad, what a milestone. You look great too and deserve everything you have today. The event was fun as Heidi put together a wonderful cake, which I appraised at $50. I also schmoozed Francois' parents and got caught up with my nieces.
Anyway, if you saw the dull blades on my skates before starting out on the rough and used up canal surface, you should have seen them after! They looked like butter knives - and not the blade, but the handles! In the second half of my canal skate, I could barely move at all as the blades were just so dulllllll. It served me right as the last time I had sharpened my skates was probably before Bush started his first term and I had done a lot of outdoor rink and arena skating in between. Ok, well, if you know me and what I get up to - yawn VHS yawn - you would call bullshi t on that since I hardly lace up skates, but still, there was that one summer of discontent where I went every Tues night to the Walter Baker to skate amongst the kids and families. I was their hero! I was their Stone Cold Steve Austin.
As I was saying, after dogging the last km of my skate, my rootie-poo candy-ass was craving some fat and sugar. What better place than the Beavertail stand, of which there was one every 500 m, conveniently located for all us jabronis. As luck would have it, the lines thinned out around dinner time since most people do not say, "hey cletus, lets go git us one of d'em Beavr tail thingies before we eats-us our squirrel for dinner." No, they try not to spoil their appetites.
My gain, as I got one quickly and a warm apple cider to go with it and just ate and drank in the middle of the ice. I went home and then turned slightly American and watched some wrestling tapes I had just bought earlier that day. I watched 1994 Royal Rumble with Razor Ramon facing I.R.S., The Hart brothers taking on the Quebecers ("we're not the mounties!") where Owen (RIP) famously turned heal, and the vaunted casket match between Yokozuna and Undertaker, which was hilarious.
Sunday I slept in long, exercised, laundered (clothes not money), organized my mental compartments and tried to do some reading and stuff. Also finished the movie Simon Birch.
Going back to the beginning of the weekend, I had lots of fun at my dad's 70th b-day party, hosted by Jones and FB. Happy B-day dad, what a milestone. You look great too and deserve everything you have today. The event was fun as Heidi put together a wonderful cake, which I appraised at $50. I also schmoozed Francois' parents and got caught up with my nieces.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Coming out of retirement
Ah s hit, hello everyone. It has been ohhhhh too long. I estimate from the 5 people who were at one point tuning in to my blog, there is no one left - one was probably a stranger in the U.S. who had to foreclose on his house and doesn't even have a computer anymore.
Welcome back to my blog. It may be a little more shoot from the lip than the previous version because I am going to have to work hard to bring up my ratings in the blogging world. We all know sex and violence sells so how about some of that? Nah, i can't! I'm the proud uncle of two nieces and one new nephew. Welcome to the big wide world Sacha Phillipe (insert 4-5 middle names) Blouin. But I suppose I can drop some F bombs every now and then. I am in cyberspace and you can't touch dat!
Although I am sure the draconian CRTC is working on that.
To start us off and get you in the right mindset, please view or listen to this youtube clip of the band Boston with their hit Peace of Mind. THis song will get you going in the morning and getting me moving anytime before 10 is a testament to its rhythm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaR2JeqxQDY
Some of my recent endeavours include getting dumped for no reason, trying my best at work, not caring at all about winter/hockey/the Ottawa Senators, wasting hours on Plenty of Fish with no results, helping in an elementary school, writing scathing letters into newspapers (w/ a low success rate), and eating like an absolute garbage can. To offset this nasty habit, I am doing push-ups and then going down to play squash...against myself. I win every f ucking time! In between squash intervals, I run laps around the small court.It is pathetic. That is called winter time exercise.
Here is my biggest project over the next few days: driving to some guy's twin garage off of Richmond Rd to pick up some wrestling movies. I have dealt with Gary R. before and found him to be most professional, so I don't think he will whack me.
To close, I will say that the return of this blog is based out of self-deprecating humour and just a general Stone Cold Steve Austin attitude towards most aspects of life. Now, can I get a hell yeah?
Welcome back to my blog. It may be a little more shoot from the lip than the previous version because I am going to have to work hard to bring up my ratings in the blogging world. We all know sex and violence sells so how about some of that? Nah, i can't! I'm the proud uncle of two nieces and one new nephew. Welcome to the big wide world Sacha Phillipe (insert 4-5 middle names) Blouin. But I suppose I can drop some F bombs every now and then. I am in cyberspace and you can't touch dat!
Although I am sure the draconian CRTC is working on that.
To start us off and get you in the right mindset, please view or listen to this youtube clip of the band Boston with their hit Peace of Mind. THis song will get you going in the morning and getting me moving anytime before 10 is a testament to its rhythm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaR2JeqxQDY
Some of my recent endeavours include getting dumped for no reason, trying my best at work, not caring at all about winter/hockey/the Ottawa Senators, wasting hours on Plenty of Fish with no results, helping in an elementary school, writing scathing letters into newspapers (w/ a low success rate), and eating like an absolute garbage can. To offset this nasty habit, I am doing push-ups and then going down to play squash...against myself. I win every f ucking time! In between squash intervals, I run laps around the small court.It is pathetic. That is called winter time exercise.
Here is my biggest project over the next few days: driving to some guy's twin garage off of Richmond Rd to pick up some wrestling movies. I have dealt with Gary R. before and found him to be most professional, so I don't think he will whack me.
To close, I will say that the return of this blog is based out of self-deprecating humour and just a general Stone Cold Steve Austin attitude towards most aspects of life. Now, can I get a hell yeah?
Thursday, November 27, 2008
protect your health
Well I am going o natural from now on.
I just got my sega games in the mail (I played them all and was sort of disappointed) so now my focus has shifted 100% to finding and buying more health-friendly cosmetic products and drinks and foods - primarily soft drinks and gum.
I can obtain these products from the health food aisles at Loblaws and Wal-Marts as well as natural health food stores if need be. The cost in obtaining these products will not be insignificant but I believe it to be well worth it for the sanctity of the body and for guarding against future cancerous diseases. After some extensive research, I discovered a host of unsavoury benzoates, sulfates and other ingredients in my toothpaste, mouthwash, face scrub, shampoos, skin scream, shaving cream. I am attempting to convert to such brands as Tom's of Maine, Jason Natural Cosmetics, Aubrey Organics and if I really open up the wallet, Anthony Logistics For Men. A good source to identify what sort of products you are using is cosmeticdatabase.com. Many products have been rated. I am quite suspect of the Body Shop as they do not list out all their ingredients on the website.
The other arena I will be making a big change in is soft drinks/gum/breath mints. All commercial brand (regular) soft drinks contain High Fructis Corn Syrup, known here in Canada in the ingredient list as Sugar/Glucose-Fructose or Sugar and/or Glucose-Fructose. This is the sweetener used in the place of sugar. In the early 1980's, soft drink manufacturers switched from sugar to this liquid form of refined sugar, HFCS. Of course all sucrose that we know in our households is refined but the difference apparently happens in the metabolization process. The composition of Sugar vs. HFCS is quite similar but there is an inherent difference. Sugar from sources such as cane or beet is known to be absorbed by the pancreas and as such, it liberates insulin which accompanies the glucose to the body's cells.
In contrast, HFCS is known to be fully absorbed by the liver, and thus the body is tricked because it skips the natural insulin process. (It is said that the use of HFCS as a sweetener in virtually many products has contributed to a drastic increase in Type II diabetes; this should be more pronounced in the U.S. since a greater number of their products are sweetened with HFCS or as known here Sugar/Glucose-Fructose). However, Canada is not immune to the use of HFCS and it is most apparent in beverages (soft drinks), low priced snack cakes, certain cereals etc. Why did the use of HFCS become so prevalent starting in the 80's? Economics my dear Watson. The U.S. imposed high sugar tariffs resulting in an inflated price for sugar. As a result, producers who relied on sugar as a main component in their food products substituted towards the relatively cheaper - much cheaper actually given that corn was subsidized in addition to the inflated sugar price - sweetening ingredient. So what does this have to do with Type II diabetes? Well Type II is closely linked to obesity, and people are getting bigger by drinking HFCS. Two reasons for this: first, the body is storing all the fat content from the HFCS rather than it being delivered as energy to the rest of the body by being burned; second, HFCS also plays a trick with the mind whereby the signal is not being sent from the body that fat is being stored. Thus, people are said to over-indulge when drinking HFCS sweetened beverages.
And why do Canadians have to worry about U.S. sugar prices and the use of HFCS in products? Because many of our imported food products come from the U.S. Even if soft drinks are bottled here, the mixing syrup certainly comes from down South.
Anyway, I will have more updates on this as I learn more. I can say though that I will be buying Blue Sky Natural Soda (w/ cane sugar). Be careful because Blue Sky also makes a version with HFCS. These are at Loblaws but cost $1 each so I am trying to find a cheaper source.
As far as the gum, that is a separate nightmare altogether. The problem here is that most all gum is sweetened with Aspartame, aka, rat poision to humans. This is a pure chemical compound that was discovered by complete fluke. It never should have been passed by the FDA in the 1980's and there is a complete controversy surrounding this. Monsanto ended up acquiring G.D. Searle (who held the patent to Aspartame) but the man who was appointed to Searle in order to get the job done of getting aspartame approval was Donald Rumsfeld, the neo-con asshole among all assholes. He lobbied the FDA hard and was even able to overturn the board of independent FDA scientists who had voted 3-2 in favour of rejecting the sweetening agent. Aspartame has a host of problems associated with its regular use, including headaches, vision blurring, diabetes, symptoms of Parkinsons and multiple sclerosis etc. Others don't immediately feel these effects but may experience serious consequences down the road. You will find aspartame in all diet soft drinks and many yogourts and most gum. I have already noted my suggestion for the soft drinks and will let you know on the gum. I have some prospects such as Glee and Dr. Ken, and now it is a matter of tracking them down. I am almost finished with my horrible supply of Dental Care gum (which I thought was ok) that contains Acesulfame Pottasium, an awful sweetener. I ordered it from ebay more than a year ago and am down to only 4 packs left. As some of you know, I traded the last carton for two Dirienzio sandwiches.
For yogourt I eat a hearty balkan yogourt every day. Beatrice Fruit Bottom (175 g). Astro also makes a similar yogourt at 113 g. I have reviewed all the ingredients for Beatrice lately and approve.
I just got my sega games in the mail (I played them all and was sort of disappointed) so now my focus has shifted 100% to finding and buying more health-friendly cosmetic products and drinks and foods - primarily soft drinks and gum.
I can obtain these products from the health food aisles at Loblaws and Wal-Marts as well as natural health food stores if need be. The cost in obtaining these products will not be insignificant but I believe it to be well worth it for the sanctity of the body and for guarding against future cancerous diseases. After some extensive research, I discovered a host of unsavoury benzoates, sulfates and other ingredients in my toothpaste, mouthwash, face scrub, shampoos, skin scream, shaving cream. I am attempting to convert to such brands as Tom's of Maine, Jason Natural Cosmetics, Aubrey Organics and if I really open up the wallet, Anthony Logistics For Men. A good source to identify what sort of products you are using is cosmeticdatabase.com. Many products have been rated. I am quite suspect of the Body Shop as they do not list out all their ingredients on the website.
The other arena I will be making a big change in is soft drinks/gum/breath mints. All commercial brand (regular) soft drinks contain High Fructis Corn Syrup, known here in Canada in the ingredient list as Sugar/Glucose-Fructose or Sugar and/or Glucose-Fructose. This is the sweetener used in the place of sugar. In the early 1980's, soft drink manufacturers switched from sugar to this liquid form of refined sugar, HFCS. Of course all sucrose that we know in our households is refined but the difference apparently happens in the metabolization process. The composition of Sugar vs. HFCS is quite similar but there is an inherent difference. Sugar from sources such as cane or beet is known to be absorbed by the pancreas and as such, it liberates insulin which accompanies the glucose to the body's cells.
In contrast, HFCS is known to be fully absorbed by the liver, and thus the body is tricked because it skips the natural insulin process. (It is said that the use of HFCS as a sweetener in virtually many products has contributed to a drastic increase in Type II diabetes; this should be more pronounced in the U.S. since a greater number of their products are sweetened with HFCS or as known here Sugar/Glucose-Fructose). However, Canada is not immune to the use of HFCS and it is most apparent in beverages (soft drinks), low priced snack cakes, certain cereals etc. Why did the use of HFCS become so prevalent starting in the 80's? Economics my dear Watson. The U.S. imposed high sugar tariffs resulting in an inflated price for sugar. As a result, producers who relied on sugar as a main component in their food products substituted towards the relatively cheaper - much cheaper actually given that corn was subsidized in addition to the inflated sugar price - sweetening ingredient. So what does this have to do with Type II diabetes? Well Type II is closely linked to obesity, and people are getting bigger by drinking HFCS. Two reasons for this: first, the body is storing all the fat content from the HFCS rather than it being delivered as energy to the rest of the body by being burned; second, HFCS also plays a trick with the mind whereby the signal is not being sent from the body that fat is being stored. Thus, people are said to over-indulge when drinking HFCS sweetened beverages.
And why do Canadians have to worry about U.S. sugar prices and the use of HFCS in products? Because many of our imported food products come from the U.S. Even if soft drinks are bottled here, the mixing syrup certainly comes from down South.
Anyway, I will have more updates on this as I learn more. I can say though that I will be buying Blue Sky Natural Soda (w/ cane sugar). Be careful because Blue Sky also makes a version with HFCS. These are at Loblaws but cost $1 each so I am trying to find a cheaper source.
As far as the gum, that is a separate nightmare altogether. The problem here is that most all gum is sweetened with Aspartame, aka, rat poision to humans. This is a pure chemical compound that was discovered by complete fluke. It never should have been passed by the FDA in the 1980's and there is a complete controversy surrounding this. Monsanto ended up acquiring G.D. Searle (who held the patent to Aspartame) but the man who was appointed to Searle in order to get the job done of getting aspartame approval was Donald Rumsfeld, the neo-con asshole among all assholes. He lobbied the FDA hard and was even able to overturn the board of independent FDA scientists who had voted 3-2 in favour of rejecting the sweetening agent. Aspartame has a host of problems associated with its regular use, including headaches, vision blurring, diabetes, symptoms of Parkinsons and multiple sclerosis etc. Others don't immediately feel these effects but may experience serious consequences down the road. You will find aspartame in all diet soft drinks and many yogourts and most gum. I have already noted my suggestion for the soft drinks and will let you know on the gum. I have some prospects such as Glee and Dr. Ken, and now it is a matter of tracking them down. I am almost finished with my horrible supply of Dental Care gum (which I thought was ok) that contains Acesulfame Pottasium, an awful sweetener. I ordered it from ebay more than a year ago and am down to only 4 packs left. As some of you know, I traded the last carton for two Dirienzio sandwiches.
For yogourt I eat a hearty balkan yogourt every day. Beatrice Fruit Bottom (175 g). Astro also makes a similar yogourt at 113 g. I have reviewed all the ingredients for Beatrice lately and approve.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Miscellaneous -
-Things really hit the fan with the ebay seller. I now opened a dispute with Paypal. I think the fact that this is all online has made me more tense. I don't like the direction this new fangled world is taking us. Regardless, I have a beat on another seller of sega games in Missouri and it is an actual store and not just an ebay seller. They will ship here. I am quite excited to order some games. I think at the 5week mark, it is safe to say that the item will definitely not come.
As for my money? Well I may get it back through Paypal. I just will never use ebay again for anything. A lot of horror stories abound the forum discussions and the whole thing is incredibly stupid. Craiglist and Kijjii is where its at bc you can pick up your item yourself in your city.
-What happened to the old proud logo of the Ottawa Senators. When did they adopt that weird 3rd jersey logo of the annorexic long-faced Senator. Blasphemy! How boring that they only wear that logo in different colours. In general as I've stated to Mark many times, I hate most of what the NHL does with its merchandising and this is no exception. To force NHL teams to start wearing their away jerseys at home for permanently really bugged me. It shows how desperate franchises are for cash that they are relying on fans to now buy the road jersey (now the home jersey in effect) to attend home games.
-I don't know how much longer I can go with these old glasses. I can barely see anymore since the lenses are all scratched up.
-The extension of warm weather in November has literally given me a new lease on life. With my ratty old brown shoes (cracks in the sole with water seeping in), my light windbreaker, and my torn Dockers pants, I faithfully trudge through dog s*%# every day to get to the Lincoln Fields transit station so I can crowd onto a bus with a bunch of other sardines and hope the bus doesn't crash.
-On that note, we have the city of Ottawa trying to finalize its budget for 2009. So far this is what we know: even with a hike of 4.9%, there will need to be 35 million cut out of the budget. Of course it is the usual suspects for cutting money: OC transpo fares going up (again…), OC transpo service going down (again…), recreational user fees for hockey time and other activities going up. The stark irony that OC transpo is engaging in a huge new marketing campaign to attract new riders with benefits such as low price, "convenience" is lost in all this. I guess convenience is never getting a seat and molesting accidentally all those around you.
-I am slowly weaning down my supply to dental gum and have traded the last carton to my supervisor for 2 Dirienzo sandwiches, one of which I already received.
-I delivered some donuts to the Willy's boys yesterday and their faces lit right up. Then the garlic sauce I paid for was forgotten…Oh well. I really like delivering donuts to people. I wonder if Jesus felt the same way..
-Love that Kylie Minogue (Locomotion) song. For some reason, waking up to it on Magic fm is much better than just listening to it repeatedly on youtube.
-Saw a scary documentary on cbc website about the Disappearing Male. How births of boys have been outnumbered by girls in heavily industrialized coutries since the 1970's. Also boys are at risk for genital defects and other problems. The source? Basically every household product we use made from polycarbonates (plastics) and other chemical compounds produced by the petrochemical industry. (This is also the suspected culprit behind high cancer rates too but that wasn’t included in this documentary.) It appears that these compounds negatively effect the hormonal balance of male fetuses but not females.
-CosmoTV has a free preview until August 2009 on channel 262 with Rogers digital cable. Don't ask me how I know that..
-Baseball and biking season (I went maybe 3 times) appear to be over for this year. I had trouble rounding up the troops this year and next year will be seeking out players through platonic ads on craigslist.
-I have really neglected my computer situation and wardrobe situation. In budget talk, I have slashed spending on these items. I just hope it won't be too late to play catch up and suffer the same fate as the province of Ontario when cuts were made to nursing and doctors' spots.
-As I am a price conscious consumer I often cast places of business in a negative light when they try to appeal to all your dreams and aspirations and then say the price is ONLY this, as if they are doing you a favour. I got a brochure for Winner House Chinese food and noticed that 12 eggrolls run 12.50, while one is 1.15, hardly a volume savings for the customer. I remember no more than 10 years ago, I was able to obtain a dozen for 7.00 at Lotus.
The worst offender in this category is definitely Good Life Fitness. Only 60$ a month they say. Nuts to that. So you may make it out maybe twice a week or 8 times a month. $7.50 per workout? Yikes. I would rather get fat and unhealthy.
Charge what you will but don't be a d%?# about it and try to appeal to me about how great a deal this is for me.
-I really enjoy the newish show The Big Bang Theory. It is relatively funny and features two up and coming actors in the people who play the characters Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Penny (Kaly Cuoco). They really shine on this show.
This is the kind of vigilante justice I'm craving!
Customers grab holdup artists
Two would-be robbers were taken out after customers of an east end fast food joint wrestled them to the ground.
Police said two men walked into the Burger King at 1804 St. Laurent after 9 p.m. with their faces covered and a knife demanding money. They were told no, and on their way out were wrestled to the ground by a group of customers who confronted them.
An off-duty officer happened to be in the area and assisted. Two suspects were arrested.
-Things really hit the fan with the ebay seller. I now opened a dispute with Paypal. I think the fact that this is all online has made me more tense. I don't like the direction this new fangled world is taking us. Regardless, I have a beat on another seller of sega games in Missouri and it is an actual store and not just an ebay seller. They will ship here. I am quite excited to order some games. I think at the 5week mark, it is safe to say that the item will definitely not come.
As for my money? Well I may get it back through Paypal. I just will never use ebay again for anything. A lot of horror stories abound the forum discussions and the whole thing is incredibly stupid. Craiglist and Kijjii is where its at bc you can pick up your item yourself in your city.
-What happened to the old proud logo of the Ottawa Senators. When did they adopt that weird 3rd jersey logo of the annorexic long-faced Senator. Blasphemy! How boring that they only wear that logo in different colours. In general as I've stated to Mark many times, I hate most of what the NHL does with its merchandising and this is no exception. To force NHL teams to start wearing their away jerseys at home for permanently really bugged me. It shows how desperate franchises are for cash that they are relying on fans to now buy the road jersey (now the home jersey in effect) to attend home games.
-I don't know how much longer I can go with these old glasses. I can barely see anymore since the lenses are all scratched up.
-The extension of warm weather in November has literally given me a new lease on life. With my ratty old brown shoes (cracks in the sole with water seeping in), my light windbreaker, and my torn Dockers pants, I faithfully trudge through dog s*%# every day to get to the Lincoln Fields transit station so I can crowd onto a bus with a bunch of other sardines and hope the bus doesn't crash.
-On that note, we have the city of Ottawa trying to finalize its budget for 2009. So far this is what we know: even with a hike of 4.9%, there will need to be 35 million cut out of the budget. Of course it is the usual suspects for cutting money: OC transpo fares going up (again…), OC transpo service going down (again…), recreational user fees for hockey time and other activities going up. The stark irony that OC transpo is engaging in a huge new marketing campaign to attract new riders with benefits such as low price, "convenience" is lost in all this. I guess convenience is never getting a seat and molesting accidentally all those around you.
-I am slowly weaning down my supply to dental gum and have traded the last carton to my supervisor for 2 Dirienzo sandwiches, one of which I already received.
-I delivered some donuts to the Willy's boys yesterday and their faces lit right up. Then the garlic sauce I paid for was forgotten…Oh well. I really like delivering donuts to people. I wonder if Jesus felt the same way..
-Love that Kylie Minogue (Locomotion) song. For some reason, waking up to it on Magic fm is much better than just listening to it repeatedly on youtube.
-Saw a scary documentary on cbc website about the Disappearing Male. How births of boys have been outnumbered by girls in heavily industrialized coutries since the 1970's. Also boys are at risk for genital defects and other problems. The source? Basically every household product we use made from polycarbonates (plastics) and other chemical compounds produced by the petrochemical industry. (This is also the suspected culprit behind high cancer rates too but that wasn’t included in this documentary.) It appears that these compounds negatively effect the hormonal balance of male fetuses but not females.
-CosmoTV has a free preview until August 2009 on channel 262 with Rogers digital cable. Don't ask me how I know that..
-Baseball and biking season (I went maybe 3 times) appear to be over for this year. I had trouble rounding up the troops this year and next year will be seeking out players through platonic ads on craigslist.
-I have really neglected my computer situation and wardrobe situation. In budget talk, I have slashed spending on these items. I just hope it won't be too late to play catch up and suffer the same fate as the province of Ontario when cuts were made to nursing and doctors' spots.
-As I am a price conscious consumer I often cast places of business in a negative light when they try to appeal to all your dreams and aspirations and then say the price is ONLY this, as if they are doing you a favour. I got a brochure for Winner House Chinese food and noticed that 12 eggrolls run 12.50, while one is 1.15, hardly a volume savings for the customer. I remember no more than 10 years ago, I was able to obtain a dozen for 7.00 at Lotus.
The worst offender in this category is definitely Good Life Fitness. Only 60$ a month they say. Nuts to that. So you may make it out maybe twice a week or 8 times a month. $7.50 per workout? Yikes. I would rather get fat and unhealthy.
Charge what you will but don't be a d%?# about it and try to appeal to me about how great a deal this is for me.
-I really enjoy the newish show The Big Bang Theory. It is relatively funny and features two up and coming actors in the people who play the characters Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Penny (Kaly Cuoco). They really shine on this show.
This is the kind of vigilante justice I'm craving!
Customers grab holdup artists
Two would-be robbers were taken out after customers of an east end fast food joint wrestled them to the ground.
Police said two men walked into the Burger King at 1804 St. Laurent after 9 p.m. with their faces covered and a knife demanding money. They were told no, and on their way out were wrestled to the ground by a group of customers who confronted them.
An off-duty officer happened to be in the area and assisted. Two suspects were arrested.
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