12 Days

I heard this on the radio on my road trip from Calgary to Abbotsford and thought it was cool and funny, so I looked it up for you.

I made it!

I am in Maple Falls, WA. It's -15C here right now with windchill, so I didn't do much to escape the cold. But I'm in the mountains. Snowy mountains are nice, and I have some time to enjoy them so that is good.

I'm heading to Seattle tomorrow to chill with Erin (G-MA!) and that is really great.

Tomorrow morning...

Early tomorrow morning I will be going on a little road trip with the family I work for, from Calgary to Abbotsford. Any guesses as to how long this will take?

Also, I will be dropped off at the border, where I will cross into the US as a pedestrian. Some people find this to be funny, but I find it to be efficient.

P.S. In case you were looking for human right #4, I'm taking a break and I'll be back with the human rights articles in January.

I will tell you the back-up plans before I tell you the plan.

In due time, I will answer all of your questions about what the heck I am doing in January. I'd like to get the paperwork through before I divulge any of my plans.  Oh my, I think I've already said too much.

For now, though, I can tell you about my back up plans. Yes, that's right, plans is plural.

First, I'm going to start a business in the Superstore parking lot on cold days. What I'll do is take people's carts from their cars to the cart racks when they are finished unloading their groceries. Then I get the Loonie!

Then, when it is no longer cold, I will start a new business. When the snow melts off of COP I will sweep the hill for any mittens, goggles, sunglasses, tuques, etc, that may have been lost during the season. Then I open a shop to sell all of my finds. I personally think the mismatched mittens will be a big hit.

Fireplace

One thing I will miss when I move out of this house is the fireplace in my bedroom. (I am moving out at the end of the month, by the way. I'd tell you where I'm moving, but then you'd probably roll your eyes and say something like "God help us all" or "that is very troublesome.")

Anyways, I will really miss the fireplace. I only use it in the winter, but it is so great! I turn it on for about 15 minutes before I go to bed so my basement room is not so cold. I also turn it on in the morning before I go shower so that my room is nice and warm when I get dressed.

Last night I was SO cold that the 15 minutes of fire was not enough, so I left it on when it was time to sleep. I've done this before and it is always a bad idea. I always wake up in the middle of the night sweating my face off. That's what happened last night.

But I will still miss that fireplace.

Jealous?

-32°C

-45°C (wind chill)

LIES!

Sam called this afternoon during her boring, 2 hour commute to work (there is A LOT of snow out there). She mentioned the conversation we had on the phone last night. I was SO relieved that she brought that up because I wasn't sure if I really talked to her or if it was just a dream.

She called at I think 11pm, while I was sleeping, and the conversation started out something like this...

Sam: Sorry for calling so late, I sort of forgot what time it was.

Me: Huh? It's OK, I'm still awake.

Still awake? That was totally a lie! I'd been asleep for at least an hour, and I was probably partly asleep while I was talking to Sam. I don't know why, but I have a pretty strong tendency to accidentally lie when I am woken up. (I don't mean lie as in lie down, although I'd say I have an even stronger tendency to lie down when I am just waking up.)

Once I fell asleep while watching Ben-Hur with some friends. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep during the incredibly long opening credits. Anyways, my friend Niko started shaking my shoulder at some point, and we had a conversation that went something like this...

Niko: ASH! Wake up, this is the best part!

Me: Oh, don't worry, I've actually already seen this movie.

Already seen Ben-Hur? Lie. I still haven't seen it, to tell you the truth. Anyways, I'm not sure why I'm always telling so many lies when woken up, but I think it's kind of funny so I hope it continues.

No Slavery

I read a book awhile back called Bitter Chocolate, and it talked about the chocolate industry in Cote d'Ivoire, which is in West Africa.  There are slave traders making a killing by kidnapping boys in Burkina Faso and Mali, then selling them to cocoa farmers in Cote d'Ivoire, a country that supplies about 40% of the world's cocoa. That's more than any other country in the world.

This is part of why I think it's so important to make sure you buy Fair Trade chocolate rather than Nestle or Cadbury or whatever else is on the shelves at Safeway. In my mind, it's wrong to eat chocolate that isn't traded fairly. Who knows where it comes from? Maybe slave labor farmed the cocoa in that chocolate bar. I think it's good to feel guilty about purchasing things if you think they might come from those types of sources. And, honestly, there is so much good Fair Trade chocolate to choose from, so why bother with the sketchy stuff? The Divine chocolate from Ghana? Best chocolate I've ever had.

My new mittens are reversible!

My friends and I sure do have a good time during the Christmas season.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY

to a special friend

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to a special friend

HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY

to a special friend

Right to Life

Article 3 of the UDHR says that "everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person."

This article touches a couple of controversial issues such as abortion and the death penalty. I don't particularly like either of those things, but I'm going to put them aside and instead talk a bit about weapons and, more specifically, civilian deaths in times of war.

Civilian deaths can seem inevitable in times of war, but that does not mean that we should not do everything possible to reduce and altogether prevent civilian deaths.  This is a way of protecting the right to life of innocent people.

On Wednesday, the Convention on Cluster Munitions opened for signing. The treaty will save thousands of innocent lives by banning the use of cluster bombs. Cluster bombs release several bomblets that often go unexploded, and are thereby able to kill or seriously injure civilians long after a conflict has ended. The group Handicap International says 98 percent of cluster bomb victims are civilians, and 27 percent are children. I'd also like to note that it is pretty expensive to find and remove them after they've been dropped.

The Bush administration has not signed on. China, Russia, and Israel are also opposed to the treaty. Happily, Canada signed the treaty early Wednesday morning. I have written to both President Bush and President-elect Obama as well as my local representatives to express concern for the lack of participation on the part of the US.

Lessons

Madeline: "Oops, I forgot to flip it around."

Duncan: "Well maybe you should take some flip-it-around lessons."

Diamonds are Forever

Hello friends!  I have a question, but please don't assume that it means I am getting engaged anytime soon.

Does anyone have any information on getting conflict-free diamonds? Do you know of any retailers that deal with such diamonds? Did you know I'm a Kanye West fan?