Habitat for Humanity Touches Lives

My name is Vanessa, and I would like to talk to you tonight about how Habitat for Humanity has touched lives, and how you can help Habitat for Humanity make a difference.

We are a non-profit organization that builds houses for those who are living below the poverty line, or have been made homeless by natural disasters. We do not work for free. We identify people who need safe, decent, quality housing the most, and we give them a hand up in achieving that goal; not a hand-out. Begun in 1976 by Millard Fuller, there are currently 72 branches in Canada, and over 2,300 active Habitat affiliates worldwide in more than 93 countries. What does a Habitat House cost? As I said, we do not work for free: a home costs a partner family 500 hours of sweat equity, and about $150,000.

I have been a part of this community for five years now this month, and let me tell you; it is a wonderful community to be a part of. Here is how we’ve helped effect Toronto for the better:

We Touch Lives:
By bringing people together under one common goal:
By we, you see, we don’t have to be only the people being paid to work for Habitat. We are the individual and group volunteers, the site supervisors, the Crew Leaders, the contractors, the Alternative school students, the Exchange students, the Build Blitz groups, the House Leaders, the sponsors, and especially the partner families. We are the community that makes up Habitat for Humanity.

We Touch Lives: By building teams:
One thing I hear time and time again during my work with corporate groups is how “I never knew so-and-so before,” or “I don’t want to go back to the office tomorrow”, and not because they are tired and sore, although that usually is a factor, but because “I haven’t worked with this part of my brain in such a long time; it’s so refreshing!” The Habitat experience brings professional groups outdoors, and gets them working together as a team in very different ways than they usually do.

We Touch Lives: By giving partner families a chance to be a part of something so much bigger than THEY are to build their own home:
Some of the partner family members who donate their sweat equity hours to onsite work sometimes feel overwhelmed with gratitude just being a part of a project this big, and being able to build their own home with the help of so many kind strangers!! I mean, that must be an incredible experience, to think “this is MY HOUSE!! I went from such sub-standard housing conditions, to being a part of my own house being built!” That’s incredible!

You can also touch lives. Here are some things that you can do:
There are so many ways to contribute to Habitat’s goals, that there is bound to be at least one way out there that is right for you. We bring families together with our Gingerbread Builds, and Father’s / Mother’s Day events each year. On the most awkward day of the year, we bring together singles and couples for a v.entertaining day of mostly non-building on v.Day (Feb 14). We have 4 Restores around Toronto, where you can buy used and donated pieces of homes for your home, or donate pieces yourself. If you like to travel for a cause, you can sign up for one of our Global Village Programs. As well as volunteering your time, there are also opportunities to make corporate donations, personal donations, and give gifts-in-kind.

So to summarize:
H4H has touched lives for over 35 years by building simple, decent homes for those most in need of them, and we will continue to seek to build homes for people around the world as long as we exist. It is a great organization to work for because it is such an open inclusive community, where everyone can contribute, and everyone feels like a part of the group. There are so many opportunities to get involved as well, so that everyone looking to help can find a way to make a difference that they feel comfortable with doing.

Happy Birthday to my Blog!

This is my shoutout to my blog! Yeah me! And yeah blog!

Hockey’s place in Canada

Hockey as we now know it may draw on many sources, but it was born, and it evolved here in Canada. Hockey is our game!

Madame Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters, most welcome guests, and especially newcomers to this great country, let me introduce you to our game.

Timeline
The boys of hockey laced up their skates to play the first documented official hockey game in March of 1875, but the game only vaguely resembled what we see played today.

The Stanley Cup, named after Governor-General Frederick Stanley, who bought the first trophy – the silver bowl that sits on top of the cup today – is awarded each year to the winning team of the NHL Play-offs. The Cup was first awarded in the 1893-94 season by Mr. Stanley, to recognize this great game by awarding a prize to the best team in Canada each year.

In 1917, the NHL was created with an initial roster of 4 teams. It grew, then contracted through the depression, and stayed quite small through Second World War, but in 1942 the “Original Six” were born. These six teams; the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs, were the only 6 teams in the league until 1967.

In 1923, Foster Hewitt appeared on the scene as the play-by-play announcer of the game, and remained the biggest voice in hockey until 1963. He was the first one to use the phrase “He shoots, He scores!”

In 1994, Hockey legally became the national winter sport of Canada … ironically, this was also the year of the hockey lockout, when people realized that salaries needed to be capped, and a major overhaul of some of the organization of the NHL was required.

Obviously, this lockout made the country realize that we desperately needed to do something to ensure that this game continued on in Canada, so we made it official.

A Canadian Icon
I’m going to take you with me on a very short journey. Close your eyes, take a deep breath and picture yourself at home, on a Saturday night. If you’re like countless thousands Canadians, you’ll be headed to the couch, with a beer in hand, or maybe even a cup of Tim Hortons coffee. You’re ready to settle down for the night, so you reach for the remote, and turn on the game. Now, open your eyes.

Ah, speaking of Tim Horton, there was a true Canadian. Everyone knows about the chain Tim Horton’s, and many people get their daily fix of coffee there, but how many people know how many Stanley Cups Timmy brought to Toronto?

Who was Tim Horton exactly? Well, he was born nine hours north of here, in Cochrane Ontario. He grew up playing hockey there. When he was 18, his family moved to Sudbury, and it was there that the Toronto Maple Leafs signed him on to their junior team. He donned a Leafs jersey in the fall of 1952 and remained a Leaf until 1970, winning four Stanley Cups over his career.

In 1964, Horton opened his first Tim Horton Doughnut Shop in Hamilton. That first one shop has grown to become today’s multi-million dollar chain boasting more than 3,000 locations across Canada and the United States. But enough about coffee. Back to hockey!

Why is hockey the most popular sport in Canada?
Well, as we’ve already seen, it’s steeped in tradition. But there’s more than just that.

Our country’s geography and climate lend themselves to the game, as most of the country is below 0 degrees from November to March, creating a lot of natural ice! Combine the 2500 listed ice rinks across the country, with all the unlisted ice surfaces in parks and backyards across the country, and you get an ice rink the size of British Columbia. That’s a lot of hockey!

The next proof of how much we love hockey is in the bottom line. Hockey, as an industry, generates a revenue of many millions of dollars a year, impacting more than one other industry.
There are: arena rentals, maintenance and construction, player registrations, equipment sales, training courses for everyone from age 3 to age 63, Tim Horton’s revenue, hotels accommodations for teams, families and fans, food and beverages for those hockey tournaments, BEER, transportation (from the family mini-van to the Maple Leaf’s bus), concessions at arenas, physiotherapy, chiropractors, gate revenue (ticket sales for the NHL), team merchandise revenue, property rights, cable fees, hockey pools, The list could go on for a very long time. Hockey in Canada has a huge impact on our economy.

Where else in the world would you watch a mini-series about a hockey player-turned coach-turned perhaps the most iconic hockey critic in the country? Love him or hate him, we’ve all heard of Don Cherry. Where else in the world would there be a “game show” based on hockey skaters teaming up with figure skaters, with all the winnings going to charity?

That’s right, only in Canada, where the temperatures really DO go down to -50 below, and where one night each week, houses across the country go crazy watching the game.

So whether you lace up skates yourself , or you just cheer on your own favourite team out on the ice, I invite you to celebrate the good old hockey game, and celebrate with me the country that started it all – to hockey, in Canada!

Million Dollar Dreams

I read a story over the last year by Stuart McLean. McLean hosts the Vinyl Café on CBC Radio, and he has also written a collection of books under the same name detailing the life stories of one particular family headed by Dave and Morley, and they have two children; Sam and Stephanie.

The Extreme Vinyl Café is the name of this particular book, and “The Winning Lottery Ticket” is the story I speak of. This story is about the grandfather of Stephanie’s boyfriend, who keeps an unscratched lottery ticket, and always claims it to be “a winning ticket”. He would always ask his family: “Imagine. A million dollars. What would you do with a million dollars?” And then when whoever it was he was asking told him, he would listen carefully, and then respond: “Are you sure that’s what you would do? Is that your heart’s desire? And then the process would start all over again.” Ever since I read that story, I have put some thought into answering that grandfather’s question; what would I do if I won the lottery?

Like I do about almost everything, I started to research and analyze. And I tried to figure out what I would do with my money Logically. A very good article I read online explained things very well. It asked you, the reader, to think about the work you want to be doing, and the money you realistically think you would earn over your career. Then multiply that by the duration of your career.

I think my amount translated into something like $2.1M.
Okay! So, THAT’S my cap. That’s as much as I’d ever want to win. Having this cap allows you to stay grounded, envisioning your goals in a lifestyle that you are already working towards, with the added bonus of the lottery helping you get there right away.

Let’s get realistic about this here, I’m never going to win $2.1M. So Logically, let’s not even imagine that. 1M dollars! I’m going to win 1M dollars! What am I going to do with that? What would YOU do with $1M?

For me, that question was easy. First, I would be giving 10% of it away to charities; there are several different ones that have touched my life over the years, either directly or through the lives of family and friends. I would divide the money up, not send it to only one, and not all at once. But that’s only some of the money anyway!

I would pay off my Mother’s mortgage. I would give money to my sister, my Family, and my friends.

There is a reason I would do these things. I believe we all have so many connections, so many people to whom we owe our gratitude, and our time. We cannot begin to know in our lifetime how many people gave so many hours of their time to help out each and every one of us.

I am sure that we all hear our friends and family talk about different of their dreams, and that I’m sure we’d love to be able to help them out. But over time, we kind of turn ourselves off of that, because we know there’s “nothing we can do” and that’s just life. But there are so many ways we could help each other out, and a huge part of the joy of winning the lottery is being able to share it, and to give of yourself, and doing this becomes part of that dream!

So, after I have shared with others, what am I left with? About half my winnings. Okay! I would use the rest of it to buy a condo for myself, I would get a cat, use a room in my new condo for woodworking projects, and that’s about it.

The more I thought about winning that million dollars, and what I would do with it, the more I thought about the time it would buy me, and how I would invest that time into making myself a better person. I would work with a career coach, spend more time volunteering, take some courses on gourmet cooking and I’d even improve my communication skills!

Then I realized that this dream is not about winning the money … although I do admit, that would be nice … really, nice! Okay, so this dream is – at least in part – about winning the money!

*But before I get there, it’s about creating goals for the future that can only be attained by having that money, and then, in place of my winnings, figuring out what I can do to get myself towards those goals without having that spare cash. This comes in the form of helping others out in their lives, achieving personal and financial goals, and becoming a better person.

Who knows, WHEN I win this one million dollars, I will at least have … well … believed in this dream, & worked towards it; that silly little dream that’s just for fun. I will have let myself have a “heart’s desire”, and be a much better person for it.

After all, “Money? Well, money can cause no end of problems. It’s far better to stick with dreams.”

Diwali

Joy of light
let it burn.
Earthenware love.

Madame Chair, Fellow Toastmasters, and welcome guests, I would like to invite you to share with me this most wonderful time of year; Diwali. Known by many as the “Festival of Lights”, Diwali is the biggest celebration in the Hindu calendar and Diwali celebrations are already underway, as tonight is the third of 5 nights. Diwali actually translates as “row of lamps” from Sanskrit; the written language of Hinduism. In The Festival of Lights, Diwalis and firecrackers are strong symbols, representing the victory of light over darkness. The strongest spiritual meaning is the awareness of the “inner light”; the personal triumph of light over dark. This light refers to our spirit, or our soul. The image of the inner light, or candle seems to transcend religion, and culture; it seems to be universal. With the realization of this inner light comes compassion, love, and the awareness of the oneness of all things.

Tonight I would like to share with you tonight the stories Diwali celebrates, a summary of how each of the 5 days of Diwali are celebrated today, and how we as a family celebrate this Festival of Light.

The first story Diwali celebrates is the return of a Great King and his wife; Rama and Sita, from 14 years of banishment from their Kingdom. During this time, they fought battles, and Rama conquered a great demon. Upon their return, their entire Kingdom lit up rows of lamps, or Diwali, to celebrate. Firecrackers are also lit to signify Rama killing the demon, and to celebrate his victories in battle. The second story of Diwali is the day Krishna, one of the major Gods, defeated Indra, the deity of thunder and rain.

The third story of Diwali, also centred around the lighting of lamps, worships Maha Lakshmi, one of the main Goddesses in Hinduism. She is the Goddess of wealth, prosperity, light, wisdom, generosity, and courage. Hindus pray to her to thank her for the harvest for this year, and also pray to her for success in the upcoming year’s harvest.

Just as Hindus honour the inner light at Diwali, every year Diwali lights up the skies and the streets with 5 nights of celebration shared between family and friends strengthening the bonds between us. It is the illumination of the New Year’s New Moon, the darkest night in the Hindu year. During these celebrations many Pujas - or Hindu worship services – take place to Krishna, and Maha Lakshmi.

On the first day of Diwali, doorways are decorated with flowers, and Rangolis, which are patterns made with powder or flowers just inside the front of your home. Diyas, which are clay pots, are also used like oil lamps. They are lit every night during Diwali to signify the triumph of light over darkness. Firecrackers are also lit to celebrate Rama’s victory in battle. On the second day of Diwali, you purchase new clothing, and metals. The metal you purchase can be as simple as a new metal bowl that you will use to make offerings in the Puja to Maha Lakshmi. The third day of Diwali is known as Govardhan Puja, and it is the night where Krishna’s defeat of Indra is celebrated. The fourth day of Diwali, the Lakshmi Puja marks the most important day of Diwali, where Hindus worship Maha Lakshmi. This is the night of the New Moon, (for those of you who weren’t aware, the New Moon is tomorrow night) and it marks a new year. The fifth day of Diwali is known as Bhaiduj, and it is the day when brothers and sisters meet to express love and affection for each other. This is the day where people visit their families to exchange gifts, sweets, and food.

In my family, we celebrate Diwali when we are invited by my Grandmother to a Puja to worship Maha Lakshmi, at her home. As her eldest son’s family, we sometimes arrive early and help with the decorations, and preparing for the Puja downstairs. After all the guests have arrived, and found a place to sit downstairs, the Puja begins.

A Puja is a prayer service, usually headed by a priest, in someone’s home. The priest opens the Puja by asking Maha Lakshmi to enter the house. We pray to her and make offerings to her. Once she is in the house and has been worshipped, the priest closes the prayer service. Then we enjoy a feast of good food, and as we are leaving the house at the end of the evening, we are each given small take-home bags with fruit and sweets inside.

Tonight, I have shared with you one of the most significant celebrations in Hinduism; what it means to Hindus, and how this Festival of Lights, or at least the element of the inner light, can be shared by everyone. Hindus celebrate Diwali by giving gifts, sweets, and spending time with their families. They celebrate the return of the Great King Rama and his wife, Sita, from their 14 years of banishment. They also celebrate many victories in battle of light over darkness, and they celebrate Maha Lakshmi, and thank her for the good harvest. All this they celebrate by lighting Diwalis, or “rows of diyas”, and firecrackers.

I would like to close in the same way I opened; with a verse from my Grandfather:

You always must offer
your heart with joy,
Lakshmi Mata guides your dreams as you pray.
I shall keep watch over you,
marking time,
Faithfully you will become part of me.

Postcards from Home

“I went to Europe to paint the great cathedrals, but I couldn’t get our home out of my mind …” Amy March. Home, and family is the 1994 version of Little Women, for me.

- - - -

What makes a house a home? Well, your home is where your heart is, and that is unique to everyone. For some of us, it’s a place where we feel safe. For others, it’s based on who is waiting there for us when we get home each day, whether that is a pet, or other members of the family. And for others still it all has to do with the memories we take away from our homes, and carry with us throughout our lives.

For my first speech, Madame Chairperson, Fellow Toastmasters, and Valued Guests, I would like to discuss a little bit about my childhood memories of my family’s home, the family traditions we celebrated there, and the community that was our building when I was growing up.

Until I was 12 years old I lived at 170 Sentinel Road, in a corner apartment. This building was situated barely one minute west of Keele St, right in between Finch and Sheppard.

Let me take you into my apartment. I remember that my Mother always encouraged imagination and creativity, and gave my sister and I all the tools we needed to develop our imaginations and our ability to create stories.

My sister and I would often play out on the balcony in our giant Little Tykes Turtle Sandbox for Hours, or under a tent made out of a Carebear blanket and chairs. Under this tent we would often take different pieces of plastic “play food” and have our own picnic there listening to a nature soundtrack of a rainfall in a forest.

We also had Lego, Duplo, and PlayMobil, and we would set up entire towns all over the living room that would last for days, with a PlayMobil mansion we got from Santa one year, hospital equipment, a railway, a farm set, and a Duplo house among other things.

- - - -

Our house was also a place for many family gatherings. Easter and Hallowe’en were some of my favourites. We would wake up Easter morning to an apartment filled with chocolate eggs and bunnies that the Easter bunny left for my sister and I to gather up; lining the hallway from our bedroom to the living room, on the kitchen table, by the TV and radio – EVERYwhere!

On Hallowe’en, my cousins would come over, and the adults in the family would hide candy all over the apartment, and then we would search everywhere in the dark, using only flashlights, to try to find all the goodies that were hidden. Those were good times!

Another family tradition was Friday night. Every day of the week would bring health food to our table, but Friday night … we would use this little wooden yellow table, and we would have hot dogs, chips, orange pop, and we could watch any movie we wanted! Luxury is simple when you’re seven years old!

- - - -

Taking a step back for a moment, to see the bigger picture, this place that we lived in was more than “just” a building; it was a community. Our building was filled with young families, and very friendly people.

My Mother was friends with the superintendent’s family for years, so we always had a place to go and spend time with friends in our own building whenever we wanted; how grown-up that felt! They had sons that were a little older than us, and They had a Nintendo Super Mario game in their room; a HUGE attraction when you’re about seven years old.

I can remember playing with a lot of the kids in the building all year round. Our backyard was divided into a flat area large enough to get most of a baseball game onto, and along the far side was a strip of graded earth that started low and rose to over six feet at the far end, so that third base was about four feet higher than the rest of the baseball field. In the fall, we would pile leaves at the bottom of the hill, and roll or jump down the hill into the leaves, and all the kids would help to gather up the leaves for that purpose. In the winter, we would slide down the highest section of the hill, and our Father and cousins would make turns and ramps out of the snow and ice, and play the kind of game that all guys play, no matter what age, of who can get up to the fastest speed going down the hill.

Another favorite winter pastime for us was when the superintendent’s husband would plow the snow to the back end of the driveway, (back in the days when we … had snow in winter!), and our Father would take hours carving and shoveling out house or fort designs for us to play in, and they would last until another snowfall meant they needed to be plowed over, or they would melt.

- - - -

No matter what the time of year, there was always something going on at 170 Sentinel Road, always some adventure, or new game. It was a huge part of my childhood, and I have many fond memories of it. It also has also painted a picture in my mind of what I want my future home to be like, to feel like, and what memories the next generation might create for themselves there.

Thank you for allowing me the chance to share my own memories with you, here tonight.

My Football Report III

Ha! The horns (Vuvuzelas), the beehive, as people are calling it, are making it sometimes difficult for the players that the noise-making fans are routing for to communicate to each other, and sometimes even to hear the whistle. Fans are noticing it over the TV too. “They ultimately decided against banning vuvuzelas at the 2010 World Cup due to the fact that they were such an integral part of South African culture.”

The children that join the players on the pitch before the game are called "matchday mascots". The word is that they could be representing friendship through football, or also different community campaigns from the home towns against violence, racism, or gangs. They might also be, in some cases, children of the football players themselves. They might also have won a competition. It is also potentially the different football clubs trying to bring families to the game (does that mean it's a fundraising initiative then for families who could not otherwise attend?)

But I can't seem to get any info on who organized that specific element of the event. Any leads?

I have also conducted research into the structure of the World Cup, and it looks like if you're just interested in getting down to the team eliminations, June 25th is just about the time to check back into this tournament!

My Football Report II

Okay, it looks like three rows, 4 back, 2 middle, 3 forward, and a miscellaneous man who takes the centre kick position (a 4th forward?)

Still constant buzzing … maybe I should get my ears cleaned?

Ooops! Australia didn’t allow for more than 1 goal a game in the qualifying … and within the first 30mins Germany got 2 goals …

The offside rule is definitely different then in hockey. With no blue line equivalent, how is it decided? Sometimes it seems to even be called VERY close in to the “goalie crease” as well.

Today’s keeper kolours; Aus = red, Ger = green.

Wow, they use a lot more tape than hockey players do to keep their pads on!

It’s gorgeous how they set up a play so close to the sidelines when they get to the offensive zone, then drop a pass back and a team mate tries to score a goal. Beautiful!

Aaww! The hands-off policy. It looked like that one Australian DID touch a German player when they were both going after the ball, but then he raised his hands quickly. I guess to avoid touching him further and actually getting a penalty/yellow card. Then he helped the guy up. That was sweet!

What is the blue arm band for?

Added minute? What are minutes added for?

What do these mean, exactly?
Possession: Ger = 57%, Aus 43%
Fouls: Ger = 5, Aus = 10
Shots on Goal: Ger = 10, Aus = 2

So, it looks like the FIFA World Cup is the “Football Olympics”. Each team only gets about 2 months together, and is a different make-up then the usual clubs they play on. Am I getting this right?

When there are throw-ins, are other people allowed off the pitch? At one point there were two guys fighting each other outside the white lines.

I agree that red card call on Cahill was too strong. But 56 minutes? I thought you got a yellow card FIRST.

What are the rules around substitutions?

Sorry, who are the green and yellow fans in this white a blue jerseyed game? The Aussies, apparently.

I’m kind of enjoying watching this game. I don’t know everything that’s going on, and it isn’t hockey, but it’s okay!

Soccer-roos? Cute!

The commentators said at the beginning of Germany, being such a YOUNG team, that they have a lot of promise. They asked; can that promise deliver? It looks like it! They countered that with Australia being a much older team in general.

Football and hockey BOTH use passing back to their goalies.

Still not sure what it means Exactly to “bend it”

At least a third of these drops seem to be one player tripping over another players’ legs and anther third seems to be the trip-er player sliding down to make the kick.

They keep saying “Australia playing with 10 men” As in, including the goalie? Does that mean a red card is playing with one man down, like a hockey penalty, but only for something like Fifty-Six minutes?!? Wow.

How many soccer balls do they play with during a game?

Is Hockey more Dramatic in their injuries than Football? Let’s try and tally this up.
# Of drops: 44 Times the player stayed down & milked it: 4 “Booked for diving”: 2

So, with only 4 times when the guys who went down and stayed down and “cried”, and 2 times when the guys “faked it”; taking a dive when they didn’t have too, I’d say football is potentially LESS dramatic than hockey!
Notice I am NOT comparing the fighting aspect here, just putting the reputation of footballers going down all dramatic and in pain.

Then again, maybe the World Cup is like Olympic hockey as well; less dramatic falling / less fighting then the regular season football / NHL. Who knows?

Men becoming legends in football, and heroes in hockey. I don’t quite agree with that!

My Football Report

Written by a die-hard year-round hockey fan.

I Love the slides! These guys get awesome mileage out of them!

If you got cut in hockey, you’d get yourself cleaned/stitched up right away – there would be no running around the pitch with a bleeding lip (or skating around the rink). And the guy STILL looks like he’s bleeding about 10 minutes later.

Holy bloody beehive! The fans just don’t run out of hot air!

Why in the world do the goalies not know what team they belong to? In hockey, the goalie is the most “decorated” player on the team … USA is orange, England is wearing green? In a sport so fatally and faithfully loyal to their team colours, football goalies just haven’t gotten the memo.

They ARE much better behaved; I’ll admit that. No penalty boxes, and once you’re wearing a bumble-bee cuff around your arm, you know the next bad things you do you’re out of the game. So play nice, boysss!

These guys have a rep for falling so dramatically and ALL the time, but maybe isn’t quite that bad (at least not this game).

First goal the USA has gotten against England outside of England since 1950? Is that what I heard?!? If only the US hockey teams played so … well … when they were playing in Canada!

I LOVE the fan colours! (at least they’re not wearing orange).

Joey Altidore leaving the pitch – what just happened? I don’t understand the substitutions …

Nail-biting, isn’t it? Ummm …

It looks like all just stand around when the ball will be thrown of kicked back onto the pitch. Please explain their positions!

91 minutes in, I finally here my first recognizable cheer!

Nice changing billboards!

I’d love to see the ball weigh 5 or 10 pounds more. It might be less of a tennis match then.

So that’s it? It’s over? no kick-out? No overtime? So do they have a way to determine who is the stronger team in the draw; who has more points going in?

… and how is your team supposed to win when you’ve got No World Cup beards!?!?!

All in all, I think I like hockey better.

If I’m still feeling sick tomorrow, I will watch the Germany game, and see if I understand anything any better then.

Each of the 24 days counting down to Christmas Deserves a cookie!

And here's a link!
http://www.thestar.com/cookies#interactive

The simple things to do for fun in life

Recreation, or "Fun", is the expenditure of time in a manner designed for therapeutic refreshment of one's body or mind. ~ Wikipedia.

This is a list of just random stuff that I would like to do for fun. I will write them down whenever I think of them, and I am at the computer to write them in. May this list forever grow, and may I be able to do everything on the list, and enjoy every minute of it!
For example, I LOVE the summer sun, and doing something as simple as sitting on the balcony at my place and soaking it up!

* Baking
* Eating crackers and cheese (or just cheese alone if it's smoked Gouda!)
* Going to see the documentary "My Playground"
* Loving beautiful typography
* Building a deck
* Go to Canada's Wonderland with friends
* Get a hot stone massage, or three!
* Browsing through magazines, and writing about articles on my blog
* Reading about the world around me
* Having a space to plant things ... inside my condo, on the balcony, in a garden ...
* Have a condo ... have candles in my condo
* Painting a mural in my condo! (That would be such an amazing project!)
* Have my own place to live, and decorate it!
* Visit the Elephant Sanctuary one day
* Eat grapefruit
* spend time out with friends
* Be culturally proactive - go see a musical performance, or a lecture
* Participate in a Women's Build ... !
* Jump down a waterfall (a small one! Maybe 20-30 feet)
* Bake perfectly soft, moist, cookies!
* Sit on the balcony, in the sun, reading Azure magazine, and not worrying about going anywhere!
* Have the time, facilities, and "company" to make furniture
* Go to a cottage with some sand, and make sand angels
* Go to see the Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada
* Go to see Gros Morne National Park, NFLD; and hike through it
* Hike through Toronto's trail (the one that passes through Edwards Gardens and Sunnybrook Park ... don't know the name of it)
* Spend time with cousins, (and their brand new babies!)
* Get a video camera (something that records picture and sound!) and start videotaping nature.
* Go swimming!
* Sitting with Karen on my balcony, her playing her guitar, and us laughing and chatting, etc.
* Reading literature.
* Brunch at Cora's!

That's it for now!
What would YOU add to the list?

* Stair Porn *

This is a post about designed stairs.
If you like art, if you like architecture (and read architecture/design magazines for the pictures), if you like to, or would like to build stairs, if you like to hiking up stairs, if you like to store things, if you like to rethink the way things are built,

... then you will like this stair blog.



P.S. ... and I thought buildings were made by pouring the cement. This video proves me wrong!

Beatbox Chick

If there's any chance for the proletariat to vote, babe - you got mine!
Julia Dales, age 17, is going head-to-head with the best of the beatbox artists from around the world to compete. And some people say girls can't do sound effects!

You can get more info on the event from their formal website. They have a live webcast tomorrow at 1400h. (2pm for those who operate in standard time) ...

Scratch that! It seems as though she has already won. Okay. This was an online battle ... and she took gold! Now next year we need to send her away to compete onstage!

|| Sisters in the Building Trades ||

Women in construction.
That's right, sinking nails in 5 hits, framing, formwork, scaffolding, welding, operating heavy machinery, divers, highrise, steelworkers, plumbers, and residential. Here we ALL are.
Yes, this is a clip from an American site, but if you gave me enough time, I could put together one of Toronto's own clips, from Habitat, at least.

play the video, ladies, and enjoy!

Woman, Empowered.

I need to take a moment to express this, because it is in honour of one of the stand-outs at the Women’s Build. Her name is Jenny T. Also known as “Jenny of the Block” … or something like that. She is an incredible woman. She took this Women’s Build and made it hers (in part ... at least I think so!). I don’t know what her official title on this project is (something to do with actually co-ordinating the project though), but I know she is a no-bull-sh!t kind of woman, who takes any crap that anyone throws at her, and turns it right around. She is capable of leading a project that many others, including, quite possibly myself, are not (yet) able to do.

I am so happy to see that Jenny has risen to the top of this project and is glowing. I absolutely admire her work, and how she conducts herself. She even wears her reputation on her sleeve, and I absolutely love that! LOVE IT!!! I get the idea that there are several people who do not like her way of doing things. Does she just absorb it? Hell no!! If they can’t cope with her way of doing things, I think she kind of enjoys calling them on their inability to cope with her particular leadership and less than fluffy and perfect conduct, and she has offered them, very politely and tactfully, a piece of their own cake. Here, if this is what you say about me, I will show the world that this is what you say about me, and let the world make a judgment call.

You know what? We will never know who called her some of her more “choice” nicknames, but she did mention some of those names in her speech one time. I think there are many women out there, me being one of them, who can relate to having to fight past those jerks and slothes who sit around passing judgment and making it harder for you, while they do nothing but give themselves the authority to judge. You need to push past the cynics, impress the people you should, and be value-based. And to everyone who just calls you names, well, you can make them into “nicknames” when people call you them, and then stand on the podium and publish those names later. Damn f^ck hun, but that felt as good and empowering to me as I hope it did to you! How do I become more like her? Not by just being around her, but by doing everything it takes to make and achieve my own goals, and not spending time crying about what other people do wrong. In fact, wearing what other people say to try to drag you down on your sleeve, and shining the light on the sh!t in such a way that they might just regret their actions, if they have the brain cells to do so.

They are not the ones who did all the hard work. They sat back and threw stones, wallowing in jealousy or bitterness, while Jenny pushed through, and “got’er done”, and continues to “get’er done” every single day of the build.

Who is the one who truly shines? Not any of those people who sat back in judgment, calling out names, but Jenny. She both chastises and compliments where each is due. She is confident; she is firm. She makes things happen. She makes decisions and enforces action. She is strict, and makes her statements and commands with confidence. These things are just a part of why I aspire to be more like her.

Here is the part I am personally truly grateful for. I saw her the second day I was at the build, first thing in the morning. She hadn’t had her coffee yet. I helped her, in my keener energy, to laugh through putting up caution tape. That same day, I worked with her at the very END of the day, when I think both of us were stumbling over our words a bit, and joked with her about that fact – gee, I’m seein’ you at your VERY BEST today hun, ain’t I!? Those were moments I am grateful for sharing with her. I am also grateful for her help, in allowing me to come back on Wednesday, and I kinda wish I could have come back Thursday, Friday and Saturday. But Saturday especially is the wedding, Friday we are taking women in our family out for dinner, and today I had to get some errands done for Mother’s Day, that considering all the other events of the upcoming weekend, I had to do today. I had a very good time at the Build though, and I am grateful for the powerhouse behind it all, that “got it all done.”

Kudos to you, Jenny, and your contribution to Canada’s First Women’s Build.

What a Seminar!

Oh this is a laugh!
I am sure it will be a wonderful seminar, but I just read on DCN about an "Update on Mould Breakfast Seminar" happening on May 13th. Somehow I can just picture it; mould on the eggs, bananas, orange juice ... what an appetizing seminar!

That among the articles about another 61,000 construction jobs lost in March, mostly in the residential sector. Maybe commercial carpentry is a just fine place to be right now. Maybe after the recession (and my apprenticeship) I can head back into the field for more residential-based work.

Jane's Walk

Whoa! I think I should create a post on Jane Jacobs … but because I also want to bake, make dinner, and read about framing (construction) I will limit this post to a simple summary and listing.

Jane’s Walk is a series of walking tours happening in different cities and communities across North America where local residents give guided tours of different areas, telling the stories and history (or herstory!) of each area as they see it. This is the second year Jane’s Walk has been held, and I would like to go this year.

To anyone who would like to join me, I can only go to walks on the Saturday, and only as time permits, but if you are interested, please cast your vote, and we can head off! And PLEASE, somebody has got to help me out here (like Dad, maybe?) research these walks, because I want to go on all of them that I have listed, but there is too much overlap! So I need to narrow it down to two, or maybe three walks total, but there are eight that I'm interested in!

More details for each of these walks, and a complete listing can be found on the Jane's Walk website.

This listing is not complete, but these are a few walks I am interested in:


Junction-High Park: West Bend Community Walk
* Duncan Farnan
* Saturday, May 2, 2009
* 9:45am
* Walk: 2 hours

Davenport: The Stairs Along Lake Iroquois
* Leehe Lev
* Saturday, May 2, 2009
* 10:00am
* Walk: 2 hours

Downtown Sculpture Walk
* Charles Campbell
* Saturday, May 2, 2009
* 10:30am
* Walk: 1.5 hours

King-Spadina: One of 'The Two Kings'
* Paul Bedford, Margie Zeidler
* Saturday, May 2, 2009
* 10:30am – 1:pm
* Walk: 2.5 hours

Fort York: 200 years of Lakefront Development
* Rene Malagon
* Saturday, May 2, 2009
* 1:00pm
* Walk: 1.5 hours

Jane-Finch Neighbourhood Tour
* The Spot Youth group of Jane/Finch Centre
* Saturday, May 2, 2009
* 1:00pm
* Walk: 2 hours

Victoria Village Adventure Walk
* Victoria Village Residents
* Saturday, May 2, 2009
* 1:15pm
* Walk: 1.5 hours

Dovercourt Village
* Lewis Poplak
* Saturday, May 2, 2009
* 1:00pm
* Walk: 1.5 hours

Jungle Jaunt: Lawrence Heights is Not What You Think
* Students of Sir Sanford Fleming Academy
* Saturday, May 2, 2009
* 2:00pm
* Walk: 1.5 hours

A tribute to Music

Song. It has passed on so many traditions. It is the music of the soul, and soul music. It can be the bridge to the divine. It is written for love, to mourn, to grieve, to celebrate, and just for the sake of music.

Music is a huge part of our emotional expression. The music we listen to, sing, and perform helps define who we are as people, for better or for worse. Choose your music wisely. Base it on quality of lyrics, and who you want to be. Choose your music to be something you are proud of sharing with others. There are different kinds of music that are incredibly demeaning to others, and that's the kind of music that is destructive. It's full of anger, it encourages racism and sexism, it encourages problem solving by violence. That kind of music defines you too, if that's what you listen to.

But there are so many wonderful kinds of music out there, and so many ways to express yourself through it. My sister plays in a band that plays some jazz and swing, a very good friend of mine is a piano accompanist for a choir, and she also plays in many concerts outside of that, I have an acquaintance who sings professionally(?), and a classmate of mine and I just sing in the car along with the radio.

One group that performs quality music is the Nylons. They have been around since 1979, when they started singing gigs in clubs across Toronto. Completely acappella, (well, ALMOST completely acappella - sometimes they use a tambourine, for example) they let their voices be the harmony and beat that instruments would otherwise provide. I was reminded of them, oddly enough, in a carpentry course I am currently taking, and the song was not "Chain Gang", although that would be fitting considering the kind of work we were doing, but "Up the Ladder to the Roof".

This kind of music is pretty much as close to pure music as possible: all you use is the sound of your own voice, as does the wind, the birds, and the sound of the rain. Sure your voice can make so many different sounds, as the rain makes a different sound for everything it hits, and we can play different instruments, but when all rain has is water, or all you have is your own voice, you can still make music.

And we shall let expression ring
Hear freedom in our singin' ...

Wish List

* Tickets to the Nylons, performing at Markham Theatre on September 26th!!! OMGOMG!
* One of those tea strainer thingies: Yeah! I got one, thank you, Mom!
* Another Hot Stone Massage (or three!)
* Loose fitting Hoodie. Tastefully done of course! (Anything from Winnie the Pooh to ROOTS to SHERIDAN/GeorgeBrown/York ... it's all good, just as long as it's somethin'!
* Subscription to Dwell Magazine: Yeah! I got one, thank you, Mom!
* I just discovered my "Holst's Planets" CD that "Erica" burnt for me @ Sheridan is cracked ... don't know how that happened! But I will need another copy of it!
* Of course, charitable donations (Canadian Food for the Hungry Women's Sewing Class, or School Dues for a Year)
* More than "Anything Clothes" would be a shopping trip to Yorkdale. I go through there once a month and never buy anything ...
* On the concept of never buying anything ... I never buy chocolate bars for myself. I love the mint ones from Laura Secord, Coffee Crisp, and Caramilk ...
* Code White
*Iced - By Judith Alguire: I went through that book three times without stopping! Cover-cover-cover-cover-cover-cover!
* A sturdy bag for tools. Would have to be MINIMUM 24" long, as it will need to potentially accommodate a 24" level.

I want to own:
* Kung-Fu Panda
* Anna and the King (with Jodie Foster)
* Contact (with Jodie Foster)
* Paycheck
* Anne of Green Gables, original (and maybe sequel) in DVD
* Starwars 4/5/6 in DVD
* League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
* Pitch Black / Chronicles of Riddick
* When Night is Falling
* Better than Chocolate
* The Time Machine (2002 Release)
* The GridIron Gang
* Fire (Deepa Mehta)
* Born into Brothels
* The Chronicles of Narnia; Prince Caspian (the DVD with all the extra stuff!)
* The Golden Compass
* The Nativity Story
* Spirited Away


I want to watch:
* A Wrinkle in Time
* The Secret Life of Bees
* Slumdog Millionaire
* Lady in the Water
* Bride and Prejudice
* Daredevil
* Drumline
* Flushed Away
* The Last Mimzy
* Nim's Island
* No Reservations
* Over the Hedge
* Peter Pan (Directed by P.J. Hogan)
* Pixar Short Films Collection
* Rocky movie ... ?
* The Time Machine, released 2002
* The Spiderwick Chronicles
* Stardust
* Steamboy
* Howl's Moving Castle




The list will continue ...

An Avalanche of Days

[start of quote] Then the tree actually did begin to shake. It whipped forward and back once, then splintered into pieces as the biggest avalanche in a hundred years roared down the side of Princess Margaret Mountain and smashed everything in its path.
Far uip on the mountain, on a cliff overlooking a particularly steep gully, a stone had fallen. It was a chunk about the size of a raven. When it plopped into the gully it sent a small force out into the surrounding snow. There was enormous power in that snow. Each flake was a crystal of latent energy, one among billions, poling up day after day, covering the slopes, filling the gullies, getting heavy, getting ready … As the stone hit, the interlocking flakes – just barely touching each other, all prickly and uncomfortable – started to slide.
The avalanche was small at first, quietly carrying the stone slowly down a single gully. But the slide began to move faster, as more and more snowflakes fell into step, until the gully was wall-to-wall with churning whiteness, snaking through the narrow places and flinging itself into the air as it bounced around the corners.
The slide overflowed the gully. Cracks ripped across the slopes on either side as the snowpack collapsed there, too. A gigantic slab comes as it broke loose, a mountainside of snow moving faster, so strong that when the blast hit the trees they snapped off. The snow carried the shattered wood and limbs and branches and needles farther, down and down with a noise like thunder …
The last of the slide reached the flats and stopped. A sprinkling of conifer needles settled over the huge heap. There, sitting on the surface, was the stone that had started it all.
The stone came to rest directly over Carrot Creek. In the spring it would melt out of the avalanche debris and drop into the stream, where it would be tugged, tumbled and rolled for centuries toward the Bow River, then on to the Saskatchewan River, the Nelson River and eventually the slat waster of Hudson Bay. “Gee,” the rock said to another stone, lying beside it in the snow, “the system works!” [end of quote]

This quote was taken from pages 143-144, of the novel “Raven’s End” by Ben Gadd. The passage was a bit out of character for the book, as it was the first time Gadd gave an inanimate object a voice. It was a kind of segue of sorts from the story line, a soliloquy. Maybe that’s why it stood out in my mind. Maybe he had written this passage as a poem, and just wanted to publish it somewhere, so he placed it in this story. I take this as a mini-story within the larger one, and I think it is worth quoting. The entire book is a wonderful read.

For me, this quote provides a good example of an avalanche of days. If you perform actions on one day, and repeat them for hundreds of days, with the end in mind of achieving a specific goal, those days will add up. Your action will become your habit, and your habit will become your character. Then all it will take is one symbolic stone, and when it drops all of everything you have worked so hard to achieve will finally be set in motion. Just as the stone did, you will finally see that everything really works. Sigh, I hope I can build up good habits, while I wait for my stone one day to drop!