$1.30/litre for gas? Who cares?

Tonight I experienced a whole new side of Calgary previously uncharted by me. As you may have read in my previous post, my new (used, child) bicycle is my ticket to disengage me from the restricted claustrophobic feeling of being confined to an area of 4 city blocks and to explore this (new) city.

I rode over 40 kilometres tonight and discovered the previously elusive beauty of Calgary that is hidden from plain sight. The bicycle trails along the water are amazing and I kept riding, even after it became dark. I ended up riding around the south side of the city along the river, then followed a path along the Nose creek up to the airport to watch the planes land before I headed back home. The only disappointing part about the ride was the fact that I only saw 3 other cyclists in over 2 hours of biking along the seemingly endless trails. Today was probably the nicest day of the year so far, so it was very sad not to see more people bike riding (Less people driving).

Here are some pictures I took with my Blackberry along the way:

$29 happiness

Working in Calgary has been a huge shift in my lifestyle. I'm only here every other week, but when I'm here I am leaving behind everything that enables me to stay healthy (aside from my running shoes):

• The 16-foot sea kayak I bought a few weeks ago has been hanging in my living room since I bought it
• My bike is locked up in my locker in Toronto
• I've only made it to one of my hockey games so far this summer
• My roller blades are collecting dust at home
• My ability to walk to work has been compromised in this "Car-is-King" city of Calgary

But today the tides have changed. I went on Craigslist and found a used bike for sale. The ad states the bike is a perfect size for anyone 4 feet tall to 5 foot 4. In the picture the bike looked fine to me, and the price was incomparable. So I went to check out the bike and took it out for a test ride. It was a bit small on me, but nothing I couldn't handle, so I gave the nice gentleman his $29 for the bike and took it home. I booted around the city tonight and the bike is going to be the perfect way for me to stay in shape, commute to work, and explore Calgary.

It really doesn't take much to please me. This bike made my day. There is nothing more depressing than sitting down at a computer for 9 hours all day only to go out for a fatty Alberta beef dinner and beers, and then back to the hotel to sit down all night on my computer again. This goes against so many things that bring joy to me, such as being outside, exercising and exploring. This simple bike has brought that joy back to me, and this weekend I am going to take out my kayak, rain or shine.

The return of Rebel Emergency

Rebel Emergency is back! What evidence do I have to support this audacious claim? Last night I heard them on the popular radio station, Edge 102; that's a good sign for a band who took a brief hiatus from the public eye while writing new music after they broke apart from being "Panic and the Rebel Emergency". The last time I saw them featured in the mainstream media, they were in a light rotation on MuchMusic with their "Walk on By" video (Watch on YouTube).

The name "Rebel Emergency" spawned when lead singer Roddy Soul encountered a newspaper headline that said "Columbia Declares a Rebel Emergency". The band is based in Toronto, but they went down to New York a few years ago where they met reggae artist "Panic" whom they collaborated with to produce their first album as Panic and the Rebel Emergency, under Grammy-winning Producer Commissioner Gordon (Lauren Hill, Santana, Damien Marley). When Panic left, Rebel Emergency re-did their Panic and the Rebels songs and wrote some new original songs.

If you'd like to see Rebel Emergency, they are playing Friday May 30th with one of my favourite new bands from Toronto (Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker) at the Sound Academy (Formerly known as the Docks). This concert is part of the Edge "Next Big Thing" concert series, so the only way to get tickets is to win them at edge.ca or e-mail me and I'll see if I can hook you up with a ticket. (If you're in the Kingston, Ontario area, they are also playing on Saturday, May 24th with USS as well).

Trash Talk: Dixie Trash

While visiting my Dad in the U.S. this weekend, I saw one of the most disturbing commercials I've ever seen. The commercial was advertising Dixie plates, cups, cutlery, etc. The premise behind the commercial is that by using disposable paper plates and cups for your family dinners, you can free up more time for your family.

I can't think of a more absurd marketing campaign; even when I was growing up in the 1980's, before the environment was a common concern. In addition to the absurd commercial, their website advertises their products to be used to combat germs. Here are my favourite quotes from their website:

• "Pack 'Em, Toss 'Em: Even those water bottles you brought from home harbor germs when you let little ones share—a problem easily avoided when everyone gets his or her own cup. And when the day's over, just toss 'em away. No need to lug sippy cups and plastic sports drink bottles to and from home when you start off the day with the Dixie brand."
• "Dixie products require no washing, drying or saving-just toss 'em in the trash."
• "For Moms, great days include those extra-special surprises—little moments squeezed into the everyday circus of life. Sometimes it's a walk in the park. Or an extra story at bedtime. And with products from Dixie, and help from our new Website, it's easy to find them."
• "Inevitably, you're going to hear, "That's MY cup!" and "It's MY turn for the blue plate!" Suddenly, dinner time has turned into an all-out war zone¯and you haven't even served the food. Keep things calm (or at least, calmer) with Dixie products."

I read through some newsgroups to see what other people thought about this commercial, and there are people who actually believe that using Dixie plates is better for the environment than "wasting water" to wash dishes: "Which is worse? Wasting water washing dishes (and using dish soap) or using paper plates that can be recycled and are biodegradable?" This statement is even more ludicrous than the Dixie commercial itself. I'm not even going to get into a debate over which is better for the environment. I think it is obvious that cutting down trees to make paper plates that are disposed of every day and driven to landfill sites to bioderade is far worse than using water and dish soap to wash your dishes (Even if your dish soap isn't biodegradable, my argument still stands; and if anyone would like to argue this statement, I'd love to prove you wrong).

Dixie is owned by Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products, located at 133 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta, GA 30303 - 1-800-283-5547. Click here to contact Georgia-Pacific to voice your opinions on their advertising campaign. I've already sent them a scathing message about their poor choice for an advertising campaign. Let them know how you feel too.

Jim Hannan, Georgia-Pacific's CEO and President even had the nerve to make the following BS statements on his Social Responsibility Report:

• "Sustainability is about doing more with less, leaving more resources available to meet other needs. It's also good business and that is why we work to incorporate sustainability into our business processes."
• "Operationally, we're focused on doing what's right for the environment — minimizing the adverse impact of our products and processes and addressing key issues like energy use, air and water quality, and waste reduction."

Chasing Rabbits

I was reminded today that US Customs officials are humans too. From the lakefront bike trails of Toronto, to the absurdly unpredictable Calgary climate, to the endless walkways of Chicago O'Hare airport, to the deer littered shoulders of the Wisconsin highways, I have been traveling a lot the last few weeks (mostly for work). It is the observations in travel that I'm sharing with you today.

After hearing about the horror stories of passing through US Customs, I was pleasantly surprised by the element of humanity in the customs officer whom I encountered yesterday. He told me he has never been to Wisconsin and I responded that he's not missing much, but then he pointed out that there's beer, cheese and good looking women in Wisconsin. "What more can you ask for?", he mused. There was then a moment of silence while the man's mind was occupied by the thought of beer, cheese and women, and you could see his bliss in his reminiscing. He then snapped out of his thoughts to let me continue through customs.

The other day George and I were in a variety store at a gas station and the clerk (an older, probably post retirement aged man) had called a lady "sir", not once but twice. She looked confused but didn't call him on it. He must have been intoxicated because when George handed him a $20 bill to pay for the items he bought, the man gave George the $20 bill back and then gave him his change too. George was kind enough to give him the $20 bill back and the man didn't seem at all surprised at his oversight.

Walking back to our hotel in Calgary the other night, George and I encountered a spectacle of around a dozen wild hares. To make the most of this rare opportunity to see wild rabbits in the city, we chased them around a small field, one of the few remaining patches of nature in this rapidly growing oil booming city.

... From the archives of "The Adventures of Jimmy"

Frustration and Insomnia

I reserve the right to use the Urban Country as a place to vent my frustrations once every year. Tonight is that night. Being unable to get to sleep for the last hour, I feel like my mind is racing with hundreds of sheep jumping over fences and on top of each sheep is a task that I was supposed to do but I haven't done yet.

With less than 4 hours before I have to wake up to catch a flight, ventilating here was my last chance at relieving my stress and presenting the possibility of falling asleep at last.

Among the things that are keeping me awake, the most prominent are:

• The status report I was supposed to send out
• The timesheets that I was supposed to submit
• The thought of working in the hotel room after working for 9 hours after traveling for 6 hours after sleeping for 4 hours
• The sore throat that never seems to go away
• The Discussion Web Part I'm supposed to finish for the KHP project
• The new content management system I'm supposed to deploy internally
• The hours I'm supposed to make up on the plane tomorrow because I was in meetings all day Friday
• The apartment in Calgary I'm supposed to find
• The new blog I'm supposed to write
• The new project I'm supposed to kick off

Well, it did feel good to get some of that out of my system. I'm hoping all my whining will pay off with a good night's sleep and maybe a few more hairs on my head tomorrow.

High memories

Today I was going through a bunch of old pictures, trying to find a baby picture to give to someone at my work for a baby picture mystery game we're playing, and I came across my favourite picture from when I was jumping on our old trampoline.

The picture is from a web cam video recording that I took while my brother Tom was "double jumping" me. The trick is to have 1 person jump lightly right before you're about to land to tighten up the trampoline. The result is that it launches you really high up in the air.

For context, the guy standing at the bottom right side of the picture is my buddy Greg who is 6 foot 7 and 3/4. This was probably the highest I had ever jumped on the trampoline, and it was extremely scary if you don't go up straight, because you could end up landing on the edge of the trampoline or even worse, on the hard ground.