Sunday, September 30, 2012

To Veggie or not to Veggie?


Given that I know what I know, why am I not a vegetarian?

In our society much of the meat available is basically from factory farms. You can even buy "organic" salmon from some of the most offensive and harmful open net fish farms out there.

The factory based farming of meat feels morally wrong. The animals are treated so horrifically, fed inappropriate diets, and injected drugs to keep them "healthy".

Worse yet is the environmental damage (no offence to the cow). Cow farts are worse then car farts as far as global warming and ozone depletion goes. Also, farming meat requires 100x more water then veggies, part of this of course is that you're feeding the cattle calories from corn primarily.

Apparently the average american eats 3.5 lbs of meat a week (I heard that on a Ted talk). And sadly, we're often pitched a binary solution. Either you are a vegitarian (which comes with it's own stereotype) or you're a meat eater, and part of "the problem".

The reality is that I'm not a vegetarian, I am a "less meat-atarian". I rarely cook meat at home. I occasionally eat fish (sushi) or have a steak from a restaurant. I eat eggs. My diet is not the most sustainable way to eat meat, but I do think that my footprint is certainly less than the average.

I know the worst culprits are red meat and processed meats. I stay away from ground beef, including beef burgers. I choose more sustainable fish when I do cook at home. SP occasionally cooks a turkey on a special occasion.

I look for better options. It may not be the best answer, but I'd say that I'm only eating meat once a week these days, and mostly in small portions. And just think, if all of us ate half the meat we used to, then half of us would be vegetarians?

This post was inspired by the Ted Talks "Chew on This". And there are lots of sources of information online to show how to choose better products like sustainable seafood.

E.

Writing Postcards


Hi PersonICareAbout,

We're having a great time in VacationSpotOfChoice. The weather here is really nice and the food is fabulous. Tomorrow we're going to see an OverPricedTouristAttraction, which should be fun! Miss you lots.

XOXO
     YourNameHere

Ah yes, the postcard. I was educated this morning by my two sisters that sending postcards on a trip as long as ours would be a requirement. They don't want me to call or bring back gifts. All they want are occasional postcards (and pictures, but more on that later).

I was also informed that my postcard selection and writing skills were going to be judged. They did however provide some suggestions on how to score well on this test. For starters, I was to locate postcards with either interesting animals or fish on them. Any postcards with uninteresting scenery would be unlikely to score any points at all.

Further to that, I was to include an interesting and perhaps humorous story with the card. Any stereotypical text would be poor form and docked points accordingly.

Quite frankly, my writing style is particularly bland all ready and even though postcards are not normally known for there literary qualities,  I think that this will still be somewhat of a challenge for me.

Perhaps there is some kinship between the art of postcard writing and Twitter? Both require you to craft an interesting and heartfelt message in limited space? Ok, heartfelt may be a stretch when applied to twitter.

Regardless, I will take up the challenge from my sisters. If time allows, I'll also attempt to post a picture or two of any forays that I make into the world of postcard writing up onto the blog.

E.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Getting Certified for SCUBA - Home or Away?

SP and I have signed up to complete our scuba diving open water certification. I thought it would be interesting to write up the notes from whether it would be a good decision to complete the certification at home in Vancouver BC, or to do it in Cairns, Australia (one of our eventual scuba destinations)
It was a last minute decision. We're squeezing it in just before we leave. In fact, it was such a last minute decision that I'm kinda surprised that we found a course that is running in time. 

Why Certify?

There are a lot more options for diving locations and trips if you are certified.
It's your life and your safety - According to wikipedia scuba is 35 to 62 x more dangerous than driving.
Though you can just do "Introductory Dives" you are limited in depth, they are more expensive, shorter duration and you will always be diving with people who are newbies.

Comparison
  1. Time
    • Because we're working stiff's, the only feasible way for us to get it done in time was to take 5 x 4 hour evening classes followed by a full weekend of diving. You also need to complete some reading ahead of time too.
    • If we were to do the course in Australia, it would be a 5 day course. You typically spend 2 days in the "classroom" followed by 3 days on a liveaboard boat.  That means that 2 days of our vacation would be spent mostly reading the manual.
  2. Value
    1. Both Australia and Canada have 5 star PADI diving centers with quality instructors.
    2. Though diving in Canada in October sounds a little nuts (7' C ocean temperature) I hear that the dives are a lot of fun. I can't particularly say I'm looking forward to it, but I'll reserve judgment for two weeks from now when we jump into the ocean. In contrast, getting certified in Cairns Australia means that we'd have the luxury of completing the certification in warm waters and get the extra time on the Great Barrier Reef.
    3. Potentially the most overlooked value here is that because we're completing the course in Canada ahead of time, we will be able to concentrated on the material and learning the skills instead of ruing the loss of our vacation to reading a rather bland manual.
  3. Cost
    • Australia
    • Canada
      • The evening classes plus 2 days of diving in Canada = $390 CAD ($100 dry suit upgrade not included, also, no accommodation, etc)

Conclusion

In the end we're spending $200 ahead of time (at least) in order to save ourselves from having to learn the skills on location in Australia. Despite this not being the cheaper way to go, I think that there is a lot of value getting certified this way.
It is worth mentioning that the cost difference between Canada and Australia is linked to the fact that in Canada we complete the four open water dives right off the beach. In Australia, those dives are out on the Great Barrier Reef which means both time spent on a boat, fuel charges, staff costs, etc.

As a side note, PADI does have a Referral program. Basically you can do your academic work and the exam in your home country and receive Referral papers. You then arrange with your diving outfitter in Australia (or wherever) and they take you out for the 4 dives required to complete the course.

Essentially, completing the referral program would have saved us the $100 dry suit upgrade, about $110 off the Canadian program and $75 off the AUD program. Of course, then we would have had 5 weeks between completing the academic work and the completing the dives (as we are in New Zealand for the rest of Oct). If I was really not interested in the Canadian portion of the diving, then it would have been a feasible option.

Peach Jam

After picking up a huge box of peaches from Keremeos for only $10, I set about figuring out things to do with them all. A lot of them ended up in canning projects:


  • Sliced peaches in light syrup ~9 pints
  • Peach Rosemary Jam ~4 pints
  • Spicy Peach Pepper Preserve ~4 pints
  • Peach Pineapple and Rum Jam ~ 4 pints 


SP and I ate a lot too, and we also froze about 10 peaches sliced.

For the record, peaches must be 100% ripe before you blanche them, don't skimp on the pectin and check to see if the jam is set using a plate in the freezer, or whatever suits your fancy.





Thursday, September 20, 2012

Two tips for Cold Weather running and cycling


Though we have had one of the most spectacular September’s on record, the mornings are starting to get a bit crispy. Below are the two most important tips I’ve learned about appropriate gear for cold weather running and cycling. Remembering these two items will save your day:

  1. Gloves before sleeves
    • In principle, your core normally warms up pretty well once you start running or cycling. You should generally think about adding gloves or booties before considering extra layers on your core. So if you find yourself at the door contemplating a jacket or arm warmers, remember the gloves first. In fact, most of the time if you don’t have gloves on, you don’t need long sleeves either. 
    • As a rule of thumb, if it’s below 10’C outside, I wear gloves.
  2. Standing runners get cold, standing cyclist don’t
    • If you are standing around in your running gear outside, you should get cold. If you’re not getting cold, then you’re overdressed and you should take a layer off. 
    • Cycling is different. If you can stand around outside fairly comfortably in your cycling gear, you’ll probably be fine on the road. If you’re getting cold, add another (wind resistant) layer. 


E.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

RunKeeper vs Strava (and other fitness tracking apps)


Over the past 4 years I’ve tried a variety of tools for tracking running and cycling performance. Primarily I’ve used a Timex Global Trainer (TrainingPeaks), Nike +, MyMyRun, RunKeeper and Strava. These days I’m moving entirely over to Strava. Below is a list of the tools I’ve used and why I’m now only using Strava.

Timex Global Trainer
About a year ago I got an iPhone 4 and discovered the delight of having everything on one piece of hardware. It’s not waterproof, but I still have an old Timex Road Trainer for swimming. So once the iPhone was firmly rooted in my life, the Timex Global Trainer dropped off the radar of sports tracking toys. Besides, I found the interface on the watch to be really difficult to use, the website kinda sucks too.

Nike +
I’ll admit that I haven’t dusted off Nike+ since the recent redesign of the website, but I did give it a go shortly after setting up my iPhone. I found both the app and the website to be a bit much to navigate. Also, it didn’t provide some of the metrics I was looking for. It’s worth mentioning that I think that Nike+ is probably the leader in this industry right now. I’m sure there are good reasons for it as it seem a lot of other people love this app. 

mapMyRun & mapMyRide
I mention these two sites only because it’s pretty easy to search for routes with specific criteria. I use them as planning tools though. Especially if I want to plan a longer trip, this is a great way to map it out and you can send it out to your friends.

RunKeeper
This app has been my go-to app for running performance tracking for over a year now. I like its simplicity. I like that it tells me my split speed while I'm listening to music. I like that I can easily add a route and see the history of that route online. RunKeeper has been pretty good to me, but as of today, I’m ditching it. Sadly I’ll miss it.

Strava
I have to admit, I love Strava Bike. I’ve been addicted to it since I first dusted the bike off in early spring and hit the roads. I cajole my friends into installing the app and giving it a go. It’s seriously fun, like asynchronous racing. There are enough people in my area that ride to make the data compelling. But if you’re not motivated by the competitive edge that Strava brings, this is still a great app. Sometimes I use it to look for a good bike route. Strava Bike will show you where everyone else rides, so you can see what areas of the city are common with cyclists and which are not. 

Strava Run, however, was a different story. I installed it in the spring time expecting to have the wonderful experience that I had with the Bike app. However, it wasn’t that great. There are not enough runners in my area to give it that competitive user base. It also meant that there wasn’t enough data in the system to make it useful for planning routes. Even worse, it didn’t have one of my favourite features from RunKeeper – the voice that gives you your split speed mid run.

But today I’m getting back on the Strava Run bandwagon. I’m going to go segment creating crazy and load all my favourite local running routes into the app. Even if I’m the only one on them, it will be still be worth it because I’ll have all of my bike and running data on the same system. Also, recently Strava Run updated some of the metrics and I think that this will make the app more compelling. Yes, I’ve lost RunKeeper’s motivational voice telling me my split speed, but sometimes less is more. (And if the developers from from Strava reads this – add Audio metrics please!)

E.

T -26

It's officially 26 days until SP and I head off to New Zealand and Australia for 11 weeks. And yes, we are counting it down. Today is T minus 26 days.

I've been working on a todo list of things to finish up before we head off. Today's additions to the list includes figuring out what to do with the truck while we are gone. The truck is almost 10 years old, and though it's in pretty good shape (thanks to SP, not me!) the battery is a little old and it will be sitting there unloved for the entire time we're away.

How to store a car while on Vacation:
  1. Get someone to come start it about once a month. 
    1. I'm going to ask my mom (AKA SuperMom) for at least the month of December. She's with us in New Zealand for the first 5 weeks, so I can't get her to help out then. 
    2. Maybe I can convince J&K to give it a go during October and early November. J is currently off on her own wonderful trip to the UK, so I'll ask her about it later. 
  2. Check the car insurance.
    1.  I'm pretty sure it expires in November, so we can probably update it to have just storage insurance for those months that we are gone. SP will need to help with that as it's in his name.
  3. To remove or not remove the battery?
    1. I think we'll leave it in seen as asking SuperMom and J&K to reinsert it would be a little over the top, besides, we're only gone 11 weeks. Hopefully it will keep it's charge.
  4. Lastly, change the oil. 
    1. From research on the web, ideally you change and top up all the fluids. In this case, I'll ask SP when it was changed maybe it's ready for another go.
  5. Other items
    1. For future reference, ideally the car is stored under a cover. Also, for longer storage, keep the tank full and add a fuel stabilizer to the tank (run the car for ~ 10 mins after adding). 


The Obligatory Welcome Post

It's obligatory. I guess I'm supposed to explain what I'm trying to do here. Well, it goes like this:

  • My husband and I are heading down to New Zealand for 5 weeks, leaving Oct 14th.
    • My Mom is coming with us. 
    • So is a good friend I've known since I was 3, S.
    • And her Mom too, B. 
  • After New Zealand we're heading to Australia for about 6 weeks. 
    • Mom, S and B are heading home after NZ, so it will just be the two of us in Oz. 

I'm generally attached at the hip to a computer, so being semi-unplugged for 11 weeks will be interesting. Because I know I just can't let it go, I'm going to try blogging while we're en route. 

Funny thing actually, my husband (SP) is also normally attached to a computer. So it will be interesting to see how he handles this. Mind you, I think I saw him pricing out a new laptop last night, so he also might not be willing to give up programming for that long! 

What else? While we are away we are racing at the ITU World Championships in Auckland New Zealand, Oct 22nd. SP, S and I are age group athletes. Our Mom's are preparing to be the ultimate Canadian cheering squad. They also like to Golf, I hear NZ is good for that.

I hope to post a bunch of pictures from our epic adventure. I'll also be posting related to travelling light, slacker triathlon training and anything else that sparks my interest (like beaches, beaches are great). 

E.