essential pepper

February 2012, Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2012-02-04T11:46:00.000-05:00

This is one of my own pictures taken during a Halton Hike. I thought it may be a nice wallpaper to brighten your desktop for February.

January 2012 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2011-12-18T08:22:00.002-05:00

There is something lonely about this car left alone in the field, covered with snow. It is a great photograph with interesting shadows and light. Enjoy this wallpaper.

Laundry and Liquid Hand Soap Recipes

2011-12-12T15:26:00.000-05:00

I've scoured the internet for several laundry and hand soap recipes and these are the two that I have made and like so far.

Laundry Soap (powder):

1 c Borax
1 c Washing Soda
1 c grated Ivory bar

Just mix together.

This is a nice, simple, easy to do recipe. You can add essential oils to it but I prefer fragrance free. This powder works in both top and front loading washers. source

Liquid Hand Soap:

1 c grated soap (I used those bar hotel soaps or use your preference)
1 tbs glycerin
10 c water

Combine in a pot over medium heat until soap dissolves. Let cool and pour into containers.

note: if your soap contains a lot of glycerin you may not have to add the full glycerin amount the recipe calls for. I will be playing with this recipe. The soap does not suds up with hand washing - yes people its not the suds that clean its the actual soap and friction. It does suds up with a bath scrunchie so I mostly use it in the shower. source

Other recipes I've looked at but never tried:

10 Homemade Laundry Soap Detergent Recipes from TipNut
Liquid Laundry Soap Recipe - David Suzuki Foundation
Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe - Easy Aromatherapy Recipes
Make Liquid Hand Soap with 4 Simple Ingredients - TipNut

December 2011 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2011-11-17T10:41:00.000-05:00

I'm cancelling winter and just staying in fall mode. I took this picture on a hike in the Hilton Falls Trails up in Milton. 1920 x 1200 enjoy.

November 2011 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2011-10-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

Here is a simple wallpaper featuring a curious praying mantis. 1920 x 1200, enjoy.

Cape Breton Trip Part 2

2011-09-17T13:44:00.000-04:00

Ingonish

Finally arrived in Ingonish, my goals were to scout out a campsite and get some food. I was pretty sick of living off my loopy mix and hard boiled eggs.

The ladies at the park site were awesome, they answered all of my silly questions with a smile. Good job ladies, you made an inexperienced camper feel at home.

OK so what you do if you don't have a reservation is to go and grab a campsite then return to the park office place thingy to register your campsite and pay for your license. They do check your license BTW. I saw one lady come up to cars while I was camping to check its validity.

It took me a whole hour to put up the tent! Yes when I went to pick up the tent, the owners showed me how to do it but we were 4 of us :P Here I was holding on to one pole, trying to slip the other pole into the slot thingy at the end then run to do the same thing to the third pole but because it was windy the thing would flop over and I would have to start again. When I finally figured it out it was time to put on the fly. I thought myself brilliant when I tied the peg bag to one end of the fly to throw it over the tent. That doesn't work well when your end isn't anchored and the wind picks up the fly. So after a few tries and some newly invented swear words the fly was successfully anchored. Oh and I am quite certain that I provided some much needed entertainment to my neighbours who watched and didn't lift a bloody finger to help me. Anywho, here is what the looks like, so proud!

1 hour and several colourful metaphors later

Sweet, so now onto finding some food. At this point I went up the road a ways to a grocery store. What I haven't told you is that on my travels down the mountain to Ingonish my car was making this horrible noise. I just chalked it up to an old car that never went up and down hills the way I forced it. But, Ingonish is not that hilly., and my Honda was still making that terrible noise. So coming out of the grocery store I looked at my tail end and noticed that my muffler was holding on for dear life! Yep, here I was, in a strange land, with a loose muffler. The grocery store cashier told me I could find a mechanic down the street to take a look at it.

see anything missing?

Here I went down to Caper Gas where the Doucettes took awesome care of me. They took my muffler off and told me to come back the following morning when they would figure out what to do with it. They knew I was camping nearby and I'm sure they took pleasure in the fact that I had to be up early and wake the entire camp up at 7:30 with my rumbling Honda. Actually, I kinda liked waking the camp too :P It took less than two hours for them to fix my baby and I was so happy that I gave them a bottle of wine (it was the wife's anniversary). I hoped they had a good time that night. *cough* Maybe I will have indirectly increased the Doucette population *cough* BTW the Doucettes are everywhere in Ingonish. There are streets named after them, the convenience store and who knows what else.

Clean :-)

The next few days were spent hiking, eating and sleeping. BTW Cape Breton Highlands National park is super-well maintained. There were clean toilets, showers, sinks, designated place to wash dishes and of course anti-bear garbage bins. I made certain to keep my food in the car and always clean up right away after eating (that is better than what I do at home LOL). I didn't have any problems with the camp stove and fortunately I didn't set the island on fire for which I'm sure the Doucette clan is grateful.

My first venture was going down to Ingonish beach and checking out both beach and Freshwater Lake. OK so when someone says beach you automatically think of sand right? Well me too. Apparently we are wrong. There is little sand on this beach. There are stones. Gizillions.of.them. Enlightened beach people brought chairs to that beach not beach towels to lie on.

Of course being the curious monkey that I am, I had to find and read those informative boards about those beach stones. Here is what it says.

oh alright I put my stone back

For thousands of years, the Atlantic Ocean has shaped this coastline and its people. The cobblestone barrier anchors the beach blow. Each year, sand is added by summer swells and removed by crashing winter waves. But only the most powerful storms can shift the cobbles. Ingonish residents, past and present, rely on the ocean for their livelihood. What the sea offers, it can reclaim. In 1895, par of the fishing settlement on the cobblestone barrachois was swept away by a winter storm. Removing even one cobble from the beach weakens the anchor. Please leave cobbles in their place and let the ocean shape the barrier, as it always has. We are all responsible for the future of our wild places, including Cape Breton Highlands National Park of Canada and every other national park.

Middle Head (or as I like to call it, Middle earth)

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say ― J.R.R Tolkien

By far my most favorite hike of all. I'm not sure if it was the perfect weather, the fresh air or the view but I enjoyed this one trail the most.

The start of the trail is located beyond the Keltic Lodge and took a few hours to complete it. It has some steep hills but nothing too serious. The picture to the right is the start. I would assume the two columns on either side to have anchored a gate of some sort. I had a Tolkien flashback. I won't put all of Middle Earth's picture on here, you can always see the complete set at the end of the post.

If you plan on doing this trail, be careful of the wind on top of the rocks. It can pick you up and throw you down quite easily. Apparently this is also coyote territory but to my chagrin I did not see any.

I found another information board about Middle Head. You are getting quite the education aren't you?

In 1890 while touring Cape Breton with his good friend Alexander Graham Bell, Mr. Henry Corson, of Ohio, spotted this peninsula from Cape Smokey. He decided to build his summer home here. In 1938, Middle Head became part of Cape Breton Highlands National Park. In 1951, the Corson home was replaced by the Keltic Lodge, now owned and operated by the Government of Nova Scotia. Mr. Corson's cattle once rambled down this trail parusing at the dringing trough just ahead beyond the gate.

Cape Smokey in the background

Met a few people on the hike. There was a Park-organized hike before me so I let them go a ways before I continued. Like I said it was a beautiful day, perfect temperature but windy up on the rocks. I loved all the look offs and the trails that led to them. Oh and the area was full of thistles, you know, those prickly things. I got pricked by them whenever I went off the trail.

The entire time I was on this trail my brain kept repeating Tolkien quotes. I think I may have even heard the scurrying of furry hobbit feet in the forest. Wait a minute, I think I hear Gandalf speaking...

Middle Head and a gnarly tree

“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien

Of course I had to take a nap when I came back from the hike :P I was on vacation after all, ya think I needed it?

Mary Ann Falls and Warren Lake

I wanted to do the Warren Lake drive but I turned right instead of left, ended up driving for ever on a gravel road which let to Mary Ann Falls. There wasn't many tourists up there pretty much local folk who looked at me funny. Most of them ended up frolicking at the bottom of the falls.

Mary Ann Falls

I retraced my steps down the gravel road, all the while praying for my muffler to stay attached, finally turned onto the correct gravel road to Warren Lake LOL. It was quiet around the lake, not too many people out on it. No one out on the trails. It was an interesting hike. It was also getting humid at times so that you would walk into a wall of humidity and of course mosquitoes. This was the only time where I was actively pursued by the little buggers.

The trail follows the perimeter of the lake so for the most part you were in eye shot of it. I was doing this hike in the late after noon so the sun was going down, throwing shadows on the trail. At one point the side of the trail was covered by a wall of moss. I crossed over part of the lake over a boardwalk that wobbled (oooh I love to live on the edge!) and met the only wildlife I was to encounter on my trip. A frog or toad, whatever. He was nice enough to pose for me while I was playing with the macro setting on my camera.

maybe these glow at night, maybe they are carnivorous

I came across these white flowery stalk thingies in the forest. They stood about 5 inches from the ground and looked translucent. Like things that glow at night. If anyone knows anything about these please share. I thought they were pretty so I took a picture.

Baddeck and the Bell Museum

On check out day, it had rained a little. Of course. Why would it be sunny on the day I had to pack up the tent? I left and made my way to Baddeck to check out the Bell Museum.

Vacuum Jacket circa 1881

Did you know that Alexander Graham Bell didn't JUST invent the telephone? Neither did I. He did a whack of things, like working of a visual language for the deaf, hydrofoils, kite flying, aeronautics and was generally curious about everything. You will have to go to the museum to know everything because the internet really does not do him justice. This site was the best site that also mentioned his other interests other than the phone. I was especially intrigued by the vacuum jacket he created for providing artificial respiration. Oh and he also married one of his students which would be a big no-no these days :P

I left Baddeck happy but hungry. I stopped at the Red Barn on the way off the island and stuffed myself with mussels. Then began my long journey home where my glutes often became numb oh was that too much information?

Dear Cape Breton, I will return. This time I will have an easier tent to put up, a freshly tune-up car and more bottles of wine to assist in the propagation of the Doucette clan. I hear there are caves that scream out to be explored in Glace bay somewhere and who knows what else. Can't wait to see you again.

“Not all those who wander are lost.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien

All Cape Breton Photos

Interactive Map of my travels

View Cape Breton Trip in a larger map

Cape Breton Trip Part 1

2011-09-17T13:40:00.000-04:00

Here are some notes from my trip to Cape Breton.

BTW, I have all of my pictures in a slideshow at the end of part 2 as well as an interactive Google map of my travels, I'm OK with you calling me geeky.

I've wanted to go camping this summer. Never mind that I'd never really camped before, or owned any camping equipment, I wanted to go camping, and hiking. In Cape Breton no less. Alone. Cape Breton has been on my bucket list for awhile as it is one of the only places in Canada I have yet to visit, that with Newfoundland, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

I borrowed all the camping gear from several people who were nice enough to volunteer to lend me their equipment. This included the tent, camping stove, pots, pans, coolers, loads of tourist information brochures and sleeping bag. I am proud to say that I already owned my own air mattress and flashlight :-).

I didn't have any clear plans to go just jump in the car and drive in the general direction of Cape Breton. I knew I couldn't make it one day so I thought I would probably stop in Edmunston first.

I left early in the morning to avoid the Toronto traffic and made my way to Edmunston. Traffic on the highway was OK but slowed terribly at Montréal and Québec where there was construction everywhere.

BTW you have got to love driving in New Brunswick, you can legally go 110km and get passed by the locals going at 140km. Did not spot any Moose except on the road signs. They must have known I didn't have any Timbits with me. OK so my first night was in Edmunston. My next goal was Chéticamp.

Antigonish

I wanted to get to Chéticamp and set up my tent but I arrived at Antigonish at around 4pm and did not want to end up setting camp in the dark. I stopped at Antigonish just because the name just rolls off the tongue nicely. Stayed at the Homeward Inn next to a McDonald's featuring McLobsters LOL. A stroll of the area revealed a beautiful university which made me want to go back to school again. When I checked in at the Inn the lady next to me said "my brother lives just down the street from you in Burlington". Freaky.

The next morning I drove over the Canso Causeway (they seriously need to update their website) and took the scenic route to Chéticamp.

Chéticamp

Bonjour la visite!

Most people here speak English and French. They will say Hello/Bonjour and wait for you to reply so they can switch to whatever language you speak. Chéticamp has the charm of a little fishing village and is quite the tourist attraction. All of the streets were well kept and had little acadian flags on the light poles.

BTW One of the boats was called the Love Boat LOL.

I stayed and dined overnight at Laurie's. I had the sole stuffed w/crab with green beans, rice pilaf and an apple crisp for desert. It was one of 3 meals I ate out during the week.

I also visited Flora's a souvenir/craft shop to see what original creations I would bring home with me. Inside, there were two older women hooking. NOT what you think. They were hooking yarn in jute to create place-mats, rugs, coasters, and other things. The place mats were priced at $80 plus so I strolled to the coaster section and picked one up for $12. They also sold your typical souvenir stuff like Cape Breton t-shirts which I almost purchased until I saw they were made in Honduras. There was a nice funky tea cozy there as well but when I saw it had been made in Gravenhurst Ontario I laughed, making the ladies turn towards me. I made my way back to the Inn after a hasty retreat :P

Chéticamp to Ingonish

breakfast with the sunrise at La Bloc

The next morning I began by climb into the French Mountains. The trip to Ingonish would only take two hours but I stopped at every lookoffs so the trip pretty much took all day. My first stop was at La Bloc for breakfast of nuts, raisins, cranberry and fruitloops (AKA loopy mix) and watched the sun's rays come over the mountain. It was chilly in the morning so if you plan to go dress in layers.

The next pics are pretty much all either water, trees or sky cos that is all there was. Oh and there was a solitary red light in the middle of the trail so of course I had to take a picture of it. Only a selected few pictures made it here on the blog. You will find the entire set of pictures at the end of the post in a slideshow.

I met an interesting lady up in the mountains. Her name was (probably still is) Renadi or Renati. She was travelling/sleeping in her Volks taking pictures with an impressive camera. She told me that she takes tons of pics, downloads them to her computer with her notes then presents them to people who don't have the ability to travel like disabled people. Cool huh? Its also a very small world because she came from Toronto LOL.

Cap Rouge or Pleasant Bay?

I think the pic to the left is from Cap Rouge. It was a foggy morning but the sun was burning through the fog and it promised to be a nice drive. Renadi/ti made the exact same stops all the way to Cape North where she headed north to Cabot's landing. I never saw her again.

Did you know that there were fault lines in Cape Breton? I didn't either. I was wondering why some mountains were lined up and it turns out that the Cabot Trail crosses a fault line called Aspy Fault. Here is what the info board mentions.

its not my fault its Aspy's :-)

The Aspy fault runs inland for 40km southeast of this fracture in the earth's crust softer rocks eroded, leaving this steep escarpment. Long ago the Aspy fault may have been a continuation of the Great Glen fault (BBC video of that fault) in Scotland. Landmasses collide or separate along faults. About 300 million years ago, the continents had drifted together forming a supercontinent Pangea. Cape Breton was pressed between Europe and Africa. A long period of fault movements pieced together the parts of Atlantic Canada. Faults dissect Atlantic Canada outlining where it rafted together. Most rivers and brooks in the park follow faults. (my pic of the fault at right)

The trail is winding and there are sharp inclines and declines. The maps suggest to use lower gears when descending to avoid burning out the brakes. Yikes! The highest point I believe is 457m in the North Mountain. Going downhill was fun. I have got to do this on a motorcycle. The next picture below was taken from the top of the mountain looking down at the road. Can you see me yell out zoom zoom zoom?

Zoom Zoom Zoom!

No surprise there was quite a bit of construction on the roads. The construction crews had their slow/stop signs out but since I wasn't in a hurry I didn't mind waiting. I had a chuckle over the only red light I encountered. I think it was solar powered with a battery backup. Yes my windshield is still cracked. I'm OK with it, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I also decimated generations of mosquitoes and other bugs. I'm OK with that as well.

words fail me

The next stops were at Black Cove and MacKinnons Cove. Beautiful, quiet areas where the ocean meets the rocks. Yes the Ocean is damn cold if you want to know. I have officially dipped my feet in both Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and they are both damn cold!. At Green Cove there were some funky rocks with lines all over. There was also a nice Park guide person who was present to answer any questions and educate those that wanted to be educated. I strolled all over the rocks and came across another information board that explained how the lines got into the rocks.

follow the pink lines!

The rocks of Green Cove were once hot molten liquid. Here, dark grey gneisses (pronounced "nices") and pink and white granite were formed. The gneisses cooled and solidified quickly, forming fine-grained rock. The granites cooled more slowly creating larger crystals. You can see clear quartz, pink and white fieldspar and shiny black and white mica in the granite. Over time, these rocks cracked under the pressures of a shifting earth. Into the cracks flowed molten rock, creating the criss-cross pattern on the headland. These intruding rock lines, called dykes, are younger than the enclosing rock. Some dykes are older than others. Waves and sea ice continually war away Green Cove, building up the bordering beaches. Angular rocks, ground by centuries of wave actions are rounded into cobblestones. Further grinding produces sand. Waves and currents deposit cobbles in shallow inlets along the coast and sand in sheltered coves.

After leaving Green cove I finally made my way to Ingonish.

Stay tuned for part 2 where you will be entertained by my adventures in Middle Earth, Warren Lake, and the tale of the sad muffler.

Goodbye Severus Snape you'll live on in pixels on my wall.

2011-07-13T15:35:00.002-04:00

Stick with this, it's a long, convoluted story.

Months ago, I had the compulsion to paint a portrait. Now it may seem like nothing to you but I have never painted before, oh sure, I've painted the walls, ceilings, tables, chairs but never a portrait. I am not an artist. Period. I'm not sure how or why this compulsion took over but it did and I had to get rid of it.

Not being one to do things in a small way I proceeded to purchase a 2x4 canvas (yes that is in feet people not inches) a paint brush, a ruler, and three acrylic tubes of paint in white, grey and black.

See, I had this idea of painting a pixelated portrait.

I took one of my favorite pictures and opened it up in PSP8 (yep I am the only one left in the world that doesn't have Photoshop). This is what I did:

Changed the portrait into gray-scale
Reduced the number of colours to 8 (I'm sure I could have increased the colours but as it turns out 8 was perfect. I'm not so sure my sanity could have handled all that grey). That still gave me a number of colours I could handle without losing details in the portrait.
I took the canvas and divided it into 1x1 inch squares...just because I thought 1 inch squares would still give me lots of detail or just because I'm nuts. If you are the anal kind this gave me a total of 1152 crazy little squares to paint. If I only did the calculations at the time I would have never even began the project but hey it was a compulsion so I wasn't thinking.

Once those crazy little squares were drawn I decided to paint the darkest colours first through to the lightest one.

You may have noticed that I purchased only 3 different colours....yes that meant I also had to mix my own colours to match those on my computer.

Then the rest is easy...colour by numbers right? Not so much. If you look near the top of the post I did mention I was not an artist right? Well I had never handled a teeny tiny brush before, not to mention mixing my own paint colours and trying to paint perfect squares.....BY HAND!

This is a pic of the first 4 colours. It looked mottled as the paint was not completely dry when I took picture.

I stopped trying to paint perfect squares early on. I decided that since Severus, Alan, and I were not perfect, then it wouldn't matter to any of us if the squares were perfectly well .... square. (and NO I refused to use painters tape for this...somehow it seemed like cheating, besides I hate taping).

This looks pretty sad with only 4 colours. I told you I can't paint perfect squares!

More colours and my square making has improved...a little.

5 colours.

6 colours. He looks really ugly here. By this step, I hated all things gray.

7 colours

All 8 freaking colours! Finito! I did refinish some of the black which was the first colour down. So again I was impatient and didn't wait for the painting to dry to take the picture.

All pictures were reduced in size for this blog. The actual painting is freakish to see up close :D.

Here he is on my wall.

Jalapeno Popper Dip

2011-06-19T08:04:00.001-04:00

This will be my treat this weekend. I've never made this recipe but I'm sure it will be delicious.

Ingredients:

1 8oz package of cream cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup grated, medium cheddar cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese separated into 2 1/2 cups
1 small jar of pickled jalapenos
1 small tin of green chilis
1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise, cheeses, jalapenos (with most of the juice/brine) and chilis. Pulse until well chopped and combined.

Combine breadcrumbs and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese in a small bowl and mix thoroughly.

Pour dip into an 8 inch baking dish (or any 2 slightly smaller baking dishes). Top with an even layer of breadcrumb mixture. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the sides are bubbling and the top is golden brown.

Serve with tortilla chips for dipping.

Original recipe at Impeccable Taste

Severus Snape in words

2011-06-11T21:08:00.006-04:00

I've been playing with a few applications and I absolutely love this one. I may even blow it up into a poster. Right now it is my wallpaper. A waywardmedic original, enjoy.

Now if I could only get it autographed...

June 2011 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2011-05-26T22:05:00.000-04:00

Here is a wallpaper for all of you Lord of the Rings fans. 1920 X 1200 with Gaeilge font. Enjoy!

May 2011 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2011-04-25T07:00:00.008-04:00

This photo came from stock exchange. The contrast and colours struck me as perfect so no changes were made. You can see the original photograph by Jeffrey van Rossum. It is a picture of Sossusvlei Death Valley, Namibia

April 2011 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2011-03-24T13:19:00.000-04:00

Minimalistic design this month using one of my favorite fonts, alien league. 1920 x 1200

March 2011 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2011-02-25T07:30:00.008-05:00

I like this picture, I'm not sure where I took it from but there is a peaceful quality to it. Enjoy. 1920 x 1200.

A little Rock Salt with that?

2011-02-07T17:56:00.000-05:00

A nice little handwritten font that is easy to read. Wish my own handwriting was as good. So there you are Rock Salt designed by Slideshow, is a free font made available at Font Squirrel.

February 2011 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2011-01-25T07:00:00.027-05:00

You are spoiled this month with two wallpapers. The first one is an orange-y wallpaper, it will keep you warm during the month, the second one is a funky wallpaper. It took me the entire morning to get it so I was satisfied. The font in the last one is Lemon Chicken. Both are 1920 X 1200.

January 2011 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2010-12-25T07:00:00.005-05:00

This is a nice flowery wallpaper. I'm not sure what the flowers are called but the font is Tintin after my favorite childhood comic. Size is 1920 x 1200.

December 2010 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2010-11-25T07:30:00.005-05:00

This is a serene wallpaper for those of you who need peace among the holiday chaos. The original photograph came from my favorite stock photo site stock.xchng. I used an elvish looking font called Gaeilge 1 as the setting reminded me of something out of Lord of the Rings. The wallpaper size is 1920 x 1200.

November 2010 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2010-10-25T07:30:00.015-04:00

Two wallpapers to satisfy different tastes. The first wallpaper was created by using a combination of fonts. Code light, Code bold and Nymphette for the swirl. The second wallpaper is a tilt-shift of my creation, the photo was taken from the top of St. Joseph's Oratory in Montréal. The size of both wallpapers are 1920 X 1200. These wallpapers were featured in Designi1 for November, thanks.

Don't Mess With This Teacher! on MSN Video

2010-10-03T14:29:00.001-04:00

URL: http://video.ca.msn.com/watch/video/dont-mess-with-this...

I have always wanted to do this to the students who constantly text in class, but I would probably get charged with assault The lack of respect teachers suffer these days are unbelievable.

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bo6s

Alan Rickman October 2010 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2010-10-03T11:34:00.001-04:00

I'ts been awhile since I've posted anything Rickman so here is my inspiration for the month. Enjoy!

October 2010 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2010-09-25T07:00:00.003-04:00

A peaceful wallpaper for October. For those that are interested, the font is Dear Joe and the size of the wallpaper is 1920 x 1200. Enjoy.

September 2010 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2010-08-25T07:00:00.009-04:00

I have had a number of requests for a remake of the old world map calendar from last year. Well here it is. The original old world map can be located at stock.xchng. The font I used is Ginga, the size of the wallpaper is 1900 x 1200.

Do try this at home

2010-07-29T10:10:00.000-04:00

Here is a roundup of a few things you may want to try at home...or not. Some of them I've tried and others are on my bucket list. They range from crafts to recipes to sports and everything in between. If you have an interesting activity you would like posted send me a link.

Garlic Herb Bread Sticks at seven spoons
Recycled magazine holders at How About Orange
How to make a folded paper CD case at curbly
Make ahead fruit pie filling at sunset
Download, print and hang up vintage posters from Agence Eureka
Vintage deck of cards decor at just something I made

Do NOT try this at home...but it is sooo on my bucket list.

Extreme Base Jumping in Wingsuits

August 2010 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2010-07-19T10:11:00.000-04:00

This was my first attempt creating typographic art. I like chinese food so this is my Chinese Takeout Typography design. I used the Bonzai font for this. The size for this wallpaper is 1920 x 1200.

July 2010 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

2010-06-15T05:00:00.003-04:00

I've decided to use one of my own pictures, for a change, to create this grungy wallpaper. The sunflower was taken on a day trip to Niagara Falls a few years ago. Wallpaper size 1920 x 1200. The font I used is 28 days later.

Free Twitter backgrounds with matching iPhone and iPad wallpaper

2010-05-31T19:00:00.000-04:00

Twitter wallpaper size is 1900 x 1200.

June 2010 Desktop Wallpaper Calendar, iPhone and iPad wallpaper

2010-05-28T14:11:00.007-04:00

I'm starting to feel creative again. Here is a new desktop wallpaper calendar for June 2010. I've also used the background for an iPhone and iPad wallpapers. Size for the desktop is 1920 x 1200. The background pictures come from stock.xchng.

Maple Vinaigrette

2010-03-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

Fancy a sweet dressing? This will satisfy your sweet tooth while eating healthy.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Maple syrup
1/3 cup white wine or apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 clove minced garlic
1 tsp chopped thyme
1 tsp Dijon mustard

Whisk all of the ingredients in a bowl until smooth.

Can be kept up to 3 to 5 days in the refrigerator.

Pastry with Brie and Maple syrup

2010-03-06T10:43:00.001-05:00

When I was younger I would look forward to go to "la cabane a sucre" for some outdoor fun but especially for the maple syrup. Visiting a cabane a sucre involved a tour of the site showing how maple syrup was collected from the sap to the finished product at the table. We would then drown everything we ate with Maple syrup that day and ate the snow-hardened syrup on sticks for dessert. For the love of Maple syrup. This is recipe is to die for.

Ingredients:
300g wheel Brie cheese
½ cup walnut crumbs
½ cup sultana raisins
¼ cup maple syrup
500g or 1 pkg of puff pastry, thawed.

Mix walnuts, sultanas and maple syrup. Set aside.

Roll out puff pastry to 12" diameter circle.

Cut Brie in half so you have 2 circles. Spoon walnut mixture onto one of the Brie circles and top with remaining circle.

Place the Brie and mixture in the middle of the pastry and fold the pastry over the top of the Brie.

Bake in oven 400F/200C for 30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Let cool before serving.

Butternut Squash Soup

2009-12-28T15:08:00.005-05:00

I decided to try this recipe because I had the most intense experience with a Butternut Squash Soup served in the Denver Airport one year. This recipe doesn't do it justice but it comes close. Oh, peeling and cubing the squash isn't fun either. If anyone has any tips on that please forward them to me.

Ingredients
2 cups chopped onions
3 lbs butternut squash cubed and peeled
4 cups chicken broth
1 ½ cups applesauce
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves
¼ curry
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ ground pepper

Caramelize onions in a pan. Place all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours. You may want to use a food processor near the end of the cooking time to blend all the ingredients into a smooth consistancy.

Here is a YouTube version. Different recipe but well illustrated.

A little Calvin and Hobbes snow fun!

2009-12-27T10:04:00.003-05:00

One of my favorite cartoon strip, apart from The Far Side, would have to be Calvin and Hobbes. Here is a little snow fun from the little guy and his tiger. Enjoy.

You may like these links:

Calvin and Hobbes UK: a fan site.
Calvin and Hobbes comic strip: get your daily dose.

Wallpaper Calendar November 2009

2009-10-15T07:00:00.001-04:00

Looking for pictures that would warm your heart this month, I saw this on Flickr. It makes for a beautiful wallpaper calendar. Full size is 1920 x 1200.

Can't take the credit for this picture. This is the original photo. The location of this underground waterfall: Cave and Basin National Historic Site in Banff, Alberta.

Wallpaper Calendar October 2009

2009-09-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

Here are two wallpapers for you to enjoy. One with a halloween theme in mind and the other well, those two penguins have the right idea don't they...on a beach where its warm. With the winter coming on I don't blame them. Full screen 1920 x 1200

For those that don't have that resolution don't worry, you can right-click, save and when you open it up as a background, select stretch instead of center and the entire calendar will show.

Baked Yams with Bean Salad

2009-09-01T11:47:00.006-04:00

I'm in love with the sweet potato AKA Yams. The taste is amazing with this salad and it can be an entire meal if you want it to. Quick and easy to make, its also good on the pocket book. I'm not sure where I found this recipe but its a keeper. Originally called for 4 Yams, the bean salad is good for 6.

Ingredients

6 medium Yams
1 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tomatoes, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin you can use any spice you want. I was out of cumin so I threw in Italian spices instead.
¾ tsp salt
¼ cup light sour cream optional
Grated cheese optional

Poke Yams with a fork in several places. Microwave on high 12 to 15 minutes (or use the potato settings if you have one), Halfway through, turn Yam over once. You may also bake the Yam at 218 C (424 F) for one hour.

In a bowl, mix beans, tomatoes, oil, cumin or spices of your choice, salt and microwave on high for 2 minutes.

Cut each Yam lengthwise, make a bowl shape, sprinkle with cheese, bean salad and top with sour cream.

Heaven!

Yes or No

2009-08-20T15:54:00.003-04:00

1. You can ONLY answer Yes or No.

2. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages or comments you and asks -- and believe me, the temptation to explain some of these will be overwhelming nothing is exactly as it seems.

Now, here's what you're supposed to do...copy and paste this into your notes, delete my answers, type in your answers and tag as many of your friends as you'd like to.

------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------
Kissed any one of your Facebook friends? --- Yes
Been arrested? --- No
Kissed someone you didn't like? ---Yes
Slept in until 5 PM? --- Yes
Fallen asleep at work/school? --- Yes
Held a snake? --- Yes
Ran a red light? --- Yes
Been suspended from school? --- No
Experienced love at first sight? --- No
Totaled your car in an accident? --- No
Been fired from a job? --- No
Fired somebody? --- Yes
Sang karaoke? --- No
Pointed a gun at someone? --- No
Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? --- Yes
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? --- Yes
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? --- Yes
Kissed in the rain? --- No
Had a close brush with death (your own)? --- No
Seen someone die? --- Yes
Played spin-the-bottle? --- Yes
Sang in the shower? --- Yes
Smoked a cigar? --- No
Sat on a rooftop? --- Yes
Taken pictures of yourself naked? --- No
Smuggled something into another country? --- No
Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes? --- No
Broken a bone? --- Yes
Eaten a bug? --- Yes
Sleepwalked? --- Yes
Rode a motorcycle? --- Yes
Dumped someone? --- Yes
Forgotten your anniversary? --- No
Lied to avoid a ticket? --- Yes
Ridden in a helicopter? --- No
Shaved your head? --- No
Played a prank on someone? --- Yes
Hit a home run? --- No
Felt like killing someone? --- Yes
Cross-dressed? --- No
Made your girlfriend/boyfriend cry? --- No
Eaten snake? --- No
Marched/Protested? --- No
Had Mexican jumping beans for pets? --- Yes
Puked on amusement ride? --- No
Seriously & intentionally boycotted something? --- Yes
Been in a band? --- No
Knitted? --- Yes
Been on TV? --- Yes
Shot a gun? --- No
Skinny-dipped? --- No
Gave someone stitches? --- Yes
Eaten a whole habenero pepper? --- No
Ridden a surfboard? --- No
Drank straight from a liquor bottle? --- Yes
Had surgery? --- Yes
Streaked? --- No
Taken by ambulance to hospital? --- Yes
Passed out when not drinking? --- Yes
Peed on a bush? --- No
Donated Blood? --- Yes
Grabbed electric fence? --- No
Eaten alligator meat? --- Yes
Eaten cheesecake? --- Yes
Eaten your kids' Halloween candy? --- No
Killed an animal when not hunting? --- Yes
Peed your pants in public? --- No
Sneaked into a movie without paying? --- Yes
Written graffiti? ---Yes
Still love someone you shouldn't? --- Yes
Think about the future? --- Yes
Been in handcuffs? --- Yes
Believe in love? --- Yes

How to prevent stressful situations

2009-08-17T10:40:00.002-04:00

We can all benefit from less stress in our lives. Here are some tips to reduce or to maintain low stress levels.

Get up 15 minutes earlier in the morning.
Prepare for the morning the evening before.
Don't rely on your memory - keep a notebook.
Laugh - often!
Make duplicate of keys.
Practice preventative maintenance.
Do one thing at a time. It is a myth that a person can multitask well.
Plan ahead.
Don't put up with something that doesn't work. Also works with relationships..think about it.
Give yourself time.
Always set up contingency plans...cause you never know what will happen.
Relax your standards.
Ask questions.
Learn to say NO.
Unplug your phone. I've lived without a phone for about 2 yrs now and it was great. I've used email for my main mode of communication instead, replied at my leisure, never felt pressured. I now have a phone for business purposes, I rarely use it for personal reasons. I don't mean to permanently unplug your phone but turn it off when you really don't need it.
Don't procrastinate.
Simplify, simplify, simplify.
Count your blessings.
Walk 1 km daily in the fresh air and natural light. Exercise such as walking helps you cope with stress and depression. Have a happy frame of mind while you do your walk. Build a happy place in your mind while walking but make sure you avoid stepping in doo-doo.
Go for a relaxation massage once a month. You will feel like a million dollars.
Take a bath using a cupful of Epsom salts or bath crystals 2-3 times weekly. This will remove toxins and acidity from your body. Good for arthritis and sore muscles.
Rub your whole body with olive oil 1 hour after the salt bath. The oil feeds your muscles and tissues.
Rest recharges your batteries. During the sleep state, your body and mind rebuild and heal.
Wear and live in the colours of the spectrum. Good colours build your health.
Wear natural fibres rather than synthetic ones, especially next to your skin. Natural fibres allow your skin to breathe.
Use positive thoughts! If you are positive, you attract the positive. Use love, praise, and kindness in your thoughts, especially about yourself as healthy. Talk about your health, not about your sickness. The more often you build the health thought, the more likely that it will become a reality. If you have a hard time with forming positive thoughts...fake it until you make it.
Sunshine is healing. Be out in the sun before 11am, after 3pm for the healing rays. Use suntan lotion of course.
Sounds also affect your health. Listen to music that makes you feel good. It will build your energy. Remove unpleasant sounds.
Breathe deeply using your diaphragm...you have 2 huge lungs...use them all.
Drink water in small amounts at a time, often during the day. Remember, your body is mostly water.
Learn to listen to your body, it holds incredible wisdom, and no one knows it better than you.
Define your own stresses. Move towards understanding the role of stress for you.

Wallpaper Calendar September 2009

2009-08-15T08:00:00.003-04:00

I can't tell if the first picture is an example of tilt-shift photography or not. In either case it is awesome so I snatched it off a stock site to create this wallpaper. Just did some cropping, no other tweaking done. The colours on the second one caught my eye. I looked at the description of where the picture was taken from and provided you with the link below. Full size of each 1920 x 1200.

For those that don't have that resolution don't worry, you can right-click, save and when you open it up as a background, select stretch instead of center and the entire calendar will show.

If you are interested in learning more:

Toronto
Antelope Canyon,
Tilt-shift photography.
Flikr: Tilt-shift Miniature Fakes: These are all real pictures that have been altered to look like this.
tiltshiftmaker: Make your own tilt-shift picture without fiddling with photoshop.

A bean bag chair for your iPhone and other DIY solutions

2009-07-24T10:34:00.008-04:00

I've seen some really neat iPhone holders out there. From the expensive to the do-it-yourself ones. I rather like the ingenuity of the DIY ones. I have mine on a bean bag. It doesn't fall and it holds itself in the lanscape position well. All you need is to get a bean bag stress ball preferably made of vinyl-like material got mine from a dollar store. Now my iPhone has a rubber skin on it so it adheres to the bag quite nicely. I tried it without the skin and it slides a little.

So the ball serves as a de-stressor AND holds up your iPhone.

I also tried the business card holder and it does work but I find it flimsy, you can't touch the iPhone without it falling over. I much prefer my bean bag to this but hey it works if you're in a hotel somewhere and need a quick holder.

Here are more DIY holders if you are interested:

Instructables: Simple business card iPhone/iPod stand.
iPhone Savior: Cut out the packaging the iPhone came in and used it as a stand.
iPhone Binder Clips: I would just be careful of the metal scratching your iPhone.
CD Stand: They used a bunch of old CDs and glue. It is both a stand and charging station.
Pencil and rubber band stand: yes people, pencils and rubber bands.
iPhone stand made of laser cut acrylic scarps: at first I read scarf!
Paper Cip iStand: use a plastic coated paperclip so you don't end up scratching your iPhone.
iphonehacks: Wooden charging station and stand for the carpenter in you.
iphonehacks: using a rotary phone as a holder...were getting more creative here.
Geeky Gadgets: they created the carboard iPhone holder and they have a template for you to use.

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

2009-07-22T20:24:00.003-04:00

Ever since I heard who were casted for this movie, I had wanted to see it. Plus I've always liked Tim Burton's stuff. I don't like cookie cutter style movies. Very excited about the graphics in this thing and I can't believe I have to wait a year before it comes out!

By the way do you go see a movie in a theatre or in a cinema?

Here is the teaser trailer for the movie:

Don't mind the fringe...

2009-07-19T07:30:00.003-04:00

When my friend called to ask if I wanted to go to a fringe festival. I immediately thought Fringe... as in hair bangs? Why would anyone go to a festival of bangs? *gasp* what if it were some kind of freakish mullet festival where people get to show off their do? Needless to say I was excited and intrigued, I'd never been to a hair festival before. Definitely a camera-worthy event.

Turned out I couldn't have been more wrong. A fringe festival involves the performing arts. These festivals allow emerging artists to present their work to a wider audience at affordable prices.

The word fringe in this context really means outskirts. It originated in 1947 when theatre groups, who were not allowed to perform in the prestigious Edinburgh Theatre Festival, decided to set up their own festival of sorts. They held their performances on the outskirts of Edinburgh, hence the birth of the term fringe festival.

Current fringe festivals operate on four principles:

No Artistic Direction. Artists are selected by ‘first come, first served’.
No Censorship. Artists have complete freedom to present their work.
Accessibility to artists. Anyone can apply to the Fringe.
Accessibility to audience. Ticket prices are kept low and 100% of the ticket price is returned to the artists you see on stage.

The venue was located in downtown Hamilton at the Hamilton Theatre, a small building with an equally small stage, all very cozy. My friend and I, along with 6 other people were the audience that night. That meant we had the best seats in the house.

The play was Crazy Gary's Mobile Disco; set in Wales with 3 guys, 3 different stories, the subtle and not so subtle connections between them. One thinks he is the Karaoke King, the other a die hard Disco fan, while the third one is a wimp. Throw in the perfect girl, a dead cat, a pub and you have yourself an interesting mélange. The play comes with a rating of mature audience (14 or over) with a warning of coarse language, violence and insert chuckle here smoking. Yes they warn you that there is smoking as part of the play but they are only herbal cigarettes :-) Check out the pic above if you don't believe me.

It took me about 15 minutes to really get into the story. What initially threw me off was the accent of one of the actors, he seemed to switch from Irish to Australian to Jamaican accents. Otherwise, I rather enjoyed it. It was certainly different from other plays I had attended, but that's the whole purpose of the festival isn't it? The play lasted around 1hr and the total cost was $11. Certainly worth it for the audience. I'm not so sure it was profitable for the actors that night with only 8 people in attendance. Hopefully it will pick up for them once the festival gets in full swing.

Soooo if you are interested in just doing something different one night, I recommend you check the dates for fringe festivals in your area. This particular play will be on until July 21 in Hamilton and continue until July 25 in Windsor. Go.see.it. Just pretend you don't hear the accents.

Piqued your curiosity? Then you may also want to check out:

Crazy Gary's Mobile Disco: the play's official website.
Hamilton Fringe Festival: Where the craziness begins.
International Windsor Fringe Festival: find out more about fringe festivals.
CAFF: Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals.

Wallpaper Calendar August 2009

2009-07-15T08:30:00.004-04:00

Here are two lovely wallpapers for you to enjoy. The first one was a black and white picture stock photo from deviantART I decided to colorize and enhance some details. The other was a beautiful foggy photograph from stock.xchng that was begging to be turned into a whimsical postcard-ish creation. Full size is 1920 x 1200.

For those that don't have that resolution don't worry, you can right-click, save and when you open it up as a background, select stretch instead of center and the entire calendar will show.

tutorial: creating art with typography

2009-07-07T06:51:00.007-04:00

Recently inspired by some wonderful typographic art, I decided to give it a try myself. I use PSP8 but the instructions below can be used for any graphics program that will allow for layers, give it a try. This is what I came up with:

1. I started with a simple stock picture that I could use: a chinese food take out box.

2. I decreased the opacity so that I would be able to position the letters properly. This can be a little tedious. If your program has an option to place text along a line, you can certainly use that, but I just opted for placing everything manually. I created a second layer where I would be positioning the letters. Actually I created several layers: steam, box and shadow, just in case I messed up. click for full view

3. Next, position the letters according to the shape of the stock picture. I used the Bonzai font to match the theme. click for full view

4. Play around with colour, positioning and size until you get the effect you want. click for full view

5. Once finished, hide the original layer, change the background colour to black, and voilà your work of art. full view 1290 x 1456

If you find this useful let me know and if you give it a try, send me a picture or link and I will feature your artwork here. I wrote this quick tutorial before I actually undertook the project. Let me tell you that placing all those letters manually takes alot of time and patience but it is very rewarding in the end.

More typograhic art:
Flickr: typography tag search.
Georgeous examples of floral typography.
noupe: 40+ killer typograhic posters, photoshop effects and tutorials.
Speckyboy Design Magazine: 25 examples of amazingly creative typography art.
Six Revisions: 30+ creative typography art. You have got to check this one out!

Happy Canada Day!

2009-07-01T10:37:00.003-04:00

Alan Rickman Wallpaper Calendar July 2009

2009-06-15T10:30:00.000-04:00

They say practice makes perfect, I say perfect practice makes perfect. I think I'm getting better at these, of course it's just my opinion. Here is a second wallpaper for the month of July. I saw this background and thought it would make a nice layout. Full size is 1500 x 1000. Enjoy.

Shortbread

2009-06-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

I felt like a little dessert today. This recipe was given to me after begging a friend at work. She had made this to.die.for shortbread for us. When she gave me the recipe, I was amazed at how something so tasty could be so simple.

Ingredients

1 lb softened butter
1 cup white sugar
4 cups pastry flour

Cream butter and sugar. Gradually add flour. Mixture will be stiff. Put in a greased 9 x 13 pan & press down. Poke randomly with fork. Bake at 325F for 45 min to 1 hr

The top should be golden and not too brown. Remove from oven & sprinkle with sugar. Let sit for about 10 min then cut while still warm.

Let cool and enjoy.

Smart versus Mini Cooper

2009-06-12T09:41:00.005-04:00

A friend and I were discussing the cars we would like to get for our travelling massage therapy businesses. She is in love with the Mini Coopers and I love Smart Cars. Problem: the size of them would make it difficult to shove folded massage tables and other equipment in them. We both agreed that when we would be going shopping, we would bring a table in with us. We would tell the salesmen that if they can find a way to fit the massage table in the cars without damaging car or table then they would have a done deal.

Have you ever seen the size of a Smart Car? The Mini is a heck of alot bigger. Well here I was wondering if someone would be able to build me a rigid carry case for massage table to fit onto the back of the Smart Car like a bike rack when I came across different styles of limousines. Yes limousines. You see they make limos from all kinds of cars now. So I went in search of the Smart Car, Mini Cooper limousines. This is what I found:

The Smart Car looks like a can! I don't think I'll go with the Smart Car then...maybe it'll be better if I just strap the massage table to my back as I ride my motorcycle!

Some interesting links you may enjoy:
Oddee.com: 15 of the World's Strangest Limousines.
www.smart.com: home of the Smart Car.
MINI.com: home of the Mini.

Ambulance services introduces trained dogs.

2009-06-04T22:13:00.006-04:00

You have the K-9 police dogs, therapy dogs, guide dogs, service dogs, rescue dogs, now introducing the new Paramedic K-9 dogs. These dogs are trained in a variety of life-saving techniques such as rescue breathing (artificial respiration in some circles). These highly trained dogs accompany their handlers, other trained paramedics, who coincidently also drive the ambulances as none of the dogs have yet to pass their driver's exams.

This controversial program is in the beta testing in some areas. The chief medical officer, overseeing the program so far, has been impressed by the four-legged medics. "Our new recruits seem to instinctively know when someone is in distress, enjoy working with people, are eager to expand their skills set, and most importantly will work for well...table scraps." The CMO continued to explain how the areas testing the program have been successful in cutting costs, "especially in our troubling economy we all have to find more efficient ways of doing our jobs."

To the right is a picture of one of the new recuits in training. Paramedic Gage is seen here performing rescue breaths on his partner/handler.

You may be interested in seeing real working dogs listed below:

St. John Ambulance Saint-Jean Therapy Dog Program: I'm a little biased as I volunteer for the organization.
Guide dogs for the blind: in both the US and Canada.
Metropolitain Police Service - Dog Support Unit: these dogs and their handlers make London safer.
Sparky: Can't forget Sparky he'll be jealous.
NSARDA: National Search and Rescue Dog Association located in the UK.

The Best of Coffee Art

2009-06-02T10:35:00.005-04:00

I came upon these entirely by accident as I was uploading pictures. Whoa, how much coffee do you have to drink to perfect your art? How much free time? Is it a marketable skill?

Anywho these are 12 excellent pieces of art you can just sink your lips in.

Want to know how they did it? If I am not mistaken they are using lattes not your regular coffee. Here is a video of a few chef d'oeuvres.

Failure is not an option

2009-06-01T08:42:00.008-04:00

The last 20 or so months my entire world has been school. I had made a scary decision to leave my full-time work that paid quite nicely to go and live the student life to start a whole new career. That meant living in poverty in the basement of a friend's house, living on $25 a week on groceries all the time paying for the car, gas, insurance, rent and other expenses. I was lucky to get a line of credit at the bank that covered the tuition but I was on my own for the rest. Mental or what?

I just finished school recently and graduated. Now I have to attempt the provincial exams which if successful I will be considered a Massage Therapist. Cool huh?

I was motivated to write this blog post because there is a student in our class who is extremely negative and it.finally.got.on.my.nerves. She had just completed her exams and was telling everyone that she thought she failed it. I asked her why she thought that, she replied that she didn't have time to study because she had to work. This coming from someone with 3 jobs and who really doesn't HAVE to work all 3 to survive. She then continued with "I think I'm going to do something else instead". Some of us explained that with the amount of studying, sacrifice, emotional and financial investment with this program the exams were worth taking again if she failed them.

To be honest, the exams are not easy. The school runs comprehensive exams that mimic the exams we would be facing at the provincial level. They include a 100 multiple choice exam (on anything taught within the last 20 months) and a frightening practical exam. This practical consists of 7 stations: treatments, technique, 2 assesments, remedial exercise, consent and patient history. You have 10 minutes in each station to do what you have to do and hit all of the provincial standards. Easier said than done when nerves come into play.

Once you pass those, your name gets sent to the province where you will get the joy of going through them all over again. The thing is, the provincial exams are expensive and you don't want to fail them.period.

So here we were, waiting to get our results, and this one was complaining that she was certain she failed her exams. Not good for morale for the rest of us and frankly this was a story we had heard from her all year. A good friend of mine had missed it by 1% the passing grade is 70%, the school had forwarded her name to the province just the same, but she volunteered to do the school exam once more for the experience. I was there for support as we studied together and hearing that chick say she was going to fail finally.got.on.my.nerves.

Well my friend came out with a big smile on her face, she passed. The chick went in, came out and said she failed the exam. She then decided she didn't want to continue to be a MT and didn't want to do the school's exam a second time.

"You spent so much time studying, sacrificing for 20 months and now you are going to give all of that up!" several of us said.

She shrugs, "I don't think I'm going to continue with it now".

Then I got pissed off and my mouth opened, "Stop being so negative. You know everyone fails its OK but don't let pride get in your way and do the exam again. How much studying did you do?"

"I was working all week" that meant she barely studied.

"You didn't need to work all your shifts, some of us switched, cancelled and begged out of work so we could study for the EXAM OF OUR CAREERS!"

She shrugs and begins the negative talk again.

I put up my hand "Stop, I don't want to hear anymore, you are too negative, programmed yourself to fail so you're putting blocks in front yourself so you can blame them if you fail." I know, I know it wasn't the nice thing to do but I couldn't let her negativity get me down as I had to psych myself up for the provincial exams.

I've been down the negative thinking path and its a nasty spiral. Very difficult to get out of it. You have to reprogram your thinking, that's like catching the wind with a fishing net. You consciously have to change each thought to a positive one, or take a short cut and fake being positive until you become positive - it worked for me :P

So for the next 9 days, I will be studying like mad with my friend for the June 10 provincial practical exams. Our motto is FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.

Some articles to help with negative thoughts or feelings

gocomics.com: never underestimate the power of a good comic. My favorite is Calvin and Hobbes.
Overcoming negative thinking
Negative thinking
Mayo Clinic: Positive thinking: Reduce stress enjoy life more.

Stand by me

2009-05-14T13:27:00.002-04:00

I was feeling a little blue from all of my studying when I came across a video link in my Twitter stream. I checked it out and immediately began dancing in my seat. You will too. Enjoy

Playing For Change | Song Around The World "Stand By Me" from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

Matching Twitter and iPhone backgrounds

2009-05-07T19:31:00.008-04:00

Two new Twitter backgrounds freshly baked from the oven. Comes with matching iPhone backgrounds as well. Drop a comment if you think the iPhone backgrounds are worth to keep making.

Here is a red grungy theme. Full size is 1920 x 1200.

I found the blade of grass on deviantART, played with some colours, added a few things and voila another background. Full size is 1920 x 1200.

Here are the matching iPhone backgrounds.

Snail's Pace: Wallpaper Calendar July 2009

2009-04-30T08:48:00.003-04:00

Let's take it slow and easy in July, enjoy the summer and soak up the sun's warmth. This is the time to be a solar cell. Full size 1920 x 1200.

What? No National Number for Poison Control Centres?

2009-04-27T12:28:00.007-04:00

I've been teaching (first aid/CPR/AED) more these days. To break the monotony of the classes for myself and the students, I use various teaching methods like group work, competitions, Q & A sessions. I always end up learning something new with this. This week I learned that we do not have a national number for a Poison Control Centre (PCC). This is how I found out...the three groups in class were highly competitive, they were given the task of coming up with 5 questions each to ask the other teams on anything regarding the topics of poisons, bites, stings and environmental injuries. Sometimes this method blows up in my face where the students become too aggressive or become apathetic and don't participate. Not this time, these students went all out, the competition fierce. One team was leading the others by only 1 point, the other teams were grumbling.

"OK so how about I ask a really difficult question for 5 bonus marks?" I asked. The teams agreed, eager to blow the others out of the water.

"You have two minutes to come up with the number for Poison Control Centre" I wrote on the board. That should get them going I thought. I had previously gotten the number from the inside page of the phone book.

Two of them took their cell phones out and dialed 411 to find out, others went scouring the building checking out the first aid posters for numbers, others looking for a phone book. At the end of the two minutes I ended up with 3 different phone numbers, none of them the one I had obtained from the phone book. Shit, what was going on? I thought there was only one number. The number I told them to enter into their phones in case of emergency. Maybe I made a mistake.

Turns out that there is no one number for PCC but there are different numbers available for each province including a local number...no national number. I turned to the Google Gods for information and found out the numbers for each province. Here are the toll free numbers (source CAPCC):

Alberta: 1-800-332-1414
British Columbia: 1-800-567-8911
Manitoba: 9-1-1
New Brunswick: 9-1-1
Newfoundland: (709) 722-1110
Northwest Territories: (867) 669-4100
Nova Scotia: 1-800-565-8161
Nunavut: Iqaluit, NU:(867) 979-7350, Cambridge Bay (Ikaluktutiak) Health Centre:(867) 983-2531, Rankin Inlet (Kangiqliniq) Health Centre:(867) 645-2816
Ontario: 1-800-268-9017, 1-800-267-1373
Prince Edward Island: 1-800-565-8161
Québec: 1-800-463-5060
Saskatchewan: 1-866-454-1212
Yukon Territories: (867) 393-8700

In the United States the number to call is 1-800-222-1222 where the caller is routed to a PCC in their area.

I sent an email to the Canadian Association of Poison Control Centres to see why we don't have a national number, maybe its in the works. I'll post their reply, if I get one.

It makes more sense to have one easy number to remember for the country, not to mention more efficient. I mean look at Manitoba and New Brunswick, they don't even have have a number they have to call 9-1-1. It would also be cheaper for advertizing and educating the public, one poster, one sticker, one number but hey that's just my opinion.

On the whole, the class competition was for bragging rights, not for prizes although we all went home a little smarter that day...including the instructor.

For more information on PCCs:

Canadian Association of Poison Control Centres: CAPCC

Ontario Poison Control Centre

American Association of Poison Control Centers: AAPCC

World Health Organization: Information on Poison Centres.

World Directory of Poison Control Centres: I double checked the phone numbers for Canada. Some of them are not the same as listed in the CAPCC...Yikes.

My new personal Twitter background

2009-04-19T11:54:00.005-04:00

I enjoyed making those backgrounds below, so I thought I might as well work on one for myself. The background previous to this, was one I won for being a follower of @badasstweets. Now it was time that I flew out on my own so to speak. I love movies, so I decided to make a movie-theme background...no one has one quite like that on Twitter so it would be original. The stock pictures used here I had for a number of years. I'll admit to having a packrat tendency for collecting pics I like, then totally forgetting about them.

I had a fun time doing the credits. I had to grab a DVD to see the way it was made and copied it. If you are interested in the font I used it's called Alien League. I had fun making up some of the names for the credits. Alot of them are names of pets belonging to different friends of mine, you may even recognize some tweeps.

To make it more realistic I decided to add the movie ratings, close caption and Dolby logos, I found online.

It took me about 2 hours to do this one just because I wanted it to look right in most resolutions. The funny part is that I'm one of those that still have a 1024 x 768 so this background isn't shown fully...oh the irony :-). Thats fine by me, other people will be able to get a kick out of it.

Oh and yes it will probably end up as a wallpaper calendar later this year.

Free Twitter Backgrounds

2009-04-17T10:19:00.005-04:00

I've decided to have a go at creating some backgrounds for Twitter. These four are my first ones so if you use them I would love to check them out so make sure you leave me your link. I greatly appreciate any constructive comments as well. You may also follow me @waywardmedic.

This one is a vector with some photo manipulations. Full size is 1920 x 1080.

I had this black and white picture of an old abandoned TV in my files for a long time. I've always wanted to use it but didn't know in what type of composition. You will need to adjust your background colour to black (#000000) when you download this 1920 x 600 background.

This one was alot of fun to make. It is a Twitter-themed background of things you may see or encounter in your travels at Twitter. Full size is 1920 x 1080.

This last one didn't take too long to make. Its a blue-swirly thingy I hope you would enjoy. Full size 1920 x 1080.

Find other Twitter Backgrounds:
I have found some amazing talent and inspiration for Twitter backgrounds on these sites.

Killer Tweets: They made my twitter background. They are bad ass ninja twitter birds when it comes to backgrounds as they consistently have the highest ratings at Twitter Backgrounds Gallery. Follow them @badasstweets.

CustomTwit.com: Brian has some really original backgrounds to share so check them out. He is also very helpful to people like me who have questions about building your own background. Follow Brian @nationwideclass.

Twitter Backgrounds Gallery: The definitive in all Twitter backgrounds. Check them out for fantasmogoric backgrounds and inspiration. Follow them @TwitterBGallery.

Wallpaper Calendar June 2009

2009-04-12T20:30:00.007-04:00

There is something compelling about the young man, I can't put my finger on it. It doesn't matter why the picture is compelling, I'll just turn it into a wallpaper calendar for all of us to enjoy. Full size is 1900 x 1200.

Spinach Cheese Dip - Kelsey style

2009-04-06T18:29:00.003-04:00

Ingredients

8 oz cream cheese
¾ teaspoon garlic powder. I normally use 2-3 cloves finely chopped garlic
¼ cup parmesan cheese
1 tbs romano cheese
1 tbs very finely chopped sweet red pepper
1 green onion (scallion) white and green finely chopped
½ package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
½ cup grated medium cheddar
cayenne pepper - to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix cream cheese, garlic, parmesan and romano cheese until softened.

Add red pepper, green onion and spinach to the mix. Keep mixing and work those forearms people!

Transfer mixture to an ovenproof dish sprinkle with cayenne pepper. Top with cheddar. Bake for 15 - 18 minutes or until bubbling around the edges.

Remove from oven and allow to set for 5 mins before serving. Serve with fried or baked pita wedges, or tortilla chips.

Wallpaper Calendar May 2009

2009-03-25T23:47:00.006-04:00

This is possibly my best calendar to date. Thanks to the folks at stock.xchng I found a great old world map which inspired me to do this wallpaper. The actual size is 1900 x 1200. I hope you enjoy it.

Update: I have received many requests for this calendar to be remade for 2010. I have done so for the September 2010 wallpaper calendar.

Beef and Black Bean Sauce

2009-03-22T14:04:00.004-04:00

I'm not a foodie but I'm on a recipe rampage this week. I would like to share with you my all-time favorite recipe. I live a few years with a Chinese family so I love "real" Chinese food. The recipe is taken from Cook's Library Wok & Stir-Fry, I won't take the credit for it. It takes about 3hrs for the marinade to work its magic but I usually leave it overnight.

Ingredients

1 ¼ cup vegetable oil
300g beef steak strips
1 scallion (I call them green onions)
a few slices of fresh gingerroot
1-2 small fresh green or red chiles, seeded and sliced
1 small onion, chopped
1 small green bell pepper, seeded and sliced

Marinade

½ tsp baking soday or baking powder
½ tsp sugar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp Chinese rice wine, dry sherry or white vinegar
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp sesame oil

To make the marinade, mix together all the ingredients in a shallow dish. Add the beef, turn to coat and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2-3 hours.

Heat the vegetable oil in a preheated wok or large, heavy-based skillet. Add the beef and cook for about 1 minute, or until seared. Remove the beef with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Keep warm and set aside.

Pour all but 1 tbs of oil from the wok. Add the scallion, ginger, chiles, onion, and green bell pepper and cook for about 1 minute.

Add the black bean sauce and stir until smooth. Return the beef to the wok, stir well and cook for another minute. Transfer the stir-fry to a warm serving dish and serve hot.

Oriental Salad

2009-03-21T22:13:00.006-04:00

A friend of mine did this at a pot luck lunch at school one day. It was delicious and the texture of the salad made it fun to eat. Of course I asked her for the recipe which she said she found on the interwebs.

Ingredients

1 bag of coleslaw
3 stalks green onions
¾ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup slivered almonds
2 beef Mr. Noodles or Ramen (in packages)

Dressing
¾ cup white vinegar
½ cup sugar
½ cup oil (not olive)

Must be prepared the night before serving to allow the noodles to soak.

Mix dressing. Break up noodles and mix all dry ingredients together then pour dressing over and allow to soak overnight.

Garlic Meatballs

2009-03-20T21:28:00.006-04:00

I felt like a meatball recipe today. What can I say?

Ingredients

1 can 10oz cream of tomato soup
1 lb cooked ground beef
1 egg beaten
1 cup cooked rice you can also use bread crumbs
¼ cup finely chopped onions
1 teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic
2 table spoons oil
½ soup can of water
1 teaspoon of mustard

Mix ½ cup of soup with the ground beef, rice, egg, onions and salt.

Make 16 meatballs and brown them in oil. When done add the meatballs with the soup mixture and add the remainder of the ingredients.

Cover and cook for approximately 20 minutes.

Wallpaper Calendar - Alan Rickman/Severus Snape

2009-03-01T22:03:00.003-05:00

I just realized we are in March now so I guess I will post a wallpaper calendar for April so I am ahead. This one has Severus Snape on it, the pictures are from the Half Blood Prince upcoming movie. The quality of the pictures were amazing so I decided to use them for this purpose. The dimensions are 1600 x 1200.

Vodka and Skittles, a potent combination

2009-03-01T15:15:00.002-05:00

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were born out of the love of chocolate and peanut butter. Remember the old commercials "You have peanut butter on my chocolate. You have chocolate in my peanut butter!"? Well I love Vodka and I love Skittles so why not combine them together? I got a hold of an awesome recipe for infusing Vodka with different flavoured Skittles on Twitter one day. Explained in detail and photodocumented here, it gave me the confidence to try it out. This is my attempt at making this wonderful concoction.

Ingredients

1.14L of Vodka (used 30 oz) I used Smirnoff but any kind will apparently do. It was recommended to stay away from the cheapest stuff I got mine was on sale.

1 lbs or 454g of Skittles I had 2 x 320g bags, more than was needed but I needed to ensure the Skittles were fresh.

Coffee Filters

1 measuring cup

5 Empty water bottles

5 containers 1 for each flavour.

5 mason jars to contain the final infusion.

The Infusion Process

1- Separate the Skittles into different colours and containers. You must sample a few of each to ensure freshness of said Skittles. It would probably be dangerous at this point to start sampling the vodka.

2- Deposit 60 Skittles of each colour in the water bottles.

3- Fill each bottle with 6oz of vodka. Shake vigorously. Let stand overnight so that the Skittles dissolve completely.

4- Now comes the filtering process. Place coffee filters (the amount of filters used may vary depending on the type of filters so play with it) on top of the measuring cup and pour the infusion in. When the filter gets full of gunk (you'll know because the vodka won't filter as quickly) just take a spoon, swish it around, remove it, and keep pouring. Repeat with each colour washing the measuring cup and changing filters between pourings or you will contaminate the flavours. I had no idea when I began this step that my place would smell like a still. I found that the filters would get clogged quickly so I twisted them slowly from the top to the bottom, helping the fluid through. I found this step to be the most labour intensive especially for the purple, green and orange as they had the most gunk in them.

5- Pour your infusions into the mason jars (you can use whatever airtight container you want) and voila!

6- You can freeze the mixture if you are going to serve it at home. I don't recommend freezing if your intention is to give them out as gifts.

I'm calling the green-vodka mix Absolut Slytherin and dedicating it to the girls on Page394. Girls, I salute you, its absolutely deluscious!

(total cost of this experiment: $27.68 for 30oz of Vodka, $0.35 for 30 filters, 2 bags 320g Skittles $4.00, 5 mason jars $2.82, total= $34.85, enjoyment = priceless)

Other wonderful Vodka recipes, product and information:

Vodka Jello Shots: these so look like fun to make.
Vodka-based long drink recipes: there are tons of recipes here.
Infused-vodka.com: wow, they have beautiful bottles here just for vodka infusions.
epicurean.com: different infusion recipes using herbs and spices. I'm liking the hot pepper one for some reason.
Vodka Museum: You can book a tour when you are in the neighbourhood. Did I mention it was in Moscow?

Mock Tuna Salad

2009-02-02T16:52:00.005-05:00

I had a bag of dried chickpeas at home and wanted to find some kind of recipe to use them in. Of course with dried chickpeas you would be soaking them overnight before using them in this recipe.

Ingredients

1 19 oz can chickpeas drained and mashed
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp mustard
2 green onions chopped
Salt and pepper
In a bowl, combine all ingredients together and mix well.

Used as a sandwich spread.

Fighting for elbow room at the movie theatre

2009-02-01T16:17:00.000-05:00

Have you ever been sitting, quietly minding your own business in the movie theatre when someone drops in the seat next to you and just takes over that armrest you just deposited your drink into? How RUDE! I was here first!

What would you do?

Would you, in a passive-aggressive kind of way, place your elbow at the back of the armrest and progressively move it up so it pushes the elbow out of your staked territory?

Would you remove your drink out of its tray and place it on the other side? Assuming no one else has taken it first.

Would you just tell the person off?

Would you just suck it up stick your elbow in and hope they don't backwash in your drink?

Or would you totally move to another seat?

The majority of movie theatres have rules for turning off or silencing pagers and cellphones. They also request that you throw your own garbage out. Makes sense. BUT, why are there no rules for elbows????

First of all there is only 1 armrest between the two seats. Perhaps if they made two armrests (OK make them thinner so there would not be a loss of theatre seating) then the simple massess like us would be able to share, no problemo.

Second, respect the 1 seat seperation rule. People, understand that if I am sitting in a half empty movie theatre, don't cross the theatre, come up to the row I am sitting in and plunk yourself down right next to me.

BTW to those that come in late, please don't expect others to move so that you and your friends can sit altogether. Get there earlier like the rest of us.

Everyone has a social distance. This distance can range depending on the culture, intimacy, friendship and other factors. For certain, movie theatre seating can violate this distance making people uncomfortable in close proximity to others. If people were to realize, accept and respect this it would make the experience more enjoyable.

So in conclusion GET OFF MY ARMREST!

Other movie etiquette...wrappers!

Other movie etiquette...don't share your feet!

Other movie etiquette...cellphones!

Other movie etiquette...shut up please!

I'm all about being creative baby...

2009-01-20T18:10:00.007-05:00

These past few days I felt a little like taking out my crayons and drawing stuff. But I have misplaced them so I've been checking out some sites that will allow me to have some fun.

Here is a pig I drew - hey I don't have a tablet all of this was done with a mouse. You to0 can be a world-famous pig drawer like moi by visiting draw a pig. By the way the site lets you psychoanalyzes your chef-d'oeuvre.

This next one is very cool. You don't really have to draw but you have to decide what kind of creature you want to be by adding animal parts to it. You can have a go at building your wild self. The site is linked to New York Zoos and Aquarium and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

I'm definitely getting better at creating Twitter backgrounds. Here are two that I made for myself recently. They will fit a variety of screen resolutions. Its funny because I have a low resolution monitor I can't even see my own backgrounds LOL.

Be the mistress/master of your domain, create your own city. Here is my city. Very detailed-oriented/anal aren't I?

The next one is similar to drawing your pig except its a house. You can also add it to a street or create your own street. Here is mine, to be sure the drawing was bigger but the site, unfortunately reduces it. Can you tell I don't have a tablet?

And last but certainly not least there is my oats. This is a beautiful site where you can learn to draw in a circle. It's not easy but even if you don't want to draw you must visit the site just to see the quality of the art on there. Here is my attempt.

Wallpaper Calendars

2009-01-06T16:12:00.015-05:00

Who wants old boring wallpapers anyways? Might as well make them do some work so I decided to turn some really awesome pictures into wallpaper calendars. Most of the pictures were taken from Stock Exchange, a fantastic stock photo site. I played with the pictures, added dates and voilà, a functional wallpaper.

I hope you enjoy them I know I will. BTW I only made January to March 2009 calendars and will create more in the future.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2008-12-28T11:13:00.008-05:00

I'm not in the movie review business, however I have just seen this movie last night and I stongly recommend it.

I thought that the premise was interesting; a man living in reverse, being born old then getting younger throughout his life. Then I saw that Brad Pitt was the lead in the movie, I was disappointed. I had just recently seen Valkyrie and I was disappointed by Tom Cruise so I wasn't eager seeing another movie with a celebrity name attached to it. But still...the premise was interesting. So I went to see the movie with a friend of mine, at the very least, I thought, Brad was eye candy.

I couldn't have been more wrong (well not about the eye candy part) but this movie is extremely well put together - movie art I'll call it. I actually forgot that I was looking at Brad and became engrossed in the storyline.

I'm getting to it. The movie is set in New Orleans in 2005, Katrina is coming. There is a deathbed reading of a diary of a man called Benjamin Button. This diary is read to Daisy who was Benjamin's love. The story commences in 1918 when Benjamin is born. His mother dies shortly after giving birth and the father (whom we see again later in the movie) is horrified by his wrinkly son and places him on the stairs of a rest home where he is taken in by an attendant. He grows up (grows younger) in the rest home where he is surrounded by people he physically resembles and by death. He seems to understand the concept of death early in life which puts a spin on how it is viewed throughout the movie. Of course there is a young girl (Daisy) that visits the home, while they are attracted to each, life takes them in different paths. In his travels, Benjamin keeps writing to her. Yes they do get together at some point in the movie but just go see it.

I would say that the flavour of this movie is more reminicent of Forest Gump "ish". Throughout the flow of the movie we see Benjamin experience life, learning about sex, alcohol, the war and friendships. He is remarkably passive except after Daisy's terrible accident.

I loved the way the special effects were not obvious - most movies these days just throw it in your face. Obviously there were some morphing and manipulation to show the aging effect or whatever its called, but my attention was not drawn to it.

I won't go into details but there are numerous subleties to the movie that will remain with you after you leave the theatre.

Oh and yes he rides several motorcycles in the movie and I'm in love with that little blue one pictured above.

Some Facts:

The movie is loosely based on a story authored in 1921 by F. Scott Fitzgerald (same title) about a man living his life in reverse.

Althought Benjamin's situation is fiction, there are some age-related diseases that exist. Progeria, or Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome is a rare, fatal genetic condition characterized by an appearance of accelerated aging in children. These children rarely live past the age of 13, usually dying of heart disease.

Tap water back in style

2008-12-21T13:33:00.007-05:00

I don't know about you but I go throught quite a bit of water bottles in a day. I seem to have quite the collection in my car though. What to do with all of these bottles? Maybe I will make trendy flip flops with them.

Trying to do my thing for the environment and my pocketbook I've been drinking more tapwater. Unfortunately my palate has been perverted by the taste of bottled water so I haven't quite re-acquired the taste of tap water yet. I don't know when this happened though, when I was a kid, I was drinking tap water, water from the fountain at school, oh my gosh how did I ever survive? If you told me then that I would be able to buy water from a store I would have laughed at you.

Maybe tap water will be back in style, who knows? In the meantime I've been trying to make it more palatable by trying to flavour it. Yes, I've tried all of the powdered stuff like Crystal Light and Kool-Aid but I want to use more natural stuff that is hopefully better for me.

But hey why drink water? Why do doctors all say drink your 8 glasses a day? I'm glad you asked. I won't go into the chemical details of the process but water is an important solvent. It is used by the body in various metabolic processes, respiration, assists in transporting and distributing metabolites and hormones, removes wastes, it maintains the shape of the cell, acts as a lubricant and a shock absorber (to cushion your brain).

Of course my quest began by requesting the help from the Google Gods, my friends in real life and Twitter. I've compiled a list of what people have used to flavour their water.

Herbs and Spices

Ginger
Mint
Lemon Grass
Spearmint
Basil
Parsley
Stevia

A fellow tweeter introduced me to Stevia. Stevia is gaining popularity as a sweetener. It is a herb naturally found in Paraguay, many times sweeter than sugar with no caloric intake and no effect on blood sugar levels. There has been some controversy as it was only considered a dietary supplement but now the FDA has cleared Stevia to be used as a sweetner. So this means that many soft drink companies will be looking at this herb with more interest. It does come in many different flavours so be on the lookout for it.

Fruits

Lemon
Berries (all kinds)
Kiwis
Lime
Grapefruit
Oranges
Cherries
Mango
Pears
Cranberries
Watermelon
Pineapple
Pomengranite (juice)
Apple (juice)

Fruits are definitely the favorites. Fruits could be added as slices or chunks, crushed or frozen. Add your favorite fruit juice to kick it up a notch.

Vegetables

Cucumber

I haven't found any other vegetable that can flavour water and still taste refreshing. Try the cucumber, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Other

Green tea (or any other tea you prefer)
Rosewater
Peppermint Candy
Vinegar

I haven't tried the vinegar yet. Obviously you wouldn't want to put a large amount in the water if you know what I mean. I do like the peppermint candy idea.

I have a bunch of flavorings to experiment with. Now if I could only find the perfect non-chemical leaching recyclable water bottle I would be in heaven.

Vitamin B12 information

2008-12-16T16:21:00.003-05:00

I thought I would like to share with you an assignment I did for my nutrition class. We each had to reasearch a Vitamin or Mineral to discover any benefits, toxicity and deficiencies. It was to be only a few pages long, including references.

I was assigned Vitamin B12. So here it is...

Vitamin B12, otherwise known as Cyanocobalamin or Cobalamin is a water-soluble vitamin. Its many functions include roles as a coenzyme in the metabolism of proteins, carbohydrates and fats (Shils, Ross, Caballero & Cousins, 2006). Supplemental B12 injections on premature infants have been shown to stimulate the formation of red blood cells (Haiden et al, 2006), additionally it may act as a protection against cognitive impairment such as forgetfulness and mental confusion (Morris, Jacques, Rosenberg, & Selhub, 2007).

Unlike the other water-soluble vitamins, B12 can be stored in the liver for up to 5 years. To prevent the depletion of these stores it is recommended that a diet containing foods rich with B12 be included. The best food sources are clams, liver, fortified breakfast cereals, salmon, oysters, eggs, red meats, and dairy products.

The Required Daily Allowance (Health Canada Website) for Vitamin B12 is as follows:

Deficiencies associated with Vitamin B12 due to malabsorption and poor diet, often found in the elderly, have been treated in a variety of ways. These patients have been treated successfully by oral intake of vitamin B12 supplements and a change in diet. A more serious deficiency called pernicious anemia, can occur when there is no absorption of Vitamin B12. In this case the glycoprotein (intrinsic factor), normally secreted by the stomach, required to facilitate the uptake of Vitamin B12 in the intestines is missing. Patients lacking intrinsic factor or those who had complete gastrectomies have been successfully treated with intramuscular injections and nasal sprays (Andres et al, 2004). This treatment must be continued for the life of the patients.

There are certain factors which will affect the absorption of Vitamin B12. ; chronic alcoholism, autoimmune diseases, AIDS, gastritis, long term use of antacids, chronic microbial infections all interfere with absorption of Cobalamin.

It would seem that in the case of Vitamin B12, supplements are needed only in the presence of deficiencies. This is supported by numerous research indicating success in treating patients with defiencies and the lack of research indicating possible negative effects of long-term supplemental Cobalamin.

References

Andres, E., Loukili, N. H., Noel, E., Kaltenbach, G., Maher, B. A., Perrin, A. E., Noblet- Dick, M., Maloisel, F., Schlienger, J-L., Blickle, J-F. (2004) Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin) deficiency in elderly patients. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 171(3): 251.

Haiden, N., Klebermass, K., Cardona, F., Schwindt, J., Berger, A., Kohlhauser- Vollmuth, C., Jilma, B., and Pollak, A.,(July 2006) A randomized, controlled trial of the effects of adding Vitamin B12 & folate to erythropoietin for the treatment of anemia of prematurity. Pediatrics, 118(1) pp. 180-188.

Marieb, E. N., Hoehn, K., (2007). Human Anatomy & Physiology 7th Edition, San Francisco CA: Pearson Benjamin Cummings Publishers

Morris, M. S., Jacques, P. F., Rosenberg, I. H., Selhub, J., (January 2007) Folate and vitamin B-12 status in relation to anemia, macrocytosis, and cognitive impairment in older americans in the age of folic acid fortification, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 85(1), 193-200.

RDA Values for Vitamin B12. Health Canada Website. Retrieved from http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/prodnatur/applications/licen-prod/monograph/mono_vitamin_b12-eng.php.

Shils, M. E., Shike, M., Ross, A. C., Caballero, B., Cousins, R. J., (2006) Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease 10th Edition, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Publishers.

My First Attempt at Creating eBook Covers

2008-11-10T19:43:00.005-05:00

I was catching up on some tweets this afternoon when I came across one that asked if anyone was interested in creating two ebook covers in exchange for a free copy of the book. Wanting to try something new, I replied to the author and asked if I could give it a shot. I never really mentioned that I was not a graphic artist, or that I had absolutely no experience in creating ebook covers.

The author did include the requirements for the covers:

width 150px
height 200px
black border 1px
shadow on lower right
Title and Author name

I found some good stock pictures at stock.xchnge. After an hour of fiddling with Paint Shop Pro I came up with these:

I really don't expect anything out of it but it was fun to try. I'll be waiting patiently for the author to contact me back with a yea or nay.

Chicken Enchiladas

2008-11-02T00:10:00.001-04:00

Ingredients

2 skinless boneless chicken cubed
1 small onion chopped
½ cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp parsley
¼ tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp ground black pepper
7 oz tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
½ tsp chili powder
1 small green pepper chopped
1 clove garlic
4 - 6 flour tortillas (I like the flavoured ones)
6 oz salsa
Preheat oven to 175 C

Cook chicken until no longer pink and juices run clear. Drain excess fat and cube.

Add chicken, onion, sour cream, 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, parlsley, oregano and pepper to skillet and heat until cheese melts. Stir in tomatoe sauce, water, chili powder, green pepper and garlic.

Roll in even amounts into tortillas. Place in baking dish and cover with salsa and remaining cheese. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes.

Curry Chicken with Yams

2008-11-01T15:24:00.000-04:00

Ingredients

2 lbs chicken legs or thighs
2 large white onions chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger
1/3 cup curry
1 banana
2 bay leaves
4 cups chicken stock
3 yams peeled and cubed
salt and pepper to taste

In a hot stock pot coated with oil, seasont he chicken and brown on all sides. Put chicken aside. In the same pot, remove all but a little chicken fat and saute onions, garlic and ginger. Caramelize well then add curry powder. Mix quickly to prevent curry from burning then add all the ingredients back into the pot.

Bring to a boil then simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours. Serve on rice

Chili

2008-10-28T10:37:00.006-04:00

I found this recipe at a fall fair which called for chicken instead of beef. I didn't have chicken at the time so in the beef went instead. I have yet to try the chicken version of this.

Ingredients

2 lbs (900g) ground beef or chicken
1 large cooking onion, chopped
1 large red pepper, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans (5 ½ oz) tomato paste
¼ cup non-fat beef or chicken broth
1 can (28oz) diced tomatoes with juice
1 can (19oz) red kidney beans
Frozen or can corn
Chili powder (to taste)
Fresh ground pepper (to taste)
Crushed Chilis (to taste)

Brown beef or chicken and drain. Mix all ingredients into crockpot and simmer for 3 hours minimum. (overnight leads to the best tasting chili ever).

Cheese Ball

2008-10-27T22:07:00.003-04:00

Ingredients

250 grams cream cheese (softened)
12 oz mild cheese
¼ teaspoon garlic
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
½ milk (just enough to mix)
chopped nuts (whatever suits your taste)

Grate cheese. Use fork and blend everything together. Shape into ball and chill for 30 mins. Roll in chopped nuts.

Black Bean and Salsa Soup

2008-10-27T09:07:00.001-04:00

Ingredients

2 15 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed well
1 ½ cups vegetable broth
1 cup chunky salsa
1 tsp cumin
4 tbsp sour cream
1 green onion, sliced thinly

In a blender combine beans, broth salsa and cumin. Blend until fairly smooth.
Heat the bean mixture in a saucepan over medium heat until thoughly heated.
Ladle soup into bowls and top with sour cream and green onion.

Twitter Backgrounds

2008-10-26T09:10:00.005-04:00

I've been spending more and more time on Twitter, noticing more customization of backgrounds. So I decided to give it a shot. I used the Google oracle and (s)he came back with tons of links for free Twitter backgrounds and tips for creating your own background. Unfortunately they all work for widescreens not a clunker like my 1024 x 768 one. So I decided to play around with some screen shots of my twitter account. I came up with this.

All of the backgrounds I have encountered have only the left side customized. I calculated the width between the content and the edge of the screen and came up with a value of about 115 pixels. Keeping in style with my avatar I found a cool looking pepper in a free stock photography site and decided to modify it to size.

I also wanted to add something to the left hand side. I had to take several guesses how far to place the graphic and it seemed to work (it was about at 885 pixels from the right). It probably totally disappears from view if one has a widescreen, but that's OK as the right graphic remains.

Here is a list, in no particular order, of sites you can visit to obtain or create your own background.

webdistortion: uses some neat backgrounds and suggest the best colours for you to use with each of them.
Boinblog: download a photoshop template, customize it.
TwitterBacks: free templates or get your own and resubmit it to the site.
savesavesave: a bunch of free twitter backgrounds.
croncast: probably the site most referenced for creating a background.
Twitter Patterns: very pretty backgrounds, a must to see.
Twitter Templates: a bit disappointing, but that's just my opinion.
Twitter Gallery: they have a very nice gallery and it allows you to upload the background directly to your twitter account, or manually if you prefer.
The Closet Entrepreneur: instructions for creating your background using powerpoint.
TweetStyle: nice free backgrounds and they will also custom make them for you.
limeshotmarketing: very nicely made free backgrounds using the twitter bird. There is even one with a transparent background.
Twitter Treats: artistic backgrounds, check it out.

Beautiful Black and White Photographs

2008-10-25T08:51:00.003-04:00

I have always found black and white photographs to be more expressive, mysterious, more focused than colour ones. I would like to share with you two photographs which had quite an impact on me recently. They certainly are not pics.

Crossing Lines is by Ronald Koster , and the Lady in the Water is by Toni Frissell.

Student creativity in class

2008-10-19T16:51:00.005-04:00

I just taught a first aid class this weekend. It was quite the group. Saturday I had 30 students with different levels of CPR which usually a considerable challenge, however this group was easy to teach and manage. I had 20 of them back for the second day of their first aid. The pictures below were taken during one of their exercises. They were told that they could not lie on their backs (any other position was fair game) and that they could use the property to practice the secondary survey. So some used the classrooms, the bathrooms, the hallway and outside.

This is why I love teaching!

Note that on the second to last picture, both patient (one hanging from the fence) and the first aider were smoking.

Tea leaf reading...

2008-09-08T17:20:00.006-04:00

I've always wanted to get either go to a psychic or tarot or get my tea leaves read but had never got the chance. A friend and I went this Sunday with her daughter to get our tea leaves read. It was exciting.

First of all I never really had tea with actual tea leaves, usually it is with a tea bag or chinese tea that is less "leafy". We had an enjoyable time drinking our tea but the leaves kept plugging the teapot spout.

The reader/psychic came over and told us to drink our cups then turn them over in our saucers. My friend, whose grandmother was an avid tea leaf reader, told me to turn the cup 3 times and make a wish. Hey, whatever helps the process.

So we did that and waited patiently until she was finished with the other clients in the little restaurant. The reader/psychic began immediately as she turned the cup over. Here are her predictions or reading:

1- I was going to work in my own clinic/home but I will also be working in a chiropractic office (nothing new there - that is one of my goals as a massage therapy student)

2- In 2 years I would be ready to purchase a house - I was waiting for that one, its about time I stopped renting.

3- I would meet someone through a work associate where I would either have a child or he would come with one...uh OK.

4- I apparently have 2 pets (I take care of my landlord's pet so I guess that would count as 1 but I don't have anymore unless you count the dust bunny growing under my bed). I denied this but she insisted that I have 2 pets.

5- In about 2 years I would be taking a class that is not offered often - I'm thinking it might be massage related in some way.

6- She also told me that I have an older male figure in my life like a brother or father that will become ill and that I should not fall to the temptation to become their primary care provider. One of my closest friends is older, male and has been battling cancer - I don't like this prediction one bit.

7- She finally told me that she sees car troubles. Ok she would be right about that one.

Let wait a year or two to see if these pan out.

Tips for eating cheaply

2008-08-04T03:46:00.008-04:00

Last September I made a drastic change in my life, I quit my very comfortable but slightly unchallenging profession as a bilingual customer service technician with moen and went back to school on a full-time basis. This entailed moving into the basement of some friends of mine for a very reasonable rent and living cheaply as I still had payments to make on the car, insurance, gas, etc...

I needed to make a budget that I could live with and this included being creative with my meal planning on a budget of $25 week. I began the exploration of the web, finding some neat tips to help out with the budgeting. Here they are in no particular order.

1- First plan out your meals. You will find that with a little meal planning you will be able to avoid eating out on the nights that you come home late and hungry.

2- When you do plan your meals, make double or triple the quantity and freeze it. This will come in handy when you don't feel like cooking. Of course a microwave is a staple here.

3- If you don't already have one, get yourself a crockpot. They are not that expensive and are a great investment. All you have to do is literally throw food in it and set it on low for the day. You can make some inexpensive stews, chili and soups. One advantage is that you can buy cheaper cuts of meat as the crockpot will cook it in its own juices and become tender. Here are some great crockpot recipes to start off.

4- Sit down with supermarket weekly flyers. Plan out your meals based on specials and veggies that are in season.

5- Always make out a shopping list. Keep to the list.

6- And yes do eat before you go shopping this will cut down on spontaneous purchases at the till.

7- There is absolutely no shame in cutting coupons.

8- Compare the no name products to brand names, often you will find comparitive nutritional value for a fraction of the price of the brand name.

9- Buy less meats and start looking for meat replacements like beans, lentils, tofu etc..

10- If you use meats, use smaller portions, and provide plenty of vegetables. So you can use smaller quantities of meat and still have plenty of food.

11- This may be common sense but avoid the ready-to-eat microwaveable meals they are often expensive and loaded with sodium (on top of that I could probably eat 2 at one sitting).

12- Looking for apples or other produce? Look for the ones that are less expensive. For example instead of buying the Granny Smith for $1.29 go for the MacIntosh at $0.99 instead.

13- Try this one, host a pot-luck evening where everyone brings something be it an appetizer, salad, or desert. Usually there is quite a bit leftover for the host!

14- Don't underestimate the value of friendship and family....let them bring you care packages or treat you.

15- Start looking at your cuboards and fridges to come up with creative recipes so that you won't keep running to the grocery store as often. Tuna for example can be used in salads, pasta dinners, sandwiches and is inexpensive.

16- Visit the grocery store once or twice a week period. Any more than that you will probably overspend or bring back spontaneous purchases.

17- This may sound severe but when you are starting off take exactly the amount of money you budgeted out of your account in cash and spend only that. Forget about using credit or debit cards as you will not get a feeling for how much you are spending. If you don't want to go that route many grocery store chains have cards that you can pre-load with money.

Twitter problems

2008-08-04T03:22:00.004-04:00

No matter how many times I repaste the code or refresh the twitter application will not work. It does that on another site of mine as well. Hopefully either Blogger or Twitter will be working on resolving the issues.

I was thinking about the young man who was beheaded in the Greyhound bus the other day. When I read the news and heard the audiotape I thought it was so surreal...highlander-like situation. What in the world prompted that guy to do this? Why couldn't anyone on the bus try to prevent it, they must have surely passed by the victim and the attacker to flee the bus? If there was one person who needed to be tasered to death it was the attacker.

Wordpress Vs Blogger

2008-08-03T22:17:00.003-04:00

I was just playing around with Worpress earlier. I had a hard time customizing the CSS for the site, apparently you need to upgrade to do this. So I came to Blogger instead. We'll see what happens next.

I should really be studying but I had some creative juices that needed to be pressed. I will probably regret this later :-).

Just wanted to see how the pictures were uploading. Thought I would post a favorite picture of mine. As you can see I like peppers, they are both tasty and colourful little creatures. I think I will load my pictures from http://photobucket.com/ as I can host a large amount of pictures free of charge.

Here is a picture from photobucket as a test. It is our deck in the back after the hail storm hit us on July 22, 2008. The storm lasted about 20 minutes but at the end all of the plants were decimated, my car had little dents in it.