Walk in the Woods

This evening my mission was to find some yoghurt without sugar, starch and gelatine. I couldn't find it at the regular grocery store (meijers) yesterday, which by the way is HUGE, so I attempted the local health food store and scored.

Unfortunately my navigation skills are not the best yet in Michigan (maybe it's those damn left turns), and I got a little lost. Instead of Holland, I ended up in Saugatuck by Lake Michigan. But as it is, when you least expect anything, life sometimes offers some nice surprises:

I ended up by a parking lot by the Felt Mansion, from where several trails lead into Saugatuck State Park. Wikipedia tells me the mansion is a prison (!) since the 1970's. If I ever end up in prison, that's the one I'd pick.




The walk in the woods was beautiful, peaceful, and exactly what I needed. I forgot how much I enjoy being in the forest. I used to spend hours in the woods. Walks in the woods clear my mind, I love the silver bark of the beeches, and little squirrels running away from me puts a smile on my face. It doesn't take a lot -to make my day in the woods.

This forest grows on sand - the dunes from Lake Michigan.

Here is some GREEN! Highly appreciated after a winter in artic Calgary.

I was really surprised to find cacti and yuccas in Michigan:

Not quite like a cactus like in the Sonoran desert, but definitely prickly!

Yucca

New HQ

The first group of people has moved into the newly renovated office and I must say, it looks pretty! From the outside it still appears a little cold and unfinished, but hopefully the trees and shrubs around the building grow fast to change that. It's going to be a LEED-certified building, meaning that it has been designed and built with energy efficiency, environmental and human health in mind.

Lots of open space with lots of light in the atrium.

Outside and in the other wing: still under construction...

Michigan

I think I said it before: Michigan reminds me a little bit of St. Poelten: flat, overcast and similar flora and fauna.

Michi-gonians are a little different drivers though: less aggressive than Austrians, but they like their traffic lights (see above) and they thought of a unique way of turning left. Instead of turning left at the intersection of choice, you

• drive straight through the intersection,
• then half block there is an opportunity to do a U-ie, so do a U-ie
• turn around
• turn right at the intersection of your choice.

Why do things the easy way, if there is a complicated way!

Snowy Saturday

While Austrians are watching the flowers blossoming, Calgarians are surviving blizzards.

On top of our arctic conditions, when I got home last night the heat was off and the temperature was at refreshing 15 degrees. Damn new technology. I love in floor heating, but I love it even more when it's working. I ended up sleeping in my sweater, and thankfully it got fixed right away on Saturday morning. I can honestly say that I am really looking forward to spring.

I am off to Michigan tomorrow morning, and I was told the tulips are starting to grow there. Can't wait to see some green.

Success

I made peace with the fact that I have to do some work to earn a living. So it might as well be something that I love doing and that I am good at. In the book The Artists Way at Work they cite a survey of successful people. What successful people all seem to have in common were three things:

1. A daily reflective practice - that could be yoga, meditation, going for a run or bike ride, prayer, drinking tea and looking outside the window, you name it.
2. The ability of re-framing failure - not getting hung up on a past failure, losing a job or a partner, public embarrassment, screwing up a project, etc. Failure happens to all of us in one way or another. The question is are we taking the lesson learned from the incident and integrate this into our future decision making? Or do we beat ourselves up for having made a mistake? One option of re-framing a failure is to think "Next time I will do..." instead of "Why the @#$% did I not do...? The latter is useless dealing with the past that we can't change, the first option can potentially influence our future action positively.
3. The ability of leveraging one's own skills.

Finding my skills
We all come with a set of unique skills. We all have a certain set of strengths. But how do I know what they are?

I turned to the book Strengthsfinder 2.0 to help me answer this question. I saw this book floating around our office and people were talking highly about it, so I gave it a try. It's another personality test, so of course I am into it!

Turns out my strenghts are:

• Connectedness - my soul knows that we are all connected.
• Intellection - meaning I like stuff the stimulates my thinking and spending time with smart people.
• Input - I like aquiring new information. Thank God for the Internet - my google search bar puts only two mouse clicks between my questions and some answers.
• Learning - that might explain the many courses I have been taking since I am done school: language courses, the LEED exam, and now the yoga teacher training.
• Futuristic - I do have a vision of future, where we live in harmony with our planet. Despite of our current contradicting, destructive way of living (e.g. the majority of our electricity is produced by coal fired plants, that pollute the air we breathe and contribute to climate change), I believe that if humanity puts their energy and effort towards innovation of technologies and new ways of life styles, we can continue living our dreams while doing less harm. Hopefully this happens in my life time.

Unfortunately Strenghtsfinder is not available for free or online. You have to get a hardcopy book to get an access code to the online test, which seems a little wasteful in the era of digital information. If you end up taking the test, let me know. I am always curious to gain deeper knowledge (see above)! Apparently I work well with people with strong communication and activator skills.

Now that I know my strengths, I am on to the next step: on how to fully leverage them.

Blooming Desert, California, March 2008

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
Albert Schweitzer

Who says you have to be human, to be a Picasso?

This elephant is seriously into painting. Pretty impressive.

Each movement is my mantra

On Monday I rode my bicycle to work. For the first time this year. The highlights of my ride were two seagulls on a lamp post, a coyote on the way there and a deer on the way back.

My mantra for riding to work? "Slow and steady wins the race." Slow and steady cycling is still a better work out than turning a car steering wheel or pressing the pedal to the metal. "Slow and steady..." also makes it easier at 6:30 am to prepare myself for a bike ride.

But this year I will introduce a new mantra: Fast and Easy. Once I am out of bed and on the bike path I am usually more excited about going fast and easy than slow and steady. "Fast and easy" means increasing cadence and having fun. It means the face stays relaxed and so do the shoulders (that usually requires some core strength action).

Oh, and the picture is the first one ever from the new camera. I thought the seagulls were worth it.

Icelandic Art at the Truck

melting ice

I went to an Icelandic art exhibition called Sundog at the Truck Gallery on Friday. Above is the last shot I took with my little Canon before the lens decided, it was time to retire. Ice melting on an overhead screen. Very appropriate for our times.

So on the weekend I got a new little Canon (Canon SD870 IS). They have come down in price tremedously in the past few years. This time I got one with image stabilisation. We will see, if I shoot more sharply now!

Plasticific

This is disturbing. Last week I found this picture of a turtle on The Ecologist and it wrenched my heart. Poor little baby hatchling must have got caught in a plastic ring commonly used for six-packs of beer cans. And grew into it.

They also mentioned the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” in the article, which was news to me. According to the Independent it is twice the size of the continental US and it’s a soup of plastic in the Pacific Ocean.

Plastic takes FOREVER to break down. And there is currently no good recycling systems for many of the plastics. And typically toxic additives are used and toxins are released during production and when it's breaking down or being burned. In fact, plastics don't break down by exposure to the sun only. They slowly photo-degrades to a molecular level, at which point further degradation can only be achieved by burning. That means it will be sitting in the ocean for a long time. The pieces might be so small that we don’t see them, but they will still be there. These plastics are eventually getting into our food stream. What effect this has on us and the environment is little known. I have heard that some might be hormone disruptors, but either way: my intuition tells me it’s probably not good.

The garbage patch was discovered by rich sailor Mr. Moore, when he was looking for a short cut on his yacht back to LA. When he ended up being in the plastic soup for a week, he realized that this is crazy and turned into an environmental activist. I guess, even the nicest yacht is not so great anymore, if the places to discover are trashed. Mr Moore warns that unless consumers cut back on their use of disposable plastics, the plastic stew would double in size over the next decade.

...for every 6 pounds of plastic that we got, there was only one pound of zooplankton.
Captain Charles Moore

What's next? Should we lie back and watch the clouds go by and keep on trashing our environment?

I think, we urgently need a more environmentally-benign replacement for plastic.

Maybe biopolymers are a solution, like these biodegradable plastic baskets, which are claimed to degrade after 18 weeks in the ground?

In the meantime, now more than ever, whenever I can choose between plastic fork or a metal fork, I will most definitely choose the metal one.

bike-to-work

brit on bike on bike-to-work day

The City of Calgary has a draft version of a bicycle and pedestrian policy in place. It lists some good points that, once implemented, will transform Calgary into a more walk- and bike-friendly city. For example:

“Plan for cyclists separately from planning for pedestrians; the needs of the two groups are different.” Absolutely true – that will reduce the risk of running over kids, dogs, and drunks. Dedicated bike lanes in the down town core would be wicked too!


Read the policy here, and if you have any constructive comments, let the City know by sending them an email.

What we choose...

...to buy can change the course of life on this planet.

Janette

Crackberry

One thing I learned from my boss from Texas, is that if you want something you have to ask for it. So I did. I asked for a blackberry, which really is blue and really is crack. After the recent lay-offs a few BBs became available, which goes well with my interest in sustainability: re-use, the middle of the RRR.

• It allows me to stay connected with my inbox, even when I am not at my desk. I am always on time, and 50% of humanity are not: so it's useful when I am waiting for other people in a meeting room.
• And working from home just got easier.
• It's a good alarm clock too.

So don't forget to ask.

Venice Beach

Here are a few pictures from a while back - the Sunday morning in Venice Beach. Nice and hot! It's a really cute neigbourhood with a sense of community. Beautiful lush tropical plants in the front yards and palm trees along the boulevards.

Cool Architecture

Cool People

And I was surprised to see Meinl Kaffee from Vienna and Gruener Veltliner on the menue at the Three Square Bakery. It felt like at home in Austria, well ..., like Austria in the tropics.

Baby Instructions

In case you are one of the people of expecting new little people in your life, to be on the safe side, here are some instructions and warnings.

Sitting

Today I came across this review of Zody, the chair I sit on all day, when I am at work. Geeks gave it two thumbs up. I like it too. It’s adjustable in many ways, so I make sure that the arm rests are in line with the work surface and at a height that keeps my shoulders broad and relaxed. Most importantly I tilt the seat slightly forward, so that I sit upright and my pelvis is in a neutral position, which maintains the natural lordosis of the lower back: the slight inward curve that helps to avoid compression in the lower back.

After all we don’t want to end up like this guy:

Rrrrussian Mafia

Our special guest Yana from Moscow is in town, so we played a round of Mafia. It's a good party game, especially if played with Russians, they are pros, but I am sure Italians can kick ass too. My skills are improving. I am not being killed off in the first round anymore - yeah!

I believe it was Socrates who said you get to know a person better by playing a game for one hour than by talking to a person for 1000 hours. It's worth a try. You can find the instructions to the game here.

Mafia boss Yana with her Russian body guards - you don't mess with her! ;)

Who is the Mafia? Who is innocent? Who can be trusted?

Rebecca and the Russian Presidents - from Lenin, blurry in the foreground, to Gorbi and Putin further in the back. In the very back, that's Rebecca - not a Russian president.


Brit outing himself as an innocent citizen (red card) after he was killed. I am sorry!

More pictures on flickr!

focus

Really focus on the people in the white shirts:

Kindness

Ram Dass has said, that there are three rules for living a rich life with meaning and purpose:

"Be kind. Be kind. And be kind."

I heart LA

Did I already mention that I love California?

And that despite of 10-lane highways, a 24/7 rush hour (in LA that is), and ridiculously long line ups at LAX.

But it offers everything: people from all over the world live there, fresh food is plentiful and whatever your heart might desire, you can be certain that you will find like minded people. After all, there are 36 million people to choose your friends from.

California

Another trip to sunny California to experience sun, palm trees and to visit with friends. And I am certainly glad I did absorb the heat over the last few days, because in half an hour I will drive to work..in a snow storm.


This time the desert was blooming!

Happy Easter! Easter eggs in front of a mansion in Pasadena.

Battery

Today I found out the City of Calgary doesn't mind that regular household batteries (AA and such) are going in the regular trash, and will end up on the landfill. I was REALLY surprised, because in Europe, or at least in Austria, this is illegal.

In the US, corporations have to collect batteries and pay for their disposal at a special hazardous waste landfill (probably by putting more effort into sealing them), but households, which - by definition - contribute to the use of household batteries, are exempt from the regulation. Which doesn't make any sense: if I recognize the need for recycling in one area, corporations, I understand that its components, the heavy metals are very useful for certain uses, such as in generating energy, but that they should be kept away from our food, water and air cycles. Fresh water is a finite resource and demand is growing by an increasing population. Therefore we have to keep our fresh water supply clean, and we also don't want to incinerate batteries: the heavy metals make the air we breathe toxic.

Taking the raw material and keeping it in a closed-loop cycle, from extraction to end-of-useful-life to re-manufacture and re-use. Where the resource is used and re-used with the least amount of "dirty energy" necessary to run the whole operation. That would be a good tactic - with future generations in mind. Or do we expect from our children's children that they shall mine our landfills? Let's not put the heavy metals there in there in the first place.

Free Tibet

So that this blog doesn't turn into a botany blog introducing all my house plants to you: here is an entry about democracy in action including a picture that is a colour other than green.

Tibetan people are upset. The Dalai Lama is asking for a dialogue. China says: Sure, let's have a dialogue - there is only one condition: do not talk about independence.
Not sure if that qualifies as "dialogue".

I added my 2 cents by signing Avaaz.org's petition: three lines and a mouse click. One person won't have an effect, 1000 won't have an effect either. But if it's hundreds of thousands, then the 2 minutes I have invested might add up. It's worth a try:

Petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao:

As citizens around the world, we call on you to show restraint and respect for human rights in your response to the protests in Tibet, and to address the concerns of all Tibetans by opening meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Only dialogue and reform will bring lasting stability. China's brightest future, and its most positive relationship with the world, lies in harmonious development, dialogue and respect.

Click here to sign.

Dieffenbachia

I finally found out the name of my tallest plant: he is a Dieffenbachia, and I gave him a first name as well: Hiro, a Japanese name, because I thought he looked like he could grow in Japan. And it's all about postive reinforcement: if he is called Hiro, he will hear "Hero", hence he will grow like a hero! I was wrong though - he is tropical, not from Japan. In Japan he would most likely only be abundant in homes, just like here in Canada.

I also discovered that Dieffenbachia is highly poisonous. It has been used by native Amazonians for the poison used on arrows. During the slave era it was known as "dumb cane", because it would silence un-welcomed visitors. It was used for human torture. The little calcium oxalate crystals damage tissue. I had no idea, that this was such a powerful plant.

Survival of the Fittest

I went to Bow Point Nursery on the weekend. It's just west of the city. They focus on native plants, that don't require watering and that are hardy enough to survive the harsh Albertan climate (cold winters - hot summers).

I found the usual suspects - like lodgepole pine and sage.

I was rather surprised to see yucca, which are plentiful in California and Mexico - but Canada? According to BPN-Ken they grow naturally in Writing on Stone National Park in Southern Alberta and can deal with Calgary's weather just fine.

Who is an Einstein?

Well, according to an interview on zeit.de the probability that you are an Einstein is higher, if you are a man. The speaker references studies on IQ and differences between men and women.

But decide for yourself, here are the findings of the studies:

• The average IQ of men and women is the same
• Men tend to overestimate their intelligence
• Women appear to underestimate their intelligence
• People underestimate the intelligence of their mothers and daughters
• People overestimate the intelligence of their fathers and sons
  
• Women’s IQ distribution is a steeper bell curve
• Men’s IQ distribution is a rather flat distribution

If these studies are right, then this would mean:

• There are more really, really stupid men than really, really stupid women (the bell curve of men's intelligence is flatter).
  

• There are more really, really intelligent men than really, really intelligent women. This could explain why there are more men in higher positions than women. On the other hand, if bullet points 5 and 6 are true, then a feedback mechanism could be responsible for women believing that they are not as intelligent. Just like Henry Ford said:
  

Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you are right.

spring

the ice on the bow river is melting.
the geese are returning from their winter vacation.

spring can't be too far out - bring it on!