Exhibit of Environmental Disaters

The National Art gallery in Ottawa will be displaying a photography exhibit that will explore environmental disasters.
Art and photography has never been a passion of mine, but I might make an exception to see this exhibit.

If anyone has seen this exhibit, please let me know what you thought of it.

Brian McGrattan Traded to Pheonix

I am sad to see our big number 16 leave the team. I really liked this guy. He had an awesome character and kept his head up even though he was made a healthy scratch game after game in the last season. Every time he was called upon, he delivered. He was the muscles on the team. Not many in the NHL wanted to mess with him.

As I watched last season, I guess I saw things differently then the coaching staff behind the bench. I saw a young man trying to play a hard game of hockey. I saw him draw penalties in many of his shifts. Yes, I did see him getting into fights and finding himself in the penalty box, but many people love that part of hockey.

Like I said, I am sad to see him go, but I am hopeful that Gretsky will give him more ice-time and really develop him into the player that I know he can be.

Enjoy the sun McGratts; I know that you will soon fit in with your new teammates. You were one of my favourite players in Ottawa; I wish you all the best in sunny Phoenix.

St-Jean Baptiste

Today is St-Jean Baptiste day. A holiday that is celebrated in Quebec. The office is pretty much closed today. I could have requested special permission to go into work, requested building access for the day, get the agency that I work through to allow me to record time for the day etc,etc. I figured a nice day at home in June is not a bad idea. I took the opportunity to leave my car with my mechanic so that he can hopefully resolve the sluggishness issue. It has been a bit of a frustrating point for the last little while.

We took our daughter out of school early today and went to lunch with Michelle's aunt and uncle who are visiting from BC. We had a great time with them. They are really nice people, love to have fun. I have only met once before and that was shortly after we got married. We hope to take a trip out their way at some point in time and go and hang out with them for a week or two. Maybe next year. Then we would get to bring the kids to see the Ocean. Something I am sure the kids would find fascinating.

To everyone celebrating today. Happy St-Jean Baptiste!!!

Ottawa Transit needs to be revamped

I would like to see a transit system in Ottawa that is accommodating to going other places than downtown. Sure, most riders use the bus to go downtown, but that is basically the only place that the bus takes you. Many years ago, OC Transport spoiled their riders with the one bus system, by this I mean that it only takes 1 bus to get downtown, from pretty much anywhere in the city. Yes, this is great if you need to get downtown, but if you need to go anywhere else, the system isn't very accommodating. Also, ridership would be at risk if they tried to implement a different system.

I believe that a grid system would work best. Keep the existing transit way in place for rapid movement of passengers in an East-West and North-South directions. Once a rider arrives at a hub that is near their neighbourhood, then they could transfer to a local route. Having bus running a grid throughout the city would make it easier for riders to get to destination others than downtown.

This would also eliminate the rush hour bussing nightmare going through the core. Having to spot you bus in a row of 20 buses isn't always easy. Also, you need to determine whether you should run to your bus that is 8 buses back or wait till it shows up at the front of the line. I've waited a few times to see my bus just drive on by without stopping to pick people up.

Operating in my new fashion would mean that you can hop on any of the bus that shows up downtown. It may not reduce the number of buses that are running through the core per say, but it would certainly speed up each stop since you would either get on the East bound bus or the South Bound bus, in the other direction I guess it would only be west bound.

It would make the whole system a lot more efficient. Yes, we would have to listen to the people complaining about having to transfer now, but after a few months people would be use to it and I believe that ridership would increase since the system would be better.

Price of Gas

People have been complaining about the price of gas for years now. It was a long time ago that we paid $0.50/L. I was 18 years old when I saw a gas war bring the prices to below 30 cents. Now, anything under $1.20 is cheap.
I've seen people come up with schemes. Don't buy any gas on Tuesday that will force the gas companies to reduce their prices. NOT!!!

The only way to reduce the price of gas is to reduce your consumption. If everybody used less gas, then the price would drop. The old supply vs. demand still applies here. Unfortunately, the only thing that will twist people's arms to reduce their consumption is raising the price of gas.

Where is the handbook?

With legislation being pass preventing child disciple, we the government to come out with a handbook outlining what is permitted when it comes to disciplining our children. Thus far they seem to be very good at naming the don'ts, but what about the do's.

The saying as always been that there are no handbooks when it comes to raising your children. That is true, but there have been rules creeping in over time, that limit the types of disciplines that can be applied to raising children.

Last week the Canadian Senate has passed a Bill making it illegal to spank your children. I'm sure that they have all kinds of reasons and justification to back it up. But at the same time, I've heard people say that you shouldn't give you children time-outs because it causes psychological damage. So can anyone tell me what is left? How can I discipline my child if corporal punishment isn't permitted, time-outs will mess up their heads. I'm sure taking toys or movies or anything fun will mess up their heads just as much... what is there?

Green Laundry

Last week we bought a bio-degradable laundry soap. Although I am not the one that does the laundry in the house, I am excited about switching to a product that is a little more environment friendly. The next purchase that we are going to make is bio-degradable dish-soap and dishwasher soap.

These are just little things but in the long run they help. Every little bits count.

Rain Barrel set up with pictures.

Here is what my rain barrels look like. This setup collects 400L of nice clean rain water.


The olive barrels made it easy to deal with the screening. They have a top that can be unscrewed and each barrel came with a strainer of sorts. I placed the 2 strainers into the same container with a piece of nylon screen (what we use for our windows to keep the bugs outside) in between them to keep the grit and dirt (to some extend) out of the barrels.


Here we see how the 2 barrels are connected. I used ABS pipe connectors and a inch hose to join the 2 barrels. Now when it rains the 2 barrels fill up together. the joining peice has a threaded hole that I could screw in a spigot. I have my garden hose attached and I drain the barrels into my pool. This concept will allow me to add other barrels if the need should be there. All I need to do is cut one of the hose and attach a "T" and connect another barrel.

Can't wait for Summer

We had a really nice week at the beginning of June, for some it was bordering on too hot. It was nice to make use of the pool. Now for the last week and a half the kids have been asking me when we can go swimming. Unfortunately, the weather hasn't permitted us to make use of the pool. However, it has provided lot's of water to fill, even over fill, my pool. I am glad to see the rain barrels already start to pay for themselves.

In a few days, we should be able to resume our swimming. Can't wait ;-)

Proof of Global Warming

Alright, all you fence sitters that aren't convinced that there is Global Warming. Look at the facts here and try to tell me that there is no Global Warming.

PS: Do tell me what you think of the facts.

Downtown for Ribs

I took the family downtown for ribs last night. It started to rain just before we got to order. So instead of walking up and down Sparks Street to see all the different vendors, we went to the first one that had a short line. The thing that Michelle and I hadn't thought about was the spicy factor. We ordered 2 and half pounds for the 4 of us. Thinking that we might have a few leftovers.
But as we started eating them Michelle could only handle 3 ribs Sam about 2 and half, David had 1 and a few nibbles on another. Needless to say we cam home with more than a rack. Not that I mind I had some for lunch at work today.
The vendor that we went with was Billy Bones. I enjoyed them, but if you can't handle spicy food you mind want to go with a different vendor.

Hope you get to go out there and enjoy some ribs.

Apparently, we are not allowed to discipline

I read this
article and realized that we have created a society where parents have no say. I am surprised that a court would hear such a case and interfere with parental decisions. The point is not whether you agree or not with the punishment. It is more to understand that we are stripping rights away from parents. First corporal punishment is deemed a crime. Now, every type of punishment is being scrutinized.

This is a sad sad world we live in.

I am saddened that 12 year old girl would post inappropriate pictures of herself online. My kids are still young to be worried about their online behaviour. I hope that teaching them about proper online protocols and the dangers of over-exposure will prevent this type of scenario. But if something like this does occur, will I be able to punish my child? This is so messed up.

Discipline? Why Bother?

The Canadian Senate has just pass a bill.

"Bill S-209, which needs House approval to be made into law, proposes to eliminate Section 43 of Canada's Criminal Code, which allows parents, teachers and caregivers to use reasonable force to discipline a child and correct their behaviour"

I think that they have gone too far. I thought that what we had before was a good balance. What they are effectively doing is removing consequences. Without consequences children will not learn what acceptable behaviour is and what is not acceptable.

I do not support abuse; I do not endorse beating your kids. But I do think that a quick spank on the bum can quickly grab a child's attention and make them aware of what they are doing.

I have to say that my kids are extremely well behaved; the key to their formation was discipline and consistency. These 2 things are extremely important in the upbringing of a child. They have to know their boundaries. They also have to know that there are consequences to over-stepping their boundaries. I have seldom needed to spank my kids, but they have gotten countless time outs. When they were really young, I implemented the 1-2-3 method. It has worked like a charm. It was almost like they knew instinctively that 3 was the end game. I don't recall ever having to tell them.

To reiterate, I'm not suggesting that you spank your kids, I conveying that once again the government is legislating common sense. But the price to pay will be unruly kids, which will grow up to be unruly teenagers, who in time will become unruly adults. What a great place this will be to live.

Take a walk around the city and pay attention to the teenagers. How many of them "respect" their elders. How many of them speak kindly to strangers. I know that their are some out there, some.

Global Warming?

I've been reflecting on the concept of Global Warming. I have heard many opinions ranging from "Global Warming is a Myth" to "Humans are directly responsible for Global Warming"

I think that scientifically we can prove that there is Global Warming. The average temperature has been going up every year. Although, it may seem insignificant to some the overall product is detrimental to us all. To some people the connection is obvious. We are responsible we need to curb our green house effect. To otters the connection isn't so clear, claiming that if the earth went through an ice-age some 10s of thousands of years ago, if the temperature has not gone up, then were is the ice. I can understand their point of view.

When it comes to addressing the emissions on cars and the pollution released into the atmosphere, I think that we are grabbing on to the problem from the wrong end. An easy common ground that we can all see and accept is smog. We all know that we (humans) cause the smog and we can take responsibility for that. If the Environmentalist tackled the problem from the smog angle they may be able to gain much better support form the general public. Who knows, we may or may not be able to prevent global warming, but we can resolve smog and improve air quality.

Rain Barrels working like a charm.

I installed my rain barrels on the weekend. I'll post a picture when I have one. The joined barrels can hold 400L. I have collected this much at least 3 times since Sunday. We had 3 major down pour on Sunday and after the first downpour my barrels were full. I need to get more barrels or a water crate. In the meantime I have picked up 2 of these Collapsable Barrels from Costco. They should help with the extra water for the time being. They can hold 400L each so once Installed, I'll be harvesting 1200L every rain fall. Which should equate to about an inch of water in my pool.

New contract coming soon

My contract at Environment Canada (EC) is almost up. At the end of June it is over. Due to the contracting vehicule that they have in place they are unable to keep me. It has been great working here, the project was fun and the technology current. It was also a bonus to see the emails going through talking about the iniatives that the Canadian government was doing to better the environment.

My next gig will be at Alcatel. I have a friend who is already on contract there. I worked with him years ago at EDC so it will be nice to work with him again. He's a cool guy and we get along extremely well.
Hopefully the projects there will be as exciting as they have been here (EC). The drive will be farther, but the drive time about the same. I'll be going back to work 7:00-3:00 to avoid the downtown traffic.

2008 Ottawa Ribfest

Starting tomorrow, the Ribfest is on. This is an awesome event. I wait for it every year. Obviously, it is best when my contract is downtown or close to downtown. I will however, take my family downtown to enjoy these excellent Ribs.
For those who don't like Ribs, they have excellent roasted chicken and pulled pork sandwiches.
Enjoy!!

Heat Recovery (Hot Water)

A friend sent me a link to this product last week. It seems like an excellent idea. You can recover the heat from the main drain. Over 90% of the hot water that we use ends up in the drain. This device can recover some of it.
Here is a link to the manufacturer's website. They explain the process better than I ever could.

Green Bins Coming Soon to Ottawa

Looks like the city is going to force people to compost. Instead of getting people to compost their own organic material, they are going to start collecting it. I'm not sure that I would like to be the one working on that pickup run. Mind you I wouldn't appreciate picking up any trash, but decomposing foods can leave you with an unpleasant odor.

What will force people to use the green boxes is that the city will only pickup regular garbage every 2 weeks. So if you don't want your trash to smell, you better put everything that you can in the green bin.

I think the achilles heal in the 2 week garbage pickup is smelly diapers. My kids have been out of diapers so that aspect will not be a factor for my home. But I have heard of people complaining about this during the pilot program.

I, for one, would prefer to keep my organic material and compost it myself. Then the compost can be used to nourish the flower beds and lawn.

Thinking Ecologically

For the last couple of years I have been going green in my thinking. I've been spending a bit more time thinking through my purchases and evaluating my decision and their ecological impact.

This summer I have decided the brave the heat. By not turning on the A/C not only will it cut down our hydro bill, but it will help the environment in a minute way.

My house has been mostly converted to CFL (compact fluorescent lights)or regular fluorescent (there is only 2 chandeliers that still have the old bulbs...in due time they will be replaced as well). They use less energy and last a lot longer. We send anything that can be recycled to the blue or black bin. We will soon have our composter ready to start composting. (our backyard is going through an overhaul, so the composter still does have a home)
Hopefully, by Saturday, my rain barrels will start collecting our precipitation. That way I don't need to use refined water to fill my pool. The rain water can also be used to water the plants that we have around the yard.

I keep investigating different options on living a greener life. This is not something I expected myself to do. Years ago, I wouldn't have been bothered with the planet, landfills and so on.
Now when I see how things are deteriorating, I want to do my part so that my kids and grand-kids and great-grand-kids have fresh air to breath.

Tomorrow Starts Today.

Rain Barrels

Summer is here. With the heat wave that we just went through and another coming Friday, it's hard to deny that.
I own a home that has both and air conditioner and a pool. When I moved in 3 years ago, I did not realize the cost associated with operating a pool. Sure there are chemicals that need to be purchased to maintain the proper Ph and chlorine levels, but what I did not forsee was the water usage.

Last week, I went to Cohen and Cohen, purchased to olive barrels that I am going to fashion as rain barrels. When they say olive barrels they mean olive barrels. When I opened them I realized that they had a few olives left in them. So the first order of the day was to clean the barrels. It was a bit gross, but easily done. The next step is to drill holes in them so I can attach a spigot. The plan is to collect the rain at my downspout and use the rain water to fill the pool. that should cut my water bill by some measure. When it's all said and done, I'll be able to harvest 600L of water every rainfall, providing of course that we get that much rain.

For the first 2 summers that we were in the house we have been operating the A/C as well. If you have a central air, do the calculation, you will be floored at how much energy you use. My A/C seemed to run 24/7 and no matter how cold it was in the house, it never seemed to be cool enough. At over $200/month to operate, that is an expense that I have decided to cut this year. I tried last year, but with Michelle's parents moving in with us, I was unable to get away with it. This year, I holding my ground. Sure it's been hot at times, but that is what the pool is for. A quick dip will bring your core temperature down. Much better than the A/C.

Also, last year I found that once I was in the house for a while, I didn't feel like going for a dip. I was already chilled, nevermind jumping in the pool.

A website that I found, I don't have the link anymore, stated that a 3 tonne A/C unit used the same amount of electricity as 68.5 fans. So go ahead, turn on your fans, give the A/C a rest, spend some time outside in the shade.

Enjoy your summer, there are plenty more hot days ahead of us.