Running With Dithers: March 2011

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Cherry blossoms, ftwwtf.

In the cherry blossom's shade/ there's no such thing/ as a stranger. - Kobayashi Issa (1763 - 1828)

I love cherry blossoms. There's nothing that announces spring's arrival quite like them. Seeing them fills me with a sense of hope and new beginnings. The air smells more fresh, the sky more bright, and the grass more green.

I'm waxing poetic, I know, but there's something so joyful about them and in this time of uncertainty, it's good to have these around to remind us of the beauty that still surrounds.

That being said, oh my god, they are trying to kill me! The weather has been rather... bi-polar these past few months, and I think that's affected the pollen levels to a degree. It just came out of no where too. For most of this week, I was fine, and then all of a sudden, my face feels funny, the roof of my mouth scratchy and my eyes itchy and simultaneously dry and watery. Is it possible to have a pollen overdose?

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

It’s a Red Light, Stupid!

There is a disturbing trend here in Vancouver and I feel compelled to issue a PSA about it.

It’s about people running red lights, particularly on a left turn.

The other day a girlfriend and I were driving to pick up my kid from daycare, and we were waiting for the light to go green so that we could turn left. Well, the light turned but there were four cars still turning left from perpendicular traffic. Seriously, the light turned red and FOUR. CARS. TURNED. after it turned. What the hell is that?! Has everyone completely forgotten the rules? Is it not common knowledge that you don’t enter the intersection to turn left, if there’s another car in front of you waiting to do the same? Does it not make sense that that this rule is in place specifically to prevent you from turning after a red and potentially getting into/causing an accident?

Now, before I get too up on my high horse, I’m going to admit that I’ve done this time to time. I’m in a bit of a rush, I’ve been stuck at that light for a few cycles, no one yields on the amber light and I’m forced to turn after the red, or I’m irritated that the car in front of me didn’t take the half dozen chances he had (seriously, what is that? There are some people who just will not turn until the light is amber or even red, regardless of how clear the turn is. It drives me batty!) so I’ll take the turn even though I know damn well that I’m not in the right to do so. It’s selfish, and not just a little unsafe.

Having said that, stop turning after the damn red!! It’s the same as running a red light, and just as illegal. There are red light cameras cropping up everywhere and one day I swear the intersection turned into a rave for a few seconds because of all the flashes from so many cars turning after the red.

That’s it. I’m done.

Oh by the way, British Columbians: the fine for failing to yield on a red light while making a left turn is $167 and will put 2 points on your license. So the next time you prepare to turn after the red, ask yourself if getting to where you have to be 2 minutes sooner than if you had waited worth the risk a $167 ticket?

PS: Are you as well versed on driving rules as you think you are? Take this practice test from ICBC to find out.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Earth Hour 2011

This weekend marks the 5^th annual Earth Hour. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Earth Hour, here is a quite blurb on that it’s about: Earth Hour is a global event organized by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature, also known as World Wildlife Fund) and is held on the last Saturday of March annually, asking households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. Earth Hour was conceived by WWF and The Sydney Morning Herald in 2007, when 2.2 million residents of Sydney participated by turning off all non-essential lights.^[1] Following Sydney's lead, many other cities around the world adopted the event in 2008.^[2][3] Earth Hour 2011 will take place on March 26, 2011 from 8:30p.m. to 9:30p.m., at participants' respective local time. _{Wiki Source}

I want to encourage everyone to participate in this wherever possible. My family has been doing this for a few years now and it’s pretty cool. The first year we did it, our young son was still awake for it, so we grabbed our crank lights and read him a Tintin book. Last year, a Canuck’s game was on, so we cheated and watched that but we made sure everything else was turned off. There isn’t a game scheduled for this Saturday, so not too sure what we’re going to do, but whatever we do, we’re likely going sans electricity for that hour.

There are some things I wanted to mention, though: those of you who are participating in Earth Hour, using your phone/laptop/tablet to go online during that hour to say that you’re participating is silly. Just don’t do that. I mean, what’s the point in participating in Earth Hour if you’re using your electronics during that hour? Last year, after we booted up our respective internet connected devices following the hour, we saw dozens of tweets and Facebook statuses of people boasting about this, and I just had to smack my forehead and chuckle at the absurdity of it all.

Another thing to keep in mind is vampire power. No, I am not talking about glittering night-walkers; I’m talking about your electronics that are plugged in. Even on standby, they are drawing power. Sure it’s minute compared to when they’re in use, but do you really need to have your toaster plugged in during Earth Hour? Do you anticipate a Pop-Tart emergency during that hour? No? Then unplug the damn thing. That goes for chargers, electric razors, microwaves, computers, TVs. Whatever you can (conveniently) unplug, just do it. When the hour is over, I challenge you to read about how much energy was saved in your city for that hour. The numbers may surprise you! One town in BC had their energy consumption go down 7 percent! Seven percent! Yeah sure, Burns Lake isn’t exactly a bustling metropolis, but the town really took Earth Hour seriously, and that ought to be celebrated.

To my fellow British Columbians: over the past two years, participation has gone down. Let’s turn that trend around, shall we? Vancouver was just declared the greenest city in Canada. How about we celebrate that title with gusto this Earth Hour?

If you think there’s just no way you can have fun without the use of electricity (OMG, an hour with no power on a Saturday!!), guess again. There are plenty of things to go and do! Go for a starlit walk; have a candlelit bubble bath, or dinner; play poker or read a book by candlelight; share a few drinks in your backyard with some friends; go snipe hunting with your kid and the list goes on and on. There are plenty of online articles about what you can do during Earth Hour. Sure, some of them are somewhat cheesy but one person’s mold is another person’s bleu cheese (mmm, cheese!).

Also, consider this article about things to do to prepare for Earth Hour (check out the cool photo of New York!).