Evelyn's Adventures

ECO Canada employee profile

2008-08-20T11:19:00.001-07:00

ECO Canada
Job Title Manager, Environmental Career Transition Project
Started : May 1, 2008
Projects Worked on:
o ECTP

Education

B.Sc. in Ecology from the University of Calgary (2003)
MA in Anthropology/Primatology from the University of Calgary (2006)

Interview
1. What environmental organizations are you involved with?
I joined a Calgary network called Young Environmental Professionals (YEP) that meets once a month in Ceili’s for beer and presentations about the hot new topics in the environmental industry. http://www.yepcanada.ca/calgary.htm

2. Where else have you worked and what did you do there?
My last job was with the Calgary Health Region and the Dept of Family Medicine at the UofC where I worked as a research assistant. Our team worked with doctors and staff at community family medicine clinics across the city to empower them to find ways to improve their processes to reduce risks for patients and for themselves (reduce their risk of being sued for a medical error). We used quality improvement tools and worked with clinics to set goals, and determine and measure success.

My “job” before that was working on my Master’s degree in Anthropology. I studied the diet of black-and-white colobus monkeys in Ghana (C. vellerosus) and the effect of habitat change on the nutritional quality of the monkeys’ diet. In addition, I was a teaching assistant for several anthropology courses.

3. What do you do on a typical day at work?
I generally check and respond to emails first thing in the morning while drinking my much needed morning cup of coffee. My day is a mix of doing administrative things like project management, document writing, working with the ECTP contractor, and doing research related things like developing interview questions and marketing the project to employers and employees.

4. What would you consider to be your specialty or greatest skill in the workplace?
I think my research background is my biggest asset in the workplace since I have a solid background in both qualitative and quantitative research. This allows me to be flexible in my approach helps me determine which questions are best answered by either qualitative or quantitative methods.

5. What other skills can you offer to ECO Canada?
I am quite organized and I do a lot of event planning with my charity project True Vision Ghana (http://www.truevisionghana.org). This is something that helps me in my job as a project manager for ECO Canada when planning national steering committee meetings and other work-related events.

6. What is one thing that most people don’t know about you but you are particularly proud of?
I forced myself to do my first solo trip in 2004 through French West Africa (Burkina Faso and Mali) even though my spoken French was not strong. I booked a flight into Accra, Ghana for my 2 month volunteer stint at the monkey sanctuary but then booked my return flight out of Bamako, Mali. This forced me to at least travel between those 2 cities. I ended up traveling from the coast of Ghana all the way into the Sahara Desert ending at Timbuktu, Mali and had many crazy adventures in between.

Official TVG website launch

2008-08-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

Our website is up and running! A huge thanks to Ian Hung for volunteering to put this together for us. Please check it out and help us out by donating money to the cause. We need your help to keep the project running, so give generously. Any amount you can afford to give will be much appreciated by the communities we are helping. Thanks!

http://www.truevisionghana.org

Alberta Labour Market Newsletter interview

2008-05-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

I did another interview about research assistants with the Alberta Labour Market news. hehehe, bad photo but at least he didn't twist my words too much! Click here

My ECOnnect interview

2008-05-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

What is your favourite …
Lunch-time Restaurant?
Any place serving Vietnamese
Pho
Long Weekend?
Christmas because there’s
more days off!
Long Weekend Activity?
Hiking in the mountains
Hiking Trail?
Ptarmigan Cirque

RD: What drew you to take on this new project at ECO Canada?
ET: I’ve always wanted to work in the environmental field, but I
could never find the right fit for my skills and personality.

RD: What kinds of things were you doing before coming to ECO
Canada?
ET: Well, I was taking Anthropology at the University of Calgary and
finishing my degree there. And my last job was in Primary Care
Research and Development (North Hill Mall), working on a joint
project between the University of Calgary and the Calgary Health
Region.

RD: If you were back in university and choosing to pursue a completely
different degree, what would it be?
ET: Probably international development. I’m really interested in the
ISEEE program (Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and
Economy) that’s been recently introduced. I’d definitely want to go
into anything involving sustainable energy.

RD: What have you done to be environmentally friendly at home?
ET: I bought windpower for my husband’s computer for Christmas
from the Pembina Institute so I’d say that’s pretty eco-friendly.

RD: Aside from your exciting job here at ECO, what other hobbies or
interests do you pursue outside of work?
ET: I really like music, I used to teach piano and now I’m taking up the
guitar. I’m also going to be joining a concert band, but I have to wait
for my oboe to arrive. I also like hiking, yoga, dragon boat, curling, oh
and ballroom dancing! And I’m big into volunteering. I’m run a nonprofit
organization called True Vision Ghana with a few friends in Ghana
and Canada. We fund raise money for HIV/AIDS education, youth
initiatives, and poverty alleviation through micro-loans in Northern
Ghana.

RD: Have you done any adventurous travelling lately?
ET: I’ve taken three trips to Africa between 2003 and 2005, first to
Kenya for a safari (I’ve always wanted to go on one!), and to Madagascar
to do some work for my ecology professor. Then I went to Ghana as
a research assistant for 2 months studying monkeys. Afterwards I
travelled through Burkina Faso and Mali. I made it all the way to
Timbuktu which was pretty cool! And in 2005 I went to Ghana again to
do some field research for my Master’s project.

RD: If you woke up tomorrow and were told you could do ANYTHING
you wanted, disregarding time, money and practicality, what would you
do?
ET: I would become the full-time Canadian director for True Vision, I’d
move to Ghana for a year to help with the program and take that on as
my full-time job. I think that would be awesome!

RD: What type of personality would you consider yourself to be?
Introvert/Extrovert, Type A/B?
ET: I’d say I’m very organized, pretty much a Type A. I took this colour
test recently and according to that I’m a gold which fits because I like
making lists and keeping a routine. My second colour is blue which
means I like to help people and I’d say that describes me really well.

New career at ECO Canada!

2008-05-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

I just started my new job at ECO Canada at the beginning of May. I have to say my job search this time around went a lot smoother than last time when I was unemployed for several months! I finished my contract with the Dept of Family Medicine at the end of the first week of April. Then I spent 1 week applying for positions, got the ECO interview thanks to Megan and interviewed on Monday, second interview on Thurs, job offer Thurs afternoon.

My official job title is Project Manager of the Labour Market Transition project. Initially it was called the "Sector Transition Initiative" but the acronym for that refers to something else in the healthcare field that isn't quite so pleasant. So we agreed to change the title to "Labour Market Transition".

The learning curve is steep and I have definitely had some stressed out moments but all-in-all the process is going well. Everyone is super friendly and they even dragged me out to the River & Pathway Cleanup after my second day of work!

Pictures from pub night event

2008-03-06T13:31:00.001-08:00

The TVG facebook group has links to video and photos from the pub night event.

Here are Cheryl's pictures.

Here are Geoff's pictures.

Thank you

2008-02-28T13:42:00.000-08:00

Thank you to all the people who donated silent auction items, played in the bands, volunteered at the pub night event, or who came down to support our pub night fund raiser. We raised $2468.50 for True Vision Ghana and the money will go towards providing ARV drugs, health insurance, education, and food to children affected by HIV/AIDS in Northern Ghana!

TVG pub night fundraiser - invite everyone!

2008-01-21T20:56:00.000-08:00

There's going to be live music and a silent auction. There's a $10 cover charge which goes to both charities. If you or your company can donate a silent auction item we would be most appreciative and we can write you a tax receipt for the value of your donation. Email me at canada@truevisionghana.org if you can help out in any way. Thanks!

Merry Christmas

2007-12-28T13:40:00.000-08:00

This has not been one of the better Christmases for Geoff and I. Geoff got food poisoning from a Wendy's burger on Christmas Eve and spent most of Christmas Day asleep recovering from it. Now, I have the stomach flu! We did manage to make it to the Tanaka's Christmas party.

Holiday Peace Fair

2007-11-13T13:18:00.001-08:00

True Vision Ghana will be at this craft fair on Sat. Nov. 17 at St. David's United Church 3303 Capitol Hill Cres NW from 9:30 am - 4 pm. There will be lots of other non-profit and fair trade organizations there selling crafts just in time for Christmas! Admission is $2. Hope to see you there!

Brooks Xmas Market

2007-11-04T08:23:00.000-08:00

Geoff drove me to Brooks early on Sat morning so that Shanna and I could sell TVG crafts at the Xmas Craft Fair. It was lots of fun and we did a little better than at the first farmer's market in Brooks. We were also playing around with our "new" Nikon D50 SLR camera. :) So lovely having a nice digital SLR to replace my F55. In the end, we raised over $300 for TVG so it was a bit better than our last trip to Brooks.

Calgary Farmer's Market

2007-10-22T10:12:00.000-07:00

Shanna, Brenda, Bright and I worked at the Calgary Farmer's market on Sat to raise money for True Vision Ghana. We sold a lot of our stock and made about $750 for TVG! Not too bad! Check out a few pictures of the day: TVG fundraiser

Here are some product photos that my friends Cheryl and Mark took for TVG. Thanks guys!

If you want to order anything please email me at canada@truevisionghana.org Stock up for Xmas and help a great cause at the same time! Thanks! :)

26th Birthday

2007-10-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

My 26th birthday was pretty low-key but nice. My coworkers took me out for lunch and coffee at Heartland Cafe on the 16th. Didn't get much work done that day with all the interruptions! Then Geoff and I went out for dinner at an Indian restaurant in Mission. I got to eat okra which is always a treat for me since I just love the slimy texture of okra... yummy! Also had an excellent chicken dish. We couldn't really hang out after dinner since we had to rush off to volunteer at SDC and teach the intro ballroom class.

I got the gifts I wanted for my bday! I got the CD of South African music sung by the Agape orphans and I got an eco-friendly yoga mat from Lulu Lemon from Geoff. :) Also got a yoga related gift from Heather and Peter and a set of Japanese dishes from Margaret and Alan. Had a combined bday celebration on the 17th with Jeanine (one of my bosses) since her bday was earlier in the week. She bought me a carrot cake which is my favourite! :)

All I want for my birthday is your cash... for a good cause

2007-10-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

I'm almost 26 years old! And I don't really want/need any gifts... the only thing I asked for from Geoff was the CD of traditional Zulu songs by the Agape orphans. This birthday instead of planning a party for myself and thinking about my own needs, I'm more consumed by the needs of others much less fortunate than myself. Even today I got some really sad news from Ghana. One of the little boys we enrolled in the TVG program died of malnutrition and probably AIDS too. We didn't have enough fundraising to get him help in time. :( On my 26th birthday I will be thankful that I live in a country where we have universal health care. And I will be thankful that I am still alive to live another year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-10-09T10:55:00.002-07:00

TVG is in the Brooks newspaper!!

2007-10-09T10:51:00.000-07:00

Click to Give

2007-10-04T12:49:00.000-07:00

With a simple click of your mouse button you could be helping the fight against poverty and starvation, find a cure for breast cancer, or help save the rainforest.

Check it out here: Click to Give

Brooks fundraiser for TVG

2007-09-29T11:20:00.000-07:00

I drove down to Brooks this week to do a fundraiser for True Vision Ghana. Shanna and I sat at the Brooks farmer's market for a few hours trying to raise awareness of TVG and the work that we're doing. It's too bad it was a bit quiet at the farmer's market because it was the end of the season. Hopefully we'll do better at the Calgary farmer's market. Here are a couple pictures from the day: Brooks

Road trip to Northern Alberta

2007-09-11T17:56:00.000-07:00

Geoff and I took a road trip up north for a friend's wedding. Geoff's old friend from High Level, Karl got married in Peace River. We borrowed my parents Lexus and left on Friday after lunch. It took us about 9 hours to get there! Was a pretty crazy drive. I was supposed to drive to Edmonton but my patience ran out at Leduc and Geoff had to take over! hehe :P

The wedding was on Sat afternoon so we had time to look around Peace River and check out some places of interest. Karl and Shelley's wedding was in a cute little park; it was mostly family a few close friends that attended the ceremony. It was a good sign that the rain clouds veered off in a different direction too! The ceremony was at a Chinese/Western restaurant in town called TJ's. A little cute blond toddler named Jake fell in love with me after I started dancing with him. Then we had to pry his strong fingers off mine to give him back to his parents. He also gave Geoff the death stare when Geoff took me away for a dance. It was the cutest thing ever!

The next day we drove Geoff's friends Nick and Lenissa back to High Level and then they took us on the grand tour from Geoff's old house and old school to the new hospital and the new housing developments. My brain was spinning from getting so many stories and so many things of local history! It was a fun tour... we ate lunch at the Frontier where Geoff, Nick, Steve, and Ryan ate lunch everyday for a year, and we had dinner at the famous Duster. In the evening, we crashed at Mary and Egon's house and watched some TV with Kristy (Karl's sister) before heading off to bed early. The next morning we had breakfast with Mary and Kristy and then started on our 12 hour drive back to Calgary.

Labour Day long weekend trip

2007-09-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

Rennie, Geoff, and I went camping for a couple days in Lake Louise. Very posh campsite with running hot water! We did one shortish hike from Lake Louise to Lake Agnes and the teahouse to the Big Beehive. On the way down to Plains of the Six Glaciers my ankle started to feel a bit wobbly so we didn't continue on and went back to Lake Louise. Good time too cuz it started to rain when we got back to the parking lot. Lots of fun despite the cold and rainy weather.
Lake Louise

Dragon boat pictures

2007-09-04T16:56:00.000-07:00

Another Calgary Dragon Boat Festival. Lunar Dragons did not do as well as we would've liked but we finished strong and won our consolation c race. Here are some photos from the weekend.
Topmade pictures

Geoff and Evelyn Simpson

2007-08-07T20:16:00.000-07:00

http://simpsonizeme.com

First anniversary

2007-07-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

Geoff and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary on July 22. We started the day by opening gifts...

Geoff got me a new iPod to replace my old broken one. He got me a Product (RED) nano iPod which is a double gift since some of the money goes towards charity! It has laser etching on the back which says "for Evelyn with Love forever" Awwwww... :) I got Geoff Season 2.0 and 2.5 of BSG to add to our DVD collection.

Then we went to the Zoo for brunch and ate tons of yummy food! We spent much of the afternoon hanging out at the Zoo, trying not to get sunstroke (just like all the animals).

In the evening, we had dinner at the River Cafe at Prince's Island Park. Geoff got the lamb and couscous, while I got the bison and gnocchi. Both were very excellent meals! It was an awesome and very memorable first anniversary!

Ribbon Falls hike

2007-07-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

A group of us went hiking to Ribbon Falls. It was a very pretty hike, long but flat, and not very strenuous. I picked an easy hike because I wanted to test out my ankle and start the rehab process. The ankle did get quite swollen on the way back and I had to stop to ice it in the freezing river water. A few of the guys went on past the falls and hiked up a very steep cliff to Ribbon Lake. The rest of us took a leisurely walk back to the parking lot and waited for the others to catch up again. Most of us met up at Sun Chiu Kee for dinner afterwards and gained back all the calories we lost and then some! (A few of these pictures were stolen from Rennie and Scott)

Friends

2007-07-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

Also on my facebook profile... it's a cool diagram of my network of friends.

Stampede 2007

2007-07-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

I won this huge pink frog in the ring toss! :)

Canada Day hike

2007-07-04T16:50:00.000-07:00

The infamous hike up to Castle Mtn ended up in a badly sprained ankle for me.

The hiking was going super well - perfect day and hiking poles were helping a lot. We made it to Rockbound Lake by lunch. Geoff and I climbed up a steep scree slope but I decided that I wanted to turn back at that point. Rennie and his brother Stephen went on to do Helena's peak.

About 1 hour away from the car, my ankle gave out on me. Terribly embarrassing injury too since I managed to do all these steep parts safely but then ankle gave out on a completely flat portion of the trail. Had to hobble out to the car on the bad ankle for 2 hours which left it very swollen and very bruised.

Some inspiring words from Bill Gates

2007-06-29T08:31:00.000-07:00

The News Tribune, Tacoma

Challenge to a generation

Gates to graduates: You have the whole world in your hands, so fix it

BILL GATES

Editor's note: This is an excerpted version of the commencement speech Bill Gates gave at Harvard University on June 7. Gates, chairman of Redmond-based Microsoft, is perhaps Harvard's most famous dropout.

I've been waiting more than 30 years to say this: "Dad, I always told you I'd come back and get my degree."

I want to thank Harvard for this timely honor. I'll be changing my job next year... and it will be nice to finally have a college degree on my résumé.

But taking a serious look back ... I do have one big regret.

I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world - the appalling disparities of health and wealth and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair.

Humanity's greatest advances are not in its discoveries - but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care or broad economic opportunity - reducing inequity is the highest human achievement.

Imagine, just for the sake of discussion, that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause, and you wanted to spend that time and money where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives. Where would you spend it?

For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: How can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have?

During our discussions on this question, Melinda and I read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country: measles, malaria, pneumonia, hepatitis B, yellow fever. One disease I had never even heard of, rotavirus, was killing half a million kids each year - none of them in the United States.

We were shocked. We had just assumed that if millions of children were dying and they could be saved, the world would make it a priority to discover and deliver the medicines to save them. But it did not. For under a dollar, there were interventions that could save lives that just weren't being delivered.

If you believe that every life has equal value, it's revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. We said to ourselves: "This can't be true. But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving."

So we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it. We asked: "How could the world let these children die?"

The answer is simple - and harsh. The market did not reward saving the lives of these children, and governments did not subsidize it. So the children died because their mothers and their fathers had no power in the market and no voice in the system.

But you and I have both.

We can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism - if we can stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or at least make a living, serving people who are suffering from the worst inequities. We also can press governments around the world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the people who pay the taxes.

If we can find approaches that meet the needs of the poor in ways that generate profits for business and votes for politicians, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce inequity in the world.

This task is open-ended. It can never be finished. But a conscious effort to answer this challenge will change the world.

The barrier to change is not too little caring; it is too much complexity. To turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, see a solution and see the impact. But complexity blocks all three steps.

Even with the advent of the Internet and 24-hour news, it is still a complex enterprise to get people to truly see the problems. When an airplane crashes, officials immediately call a press conference. They promise to investigate, determine the cause and prevent similar crashes in the future.

But if the officials were brutally honest, they would say: "Of all the people in the world who died today from preventable causes, one-half of 1 percent of them were on this plane. We're determined to do everything possible to solve the problem that took the lives of the one-half of 1 percent."

The bigger problem is not the plane crash, but the millions of preventable deaths.

We don't read much about these deaths. The media covers what's new - and millions of people dying is nothing new. So it stays in the background, where it's easier to ignore. But even when we do see it or read about it, it's difficult to keep our eyes on the problem. It's hard to look at suffering if the situation is so complex that we don't know how to help. And so we look away.

If we can really see a problem, which is the first step, we come to the second step: cutting through the complexity to find a solution.

Cutting through complexity to find a solution runs through four predictable stages: Determine a goal, find the highest-leverage approach, discover the ideal technology for that approach and, in the meantime, make the smartest application of the technology that you already have - whether it's something sophisticated, like a drug, or something simpler, like a bed net.

The AIDS epidemic offers an example. The broad goal, of course, is to end the disease. The highest-leverage approach is prevention. The ideal technology would be a vaccine that gives lifetime immunity with a single dose. So governments, drug companies and foundations fund vaccine research. But their work is likely to take more than a decade, so in the meantime we have to work with what we have in hand - and the best prevention approach we have now is getting people to avoid risky behavior.

Pursuing that goal starts the four-step cycle again. This is the pattern. The crucial thing is to never stop thinking and working - and never do what we did with malaria and tuberculosis in the 20th century - which is to surrender to complexity and quit.

The final step - after seeing the problem and finding an approach - is to measure the impact of your work and share your successes and failures so that others learn from your efforts.

You have to have the statistics, of course. You have to be able to show that a program is vaccinating millions more children. You have to be able to show a decline in the number of children dying from these diseases. This is essential not just to improve the program, but also to help draw more investment from business and government.

But if you want to inspire people to participate, you have to show more than numbers; you have to convey the human impact of the work - so people can feel what saving a life means to the families affected.

You can't get people excited unless you can help them see and feel the impact. And how you do that is a complex question.

Still, I'm optimistic. Yes, inequity has been with us forever, but the new tools we have to cut through complexity have not been with us forever. They are new - they can help us make the most of our caring - and that's why the future can be different from the past.

The defining and ongoing innovations of this age - biotechnology, the computer, the Internet - give us a chance we've never had before to end extreme poverty and end death from preventable disease.

The emergence of low-cost personal computers gave rise to a powerful network that has transformed opportunities for learning and communicating.

The magical thing about this network is not just that it collapses distance and makes everyone your neighbor. It also dramatically increases the number of brilliant minds we can have working together on the same problem - and that scales up the rate of innovation to a staggering degree.

At the same time, for every person in the world who has access to this technology, five people don't. That means many creative minds are left out of this discussion - smart people with practical intelligence and relevant experience who don't have the technology to hone their talents or contribute their ideas to the world.

There is no question that the faculty, the alumni, the students and the benefactors of Harvard have used their power to improve the lives of people here and around the world. But can we do more? Can Harvard dedicate its intellect to improving the lives of people who will never even hear its name?

Let me make a request of the deans and the professors - the intellectual leaders here at Harvard. As you hire new faculty, award tenure, review curriculum and determine degree requirements, please ask yourselves:

Should our best minds be dedicated to solving our biggest problems?

Should Harvard encourage its faculty to take on the world's worst inequities? Should Harvard students learn about the depth of global poverty ... the prevalence of world hunger ... the scarcity of clean water... the girls kept out of school ... the children who die from diseases we can cure?

Should the world's most privileged people learn about the lives of the world's least privileged?

These are not rhetorical questions - you will answer with your policies.

My mother, who was filled with pride the day I was admitted here - never stopped pressing me to do more for others. A few days before my wedding, she hosted a bridal event, at which she read aloud a letter about marriage that she had written to Melinda. My mother was very ill with cancer at the time, but she saw one more opportunity to deliver her message, and at the close of the letter she said: "From those to whom much is given, much is expected."

When you consider what those of us here in this Harvard Yard have been given - in talent, privilege, and opportunity - there is almost no limit to what the world has a right to expect from us.

In line with the promise of this age, I want to exhort each of the graduates here to take on an issue - a complex problem, a deep inequity - and become a specialist on it. If you make it the focus of your career, that would be phenomenal. But you don't have to do that to make an impact. For a few hours every week, you can use the growing power of the Internet to get informed, find others with the same interests, see the barriers and find ways to cut through them.

Don't let complexity stop you. Be activists. Take on the big inequities. It will be one of the great experiences of your lives.

You graduates are coming of age in an amazing time. As you leave Harvard, you have technology that members of my class never had. You have awareness of global inequity, which we did not have. And with that awareness, you likely also have an informed conscience that will torment you if you abandon these people whose lives you could change with very little effort.

You have more than we had; you must start sooner and carry on longer. Knowing what you know, how could you not?

Hiking - Nihahi Ridge

2007-06-07T16:27:00.001-07:00

I put together a large group of friends for the first hike of the season. We met in Bragg Creek and made our way down to the Little Elbow trailhead. Some of us decided to do the Ridge while others (Jenny and Victoria's group) went for the Creek walk which was longer but flat. The group that decided to go hike the ridge also split into two groups - the hardcore hikers, and the group taking the `scenic` route. Geoff and I were in the latter group since it was our first hike of the season.

Rennie and Jenny

Donna, Samson, and Kim

Geoff and I

Kim and his chair/backpack

Kim, Donna, and Boun

The whole group at the lookout point on the ridge:
Back row L-R: Scott, Cory, Rennie
Middle row L-R: Chir, Geoff and Evelyn, Boun
Front row L-R: Kim and his chair/backpack, Samson and Donna

Helen's 70th birthday in Stettler

2007-06-07T16:08:00.000-07:00

We went to Stettler to celebrate Geoff's grandma Helen's 70th birthday. All of the kids and most of the grandkids came out to celebrate. We went on a train ride from Stettler to Big Valley and we got robbed on the train for charity! hehe :) Here are some of the pics.

Helen

Heather and Peter

Great Aunt Jean and Uncle Keith

Garrett and Amanda

Me, Uncle Steve, and Garrett

Margaret, Peter, and Geoff

Margaret and Ina

Steve and Tammy

Heather and Peter goofing around

Geoff and Andy

Geoff and the blue church in Big Valley

Peter at the Creation Museum in Big Valley

The Hamilton family

May long weekend photos

2007-06-07T15:59:00.001-07:00

Taking a walk around Gull Lake

Geoff and Rhonda

Martin, Nathan, Boun, and Geoff strategizing over Uno Spin. Dana in the background reading.

Geoff and I

Boun

Martin and Shauna

Congrats to the happy couples!

2007-06-07T15:52:00.000-07:00

We had the honour of attending a couple weddings in May. Congratulations to the happy couples!

Shauna Nelder and Steve Cutcliffe

Pul Hoang and Katalin Mayer

May Long Weekend

2007-05-24T10:16:00.001-07:00

Geoff and I went to Martin's cabin on Gull Lake for the long weekend. There was quite a few of us at the cabin so it was a bit cozy! It was also too cold to do much outdoorsy stuff... we stayed indoors mostly and stayed warm by the fire, enjoyed Boun's cooking, read books, and played lots and lots of board games. Rhonda, Geoff, and I took advantage of the somewhat ok weather on Sat and went for a walk around the lakeshore and looked at all the nice vacation homes. We got attacked by mosquitoes though!

Geoff and I left on Sunday after lunch and went to Red Deer to meet up with an old friend of his from his university days. Lots of reminiscing to listen to. heheh :P All-in-all it was a good weekend!

GET Spiritual

2007-05-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

Hey, Geoff and I are running our own Shopster website which we've called GET Spiritual. GET = Geoff and Evelyn Tanaka, get it? Anyway, if you're in need of books relating to Eastern spirituality (Buddhism, Hinduism), yoga, meditation, self-help or if you need organic bath and body products, yoga and pilates equipment, Buddha images or feng shui items, then check out our website. While you're there, sign up for our newsletter too. And spread the word to your friends who would be interested in our website!

http://www.GET-spiritual.com

Amazing Race

2007-05-17T08:38:00.000-07:00

Scott, Geoff, and I stood in line for 2 hours to meet Phil Keoghan, the host of Amazing Race. He was here in Calgary promoting his new TV show called No Opportunity Wasted. It's based on the book of the same name which we got him to sign for us. He seemed like a really cool guy and was surprised to hear that Geoff and I are in such different fields (monkeys and computers). hehehe :)

Donate to True Vision Ghana to help kids with HIV/AIDS

2007-05-07T21:45:00.000-07:00

After a lot of work both in Ghana and here in Canada, we're finally ready to start raising money for an awesome cause! Our charity is called True Vision Ghana (TVG) and it's a division of True Vision Africa. We will be raising money to help support and educate disadvantaged groups including children affected by and infected with HIV/AIDS in Northern Ghana.

This cause is near and dear to my heart since I worked in Ghana for over 5 months in 2004 and 2005. I still have many friends down there and I have seen the economic hardships that they endure on a daily basis. I hope that through this charity we can make a difference in the lives of some children and provide them with basic necessities and school supplies so that they can make a difference in Ghana in the future.

TVG's start up funds are about $30000 Cdn and I hope to personally raise $1000 towards this goal. If I can sell everything from the list of items and get about $5 from each person on this email list we will have surpassed my goal of $1000. So give up 1 cup of Starbucks coffee for just 1 day and put that money towards helping some children in Africa! And please forward this email to your friends and family and spread the word about our charity.

To make donations please contact me at either geoffandev@gmail.com or at africaneve16@hotmail.com

If you want to talk to TVG directly, please contact Faustina Vimariba at this email address:
truevisiongh@yahoo.com

Thank you so much for your support!!

Awesome weekend

2007-04-29T17:25:00.000-07:00

I had a really fun weekend! I won some free passes to the last weekend of skiing at Lake Louise. We had fun trying to find other people who were avaiable but we managed to convince Cory and Chirlene to come with us. All of them were boarding except for me because of my last disastrous attempt at boarding. So this time I decided that I would ski. It's still been years since I had been skiing so I was pretty rusty.

G & I lined up forever to get rentals, Chir went off to do her boarding class, Cory went off to do some runs, then we lined up again for the gondola. Finally by 11 am we were up at the top of the mountain and ready to go! We stuck to the green run which felt like a blue run to me. It was really steep!! And I am a wimp! I think it took us almost an hour to get down. hehe :P I was improving by the end of it and I only wiped out a few times.

By the time we got down, it was lunch so we met up with CC again. I went for another run down a different green run with Geoff. By the end I was so tired and going so slowly that I told Geoff to leave me behind and do another run by himself. I managed to slowly and painfully (my left knee was killing me) get off the mountain. I was happy to have survived this experience. I was sure I was going to die on some of those steep parts! I celebrated my latest attempt to conquer my fear of heights by drinking beer and getting an airbrush bunny tattoo.

On our way home we stopped in Banff for some well deserved ice cream at Cow's and also stocked up on excellent licorice from the candy store. Yummy! We capped off the night with dinner at Sun Chiu Kee's. All-in-all, a good day.

Today Geoff and I went to see Bizet's opera "Carmen". Another dream come true for me. I've wanted to see "Carmen" since I was in music theory and first got to hear parts of Bizet's amazing libretto. We bought tickets really early and got really good seats near the front. We bumped into Goretti, John, Brittany, and Louisa, Geoff's coworker Sheldon, and a guy from his floor hockey team Nam and his girlfriend. Everyone was out to see Carmen! It was worth it just to hear the famous songs. Geoff got through it and definitely woke up in Act 4 when he realized we knew the flamenco dancers (Mike, Lucasz and Karolina, and David) as fellow ballroom dancers.

Happy Earth Day!

2007-04-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.
~Cree Indian Proverb

Take nothing but pictures
Leave nothing but footprints
Kill nothing but time
~Motto of the Baltimore Grotto

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
~Native American Proverb

Everglades, Florida

2007-04-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

Here's a few pics from my camera:

A stork with a dead snake in its beak

An alligator in the Everglades

Shark Valley Observation Tower

An anhinga

I finally have a job!

2007-04-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

As some of you already know I just started my new job. I was offered a job while I was in the Toronto airport on my way to Miami. I accepted and I started the week after I got back from vacation.

I'm working as a research assistant for the Dept of Family Medicine at the UofC. I'm doing qualitative research on the problems in family and community medicine, doing focus groups with family physicians and GPs from around the city (later in the summer), and finding and implementing solutions to those problems. So far it's been really interesting and I like my team at work. Everyone is pretty nice and very helpful.

I'm still a deer-in-the-headlights right now and learning all about focus groups and qualitative research in the health sciences field. It's just a part-time 8-month contract job but it should give me some useful skills for my next job (who knows what that will be?). Working for health sciences has some definite perks, the pay is good, I get health benefits, and the atmosphere is pretty relaxed. So far, so good.

Facebook

2007-04-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

I've caved to peer pressure and have joined Facebook. Add me to your friends list using my hotmail address (africaneve16@hotmail.com) :)

Updated photos

2007-04-04T09:30:00.000-07:00

The complete set of pictures from the vacation can be seen here: Miami/Caribbean 2007

Miami and Caribbean trip recap

2007-04-03T13:42:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our vacation late last night. I got everything unpacked and now have some time to update my blog with pics and brief recaps of what we did in Miami and on the cruise to Cayman Islands and Jamaica. Here we go!

March 23

Woke up super early and got a ride to the airport at 6:30 from Geoff's dad. Flew to Toronto and got the good news that I got a job offer working with the Dept of Family Medicine at the UofC. Job starts next week... more on that later. Flight to Miami wasn't as long as expected and we got in at about 7 pm. The temp at Miami at night is always perfect... about 25-28 C, humid, nice breeze, perfect weather for jeans and a t-shirt.

Picked up our rental car from Hertz (red Chevy Cobalt) and started driving towards Miami Beach to get to our hotel. First impressions of Miami: very glitzy, lots of lights, lots of rich people with really nice cars, lots of cops, very Miami Vice. We took the wrong road and ended up going to South Beach instead of Miami Beach.

Since it was Friday night all the tourists and kids on Spring Break were out partying and clubbing in South Beach. Traffic was a bitch! Plus we had to get to the north part of the island which was surprisingly far away. But the upside was that we got to see the glitz of South Beach on our first night in Miami. Finally got to our hotel room, fought with the shower which fluctuated between freezing cold and scalding hot, then crashed.

March 24

Too tired to get up early to go the Everglades today so we stuck around Miami instead. Went to Bayside Mall on Biscayne Blvd to do some shopping for Leslie and to check out the Port of Miami.

Had lunch (on Les's recommendation) at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company - the Forrest Gump theme restaurant. Was fun and the food was good.

After lunch we went to Parrot Jungle Island (Miami's #1 attraction). Was super expensive to get in. Everything in Miami is overpriced from hotels, to drinks, to admission fees. We went in anyway and got to feed some cute lovebirds, saw an albino alligator as well as other parrots, tortoises, monkeys, and apes.

For dinner we went to another Miami institution - Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House, a NYC style Jewish deli. The portion size was massive! This place was all about character and atmosphere.

March 25

Went to the Everglades today to see some gators!! It was very different than I imagined it would be. The everglades looked very much like the Alberta prairies (especially cuz it was dry season) but instead of solid ground, it's all water underneath. We took a tram tour to the Shark Valley Observation Tower and learned a lot about the history of the place. Every body of water such as a pond or culvert had gators. You could even see gators from your car because the gators also live in the canal running along the highway. We also saw several species of birds, turtles, we even saw a pelican with a dead snake in its mouth!

Most of the animal pics are on my Nikon SLR, so once I get those developed I'll be able to post them on the blog... till then, these will have to do.

After lunch we drove towards Cypress National Preserve but decided to turn around so that we could make it to Monkey Jungle instead.

They had so many different species of monkeys at the Zoo and it was tons of fun to watch them. There were orangutans and gibbons, crab-eating macaques, black-handed spider monkeys, woolly spider monkey, mandrills, Diana monkeys, guerezas, cotton-top tamarins, and ring-tailed lemurs. The macaques got to run around more free than some of the other species while the humans walked through caged tunnels.

March 26

Geoff's 27th Birthday!

We went to the Ancient Spanish Monastery in the morning before we had to return the car. The grounds were very pretty and peaceful. Apparently this is a very popular location for weddings in Miami. We also saw the cutest raccoon here doing a very raccoonish thing: stealing food from the cats!

After returning the car we went to the Port of Miami to get on our cruise boat - Carnival Imagination. Explored the boat a bit and got settled into our room. It was small but cozy and we marvelled over the efficient design of the room. I didn't get seasick and was able to enjoy the great food in the dining hall. Our table mates were Ashley and Ben from North Carolina and they were on their honeymoon! Went to the casino after dinner, lost some money on a game that ate quarters, but won it back on the slots and made about $40 profit. Not bad!

March 27

A relaxing day. Didn't do much except relax on deck, read our books, jump into the pool to cool off, eat, nap, eat more. The 24 hr ice cream machine was killer, we ate way too much ice cream on the trip. Got dressed up for the Captain's Dinner.

March 28

Cayman Islands Day! We wanted to do a tour of George Town on our own plus visit the #1 tourist attraction on the island, the turtle farm. Unfortunately our self-guided tour was cut short because the National Museum had closed down for renovations because of the hurricane and hadn't reopened. Had an excellent lunch at Corita's Copper Kettle, a local Caymanian restaurant. Got the recommendation from a local person because I didn't want to follow the rest of the tourists to some generic restaurant.

Then we took a bus to the Turtle Farm and discovered that admission was a whopping 50 USD/person! We decided that looking at turtles was not worth 100 USD. So we ended up walking towards Hell! There were even devil trees on the road to Hell! Got some postcards (how could we not?) and took some pictures of the black limestone formations that gave Hell its name. The day wasn't a total loss since we got lots of souvenir shopping done.

March 29

Jamaica Day!

We wanted to go horseback riding as well as visit Dunn's River Falls (Jamaica's #1 attraction) and we wanted to do it independently. However the local guides scared us into thinking that the only way to do the horseback riding was to organize it through our cruise excursions. So we ended up having to go back to the ship and signing up for an excursion which is always more expensive than doing it ourselves. Oh well. It also meant that we didn't have time to do both, so we didn't get a chance to see the Falls. We made up for it by going shopping! We bought some Appleton Estates rum for really cheap and also went to a mall to buy some more souvenirs.

The horseback riding was so much fun and I think it was worth the money. We rode for about 45 mins into a nice cove, changed into swim suits, and then rode bareback into the ocean at full gallop! I got the laziest horse named Whiskey for the normal ride, but got a good horse for the ride into the ocean! So much fun!!

After the ride, I tried some jerk chicken for the first time. I was really looking forward to this for the entire trip. It was really spicy but so good... the flavour of the jerk sauce reminded me of tamarind. It was worth the wait! :)

March 30

Last full day on the cruise. We did more relaxing on deck, played some mini golf (I tied with Geoff), gained more weight by eating frequently, and took some pics all over the ship.

March 31

Last breakfast on the cruise and then checked out. Sad to leave our cozy room and the nice staff on the cruise. Got ripped off by a taxi driver to take us less than 2 km from the port to our hotel. Dropped bags off and then did a walking tour of a couple different neighbourhoods in Miami. Took the Metromover which is kinda like a 1 car skytrain, but it doesn't have a driver and it's free! Walked a really long 15 blocks to Little Havana to check out the Cuban scene in Miami. Miami reminds me a lot of Quebec because of the number of non-English speakers. We met many people who spoke Spanish only! It was a quiet Sat in Little Havana and there wasn't much to see. The best part was a little park known as Domino Park where elderly men play chess and dominoes.

We took the bus to South Beach to do some sight-seeing in the ritziest part of town. Got suckered into going to a 1.5 hr time share presentation and found out that it wasn't nearly as expensive as I thought to buy a time share. Of course we didn't buy but we did get a $100 gift certificate for a restaurant on South Beach. Went there for dinner and kinda went overboard... had a couple drinks (almost as expensive as the meal), salad, fajitas, and king crab legs. So yummy! We got a $150 meal for $50! :) Justifies the painfully long time share presentation.

Being Sat night on South Beach, the young and rich were out showing off their nice rides. We saw several Lamborginis, Corvettes, Porsche Boxsters, Mercedes-Benz, and 1 Lotus. They couldn't drive more than 10 mph so it was like a parade of nice cars.

I was feeling land sick all day after getting off the cruise boat so we pretty much went back to the hotel and crashed. Our hotel was in a great location opposite the Bayside Mall but the rooms were so crappy. I couldn't believe how much we paid for that piece of crap.

April 1

Last day in Miami! Here's a view of Bayside and Geoffrey the Gorilla from our hotel room window.

We spent most of our last day in Miami at a couple of museums - Southern Florida Historical Museum and the Miami Art Museum. They were both free on Sundays and also conveniently located right across the square from each other.

For our last dinner in Miami we went to a latin restaurant in Bayside. Enjoyed a mojito, a traditional Cuban drink with rum, mint, and lime and listened to some live music.

April 2

Bye bye Miami! Hello Calgary!

Going to Miami!

2007-03-22T09:13:00.000-07:00

We're off to Miami really early tomorrow morning! The plan is to spend our first 3 days seeing the Everglades (yay crocodiles!), touring the different sections of Miami like Coconut Grove and Little Havana, and maybe a museum or two. Then we're getting on the cruise boat on Geoff's 27th birthday and cruising to Grand Cayman Islands and Ochos Rios, Jamaica. We're hoping to make it to Bob Marley's childhood home which isn't too far away from Ocho Rios and we're planning on buying a lot of Appleton Estates Rum. :)

Probably won't be blogging or posting pictures until we get back. See you in a couple weeks!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2007-03-17T12:16:00.000-07:00

Nostalgic for BFMS

2007-03-08T09:19:00.000-08:00

I convinced this Dutch couple Jens and Bille to visit BFMS while they were in Ghana and to stay for a few days to really get to know the place. They did take my advice and had a wonderful time. They spent lots of time in the forest and also got to meet the chief of Boabeng. Here's the link to their website if you want to take a look at their pictures. And if you've been to BFMS see if you can recognize where exactly they were taken...

Free endangered species ringtones

2007-02-28T09:22:00.000-08:00

The Center for Biological Diversity is offering free ringtones that feature endangered animals' calls. They include wolf, orca, bird, and frog calls. Very cool, check it out here

Happy Chinese New Year!

2007-02-18T13:40:00.001-08:00

It's the Year of the Pig! Here is what our horoscopes tell us is in the cards for me (Rooster) and Geoff (Monkey) this year.

ROOSTER

Do you know what you want to do with your life? If you don't, take a retreat and discover your wildest dreams. When you have found your true purpose, go for it full-force. Positive changes in your career can come suddenly and fast. It is possible you will need to study extra hard or go back to school for several months. Your income will experience positive changes as long as you pay attention to how much you're spending. Your days of staying at home are over; you are on everyone's invitation list this year. Wealth opportunities are opening up for you, and may even come from your friends. Your luck is definitely changing in the Pig year. Enjoy your good fortune and help others reach their goals. You don't have to do things alone, but if you want to have a team, you'll need to support the other members' visions and dreams, too.

Feng Shui Tip: Place a wealth symbol at your entrance and declutter your old files as a sign that you're no longer holding onto the past.

MONKEY

The Monkey doesn't feel at ease in this Pig year. Many problems and stressful situations will arise. Don't feel like you need to solve them all by yourself. Negative outcomes will be minimal if you think of creative solutions. Things are very much black and white so let others handle your affairs. Just do your own thing, and keep having courage and strength -- all the difficulties will ultimately pass. When you change jobs, contracts or relationships, take care of all the details -- problems will pop up if you haven't prepared everything correctly. Take more time off this year than you have previously … your body will be happy to have the extra rest. Get regular check-ups at the doctor, and remember that yoga or qi qong will make a huge difference in your energy level.

Feng Shui Tip: Keep your home quiet and clean. Organize your desk and travel light. Make sure your files are up-to-date, and that someone always knows where you are.

Mt. Kilimanjaro 2008 - who wants to come?

2007-02-10T10:15:00.000-08:00

Geoff and I are in the initial planning stages of our big 2008 vacation to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania! I'm sooo excited! This has been on my "list of things to do before I die" for a long time and it's cool that it might actually all come together soon.

We're considering 2 options:

1. end Aug/beginning Sept 2008
2. Feb 2008

The first option is the ideal one since I will also get to see the wildebeest migration (another thing on my list of things to do) so I can kill two birds with one stone so to speak.

But if for some reason this doesn't work out because of jobs, etc. then Feb is still a good option. It's high season for East Africa because the weather is hot and dry (perfect for tourism) so it will be busy but we'll get to see lots of baby lions and other large cats at that time of year.

So for the 2 week trip I estimated a cost of about 5000 USD/person:

2000 USD for flight
1500 USD for 1 week trek up Mt. Kili (gear not included)
400 USD for 3 day camping safari in Mara or Serengeti with Best Camping Tours
100-150 USD for Kenya and Tanzania visas
1000 USD for hotels, meals, souvenirs, entry fees, transportation

General itinerary:

Day 1 Arrive in Nairobi
Day 2 Tour operator drives us to Tanzania to start trek
Day 3-10 Summit Mt. Kili
Day 11-12 Relax on beach in Watamu/Mombasa, Kenya
Day 13-15 Safari in Mara (Kenya) or Serengeti (Tanzania) depending on the migration
Day 16 Depart Nairobi

Kilimanjaro itinerary:

*There are 3 different routes for Kili:
Marangu - the 'Coca-cola Route', most heavily travelled, can stay in huts
Machame - 'Whiskey Route' is moderate and considered more of a challenge than the Marangu, some think it's the most beautiful route, tents only
Rongai - the easiest and one of the most picturesque routes, tents only

Day 1-4 Hike
Day 5 Acclimatization day
Day 6 Overnight hike to the summit for dawn
Day 6-7 Descent

Here's an example of hiking times for the Rongai route:

* Day 1: Rongai Gate (1950m) - 1st Caves camp (2600m) 5 hours
* Day 2: 1st Cave (2600m) - Kikelewa Cave (3600m) 6-7 hours
* Day 3: Kikelewa Cave (3600) - Mawenzi Tarn camp (4330m) 3-4 hours
* Day 4: Mawenzi Tarn camp (4330m) - Kibo hut (4700m) 4-5 hours
* Day 5: Acclimatization day
* Day 6: Kibo hut (4700m) - Uhuru Peak (5895m) - Horombo hut (3720m) 14 hours (8 hours to peak, 6 hours for descent)
* Day 7: Horombo hut (3720m) - Marangu Gate (1980m) 6 hours

We're trying to get a large group of friends together, it will be so much fun! You can bring your friends/family, basically whoever you want! The only conditions are that you need to have about 5000 USD by next year for the trip, and you need to be in relatively good shape in order to make the week long trek to the summit at 5895 metres. Training starts this summer in the Rocky Mtns with several hikes and backcountry camping trips. :)

Taming the Tiger Within

2007-02-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

One of our yoga instructors at Yoga Passage read out a passage from this book for us. It got me interested so I went and borrowed it from the library. The book is by Thich Nhat Hanh, a famous Vietnamese Buddhist monk. Here's a quote that struck a vein with me since I've always believed this:

"In taking good care of yourself, you take good care of your beloved one. Self-love is the foundation for your capacity to love the other person. If you don't take good care of yourself, if you are not happy, if you are not peaceful, you cannot make the other person happy. You cannot help the other person; you cannot love. Your capacity for loving another person depends entirely on your capacity for loving yourself, for taking care of yourself."

February 1, 2007 - Citizens Against Global Warming

2007-01-31T10:06:00.000-08:00

On the 1st of February 2007:

Participate in the biggest mobilization of Citizens Against Global Warming! The Alliance for the Planet [a group of environmental associations] is calling on all citizens to create 5 minutes of electrical rest for the planet.

People all over the world should turn off their lights and electrical appliances on the first of February 2007, between 1.55 pm and 2.00 pm in New York, 18.55 for London, and 19.55 for Paris, Bruxelles, and Italy. 1.55pm in Ottawa, 10.55am on the Pacific Coast of North America.

This is not just about saving 5 minutes worth of electricity; this is about getting the attention of the media, politicians, and ourselves. Five minutes of electrical down time for the planet: this does not take long, and costs nothing, and will show all political leaders that global warming is an issue that needs to come first and foremost in political debate.

Why February 1? This is the day when the new UN report on global climate change will come out in Paris. This event affects us all, involves us all, and provides an occasion to show how important an issue global warming is to us. If we all participate, this action can have real media and political weight. Please circulate this call to your utmost ability to your network.

So everyone in Calgary, please turn off your lights and appliances for 5 minutes from 11:55 to 12 noon on Thurs Feb 1!!!!

Brilliant idea

2007-01-29T10:42:00.000-08:00

Whoever thought of this was absolutely brilliant. Basically this is how it works:

"When the merry-go-round spins, it pumps uncontaminated drinking water from deep below the ground into a secure and clean 2,500-liter water tank. A simple tap provides easy access for women and children drawing water."

Check out the website: PlayPumps
If I win the lottery, I would totally donate the $14000 to build one of these at Boabeng-Fiema, Ghana.

Pan's Labyrinth

2007-01-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

Katherine's arts group's first event took place last night. We went to watch this beautiful film called Pan's Labyrinth following my suggestion. It's a fairy-tale for adults and is well deserving of the 6 Academy Award nominations it received including Best Foreign Film (Mexico). I highly recommend this film for everyone to watch. However, it's not for children and is highly graphic.

Synopsis:

Pan’s Labyrinth unfolds through the eyes of Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), a dreamy little girl who is uprooted to an abandoned mill converted into a rural military outpost commanded by her new stepfather during the repression of post-civil war Spain. In this tense and fearful environment, Ofelia finds a sympathetic presence in the housekeeper Mercedes (Maribel Verdú), who shows her a rambling, neglected old garden near the mill. With its winding paths, it is a lovely place to wander, though one can easily become lost there after nightfall. This garden labyrinth becomes Ofelia’s haven, a refuge from loneliness and sorrow. It is a place of fantastical creatures and powerful talismans, presided over by a teasing, inscrutable Faun (Doug Jones). Here, Ofelia comes to terms with the world as she now knows it – and with the monsters that live not only in her imagination, but in her daily life.

Meditation Class

2007-01-24T22:09:00.000-08:00

I started a meditation class on Wed nights at this Chinese Buddhist Monastery about 1.5 blocks away from my apt.

Avatamsaka Monastery

It's something I've been thinking of doing for a while now since I took a few classes at my old Theravada temple down in the south. I definitely need to learn how to calm down, deal with my anger and frustration, and stop worrying about the future, etc.

The sitting meditation has definitely been a challenge. Just sitting still in half-lotus ( I haven't graduated to full-lotus yet) for 45 mins without moving is bad enough. Add onto that, trying to clear your mind of thoughts and concentrate on breathing... it's no cake walk that's for sure. My inner bird wants to fly away when I'm trying to sit still and it flits from thought to thought constantly!

Hopefully, with a lot of effort, I will start making some progress soon!

Music Genome Project

2007-01-23T13:04:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Peter who sent me this cool website. It helps you find music that you might like by searching for music that is similar to your favourite artists. You can narrow down the search parameters by indicating which songs you liked/disliked to create a personalized playlist. Check it out: Pandora

Awesome music from Uganda

2007-01-18T13:30:00.001-08:00

Kakokolo by Samite

Check out his website: http://www.samite.com

Children of Men

2007-01-12T10:43:00.000-08:00

This is the second movie I've watched with Clive Owen in it and I think I'm in love... he is such an awesome actor. I kinda wished they picked him to do Casino Royale, but I think Daniel Craig proved that the role belonged to him. Anyway, awesome movie - bleak, depressing, lots of action and suspense, and lots of interesting commentary on terrorism and fascism! Go out and watch it.

http://www.childrenofmen.net/

Synopsis:

Set in a near future where the human race has lost its ability to reproduce, England descends into chaos when the world's youngest citizen dies at 18.

As London is torn apart by violence and warring nationalistic sects, disillusioned bureaucrat Theo (Clive Owen) becomes an unlikely champion of Earth's survival. When the planet's last remaining hope -- lone pregnant woman Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey) -- is threatened, this reluctant activist is forced to face his own demons and protect her from certain peril.

Based on the best-selling novel by P.D. James.

A book for all environmentalists

2007-01-08T13:35:00.000-08:00

For anyone interested in environmental issues and/or Africa, I just finished read a wonderful book that I would love to share with you. It's called "Unbowed" and it's the autobiography of Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner from Kenya.

From very humble beginnings she managed to get an education and became the first East African woman to receive a PhD. From there, her life's work was to organize the Green Belt Movement which got poor rural women involved in raising tree nurseries and planting trees to reforest Kenya. Such a simple idea that has had a huge effect in Kenya and all around the world! Here's the website that has more info about the movement: http://greenbeltmovement.org/

I highly recommend this book for all of you to read. It's a very inspiring story about how one person's perseverance and passion can really changes lives.

New Year's Resolutions

2007-01-02T09:17:00.000-08:00

Well, technically I'm not calling them resolutions... more "life goals".

I want to get a job, a real job. And soon too before I go totally insane!

I want to be more positive. I think I'm doing pretty good on this one already, but it's always good to be/think more positive. What you believe will become your reality, after all.

I want to be a better person. I would like to become more forgiving, more understanding, and less judgmental. This one will be harder to do considering all the *uckwits I know. j/k hahaha :)

I would like to get a house. Well, I'd be happy if Geoff and I had enough for the downpayment by the end of 2007. This is completely dependent on me getting a job first.

I want to learn how to play the guitar. This is also dependent on me getting a job and having the money to take lessons.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T23:17:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve

2007-01-01T11:57:00.000-08:00

We went to Cyrus and Debbie's party last night for New Year's Eve. It was a lot of fun! I played a lot of foosball (and improved too), some Nintendo Wii games like tennis and baseball, and some rock and roll guitar game. Yen and I took on some of the boys teams in foosball and we did pretty well. We didn't beat Cyrus and Phillip who were the foosball tournament champions, but we did beat Dan and Terrence, to their eternal shame! hehe :) We tried some sparkling shiraz in place of champagne this year and I can't decide if I like it or not. It's just a little bit weird. Samson brought us cigars from Cuba as souvenirs and I smoked one. It was the first time I ever smoked in my life and it will be the last time too!

2007-01-01T11:56:00.001-08:00

The first (and last) cigar

2007-01-01T11:56:00.000-08:00

Geoff

2007-01-01T11:55:00.000-08:00

Deb, Les, Ian, and Victor

Sandi and Andre's party

2007-01-01T11:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from my camera phone from Sandi and Andre's Xmas party. They held the party in honour of Olivia and Bo who came back from England for the holidays. Geoff and I got to play on the Nintendo Wii for the first time and it was lots of fun. I worked with Geoff, some would say "cheated" in the gift exchange game and ended up with some nice travel sized lotions that Olivia brought all the way from England. Geoff made his famous chip dip which was a hit at the party again!

2007-01-01T11:39:00.000-08:00

Hollis and Cat

2007-01-01T11:38:00.002-08:00

Olivia (back from England for a visit), Kitty, and Andre

2007-01-01T11:38:00.001-08:00

Sandi and Leann

2007-01-01T11:38:00.000-08:00

Van, Michelle, Samson, and Sandi

Western Reunion pics

2007-01-01T11:35:00.000-08:00

I was having fun with my new Treo and took some pictures at the Annual Western Reunion at Stef's house. Enjoy!

2007-01-01T11:34:00.003-08:00

No Jennys were harmed in the making of this picture! hehe Les, Mike, Ted and Jenny

2007-01-01T11:34:00.002-08:00

Me and Geoff

2007-01-01T11:34:00.001-08:00

Grace and Starr

2007-01-01T11:34:00.000-08:00

Ian and Pam

2007-01-01T11:33:00.003-08:00

Sandy and Ian

2007-01-01T11:33:00.002-08:00

Lindsay, Kata, Paul, Alishia, and Sonny

2007-01-01T11:33:00.001-08:00

Les and Geoff

2007-01-01T11:33:00.000-08:00

Felicia, Claudia, and Felise

2007-01-01T11:32:00.001-08:00

Matt and Betty

2007-01-01T11:32:00.000-08:00

Claudia and Stef

Xmas recap

2006-12-28T11:33:00.000-08:00

5 days of nonstop parties... finally we have a chance to rest and catch our breath!

Jason's party on the 23rd was fun - Scott swept up in texas hold em poker thanks to some good luck. Pleasantly surprised to see Justine (and Bryan) and Claudia show up later in the evening. I did Southern Comfort shots with Jason and managed to hold my own pretty well considering that he's a guy and I'm a small Asian girl.

On Christmas Eve morning, I went to my first church service at Geoff's old church - Center Street Church. We bumped into Roneil and his girlfriend Amanda (who were at Jason's party the night before) at the church. It was Roneil's first church service as well which made me feel a bit better. I felt like introducing myself as "heathen" or "infidel" just to see how people reacted... but I didn't. hehe The pastor made an interesting sermon about "Why Believe in Jesus". I can accept everything about the sermon: Jesus' claim to be God, that he's more than just a good man, etc. However, the one thing that I can never, ever accept is that Jesus and Christianity is the only path to salvation. I mean, what happened to all the million people that lived before Christianity ever existed? Did they all go to hell? I can't accept that people born into a time/place with no access to Christianity or moral people who belong to other religions are automatically condemned to hell.

My parents hosted a huge Christmas Eve dinner this year. The Tanaka's, Chan's, and Kankam's were all invited. We had 16 people in all! It was a huge undertaking! My main task was to keep Bright Jr. and Ilsie busy so that they didn't get into too much trouble. :)

We had fun opening gifts on Xmas Day. Geoff got me a Treo (yay! My very first cell phone, now I'm connected to the world), a Paul Franck t-shirt, and Star Trek: TNG Season 1. I gave Geoff a mahjongg set, a sweater, an Xbox game, and some ginger beer (hard to find ingredient in his favourite drink). Geoff's parents gave us a new set of pots and pans! My parents gave us cash :) Geoff's grandmother donated money to World Vision in our names and gave us a spice rack and a Himalayan rock lamp. Very cool. We also got a cool fondue set from Les and Connie. Geoff also got Battlestar Galactica: Season 1 from Heather and Peter and a burned copy of Season 2 from Chir. Heather and Peter got me a product (red) bag from the GAP. :)

We had Christmas dinner with Geoff's parents, grandmother, and uncle Harvey and aunt Sandy. Lots of fun!

Boxing Day shopping was insane. We spent over $200 at Futureshop in less than 30 mins. We bought a bunch of Xbox games including one for me - Wallace and Grommit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit. So cute! Also bought a video card for the computer so that Geoff can actually play his computer games. We ventured into Chinook to look around. Managed to buy some stuff at the GAP (more product (red) stuff), Body Shop, Below the Belt, Zellers. I couldn't find very much stuff that I wanted to buy... which is maybe a good thing. I must be getting old since none of the clothes suit me fashion-wise!

Yesterday we had the Annual Western Canada High School Reunion at Stef's house. Lots of people came despite the bad roads, nasty weather, long drive to Evergreen, and the last minute change of plans. It was lots of fun seeing everyone again. Thankfully the overachievers of our graduating class weren't there - they make the rest of us feel bad for not accomplishing more in our lives! hehe :)

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-24T22:10:00.000-08:00

Sex for World Peace on Dec. 22

2006-12-20T10:03:00.000-08:00

This is a very strange idea... http://www.globalorgasm.org/

Caribbean March 2007

2006-12-19T10:36:00.000-08:00

Yay! We got our holidays booked for the end of March. We're going on a cruise to the Caribbean! It'll be my first cruise ever. I'm just hoping that I won't be seasick. On smaller boats I have to stay out on deck staring at the horizon to avoid seasickness. Hopefully I won't have to do the same on the cruise. Oh well, that's what Gravol is for.

We're flying to Miami and spending a couple days there before catching our cruise down to Grand Cayman and Ochos Rios, Jamaica. We'll be celebrating Geoff's 27th birthday on the cruise!

Mt. Kili 2009 - here I come!!

2006-12-09T14:08:00.000-08:00

Summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro has always been on my list of things to do before I die. The first opportunity to go would be sometime in 2009 and the best times to hike up the mountain are between mid-Dec and mid-March. Hopefully we can hook up with my friend in Kenya, Imraan, to organize the trek for us and get us a good deal. I have 2 years to get into shape so that I can make it to the Uhuru Peak - the highest point in Africa at 5895 metres (19 340 feet)! Anyone interested?

I have to do this before 2020. That's when climate change experts predict that there will be no more snow on Kilimanjaro...

2006-12-09T14:07:00.000-08:00

Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

What's Your Seduction Style?

2006-12-08T14:16:00.000-08:00

Here are my results! Care of Rebecca's website:

The True Knowledge

2006-12-05T12:06:00.000-08:00

Thou knowest all; I seek in vain
What lands to till or sow with seed -
The land is black with briar and weed,
Nor cares for falling tears or rain.

Thou knowest all; I sit and wait
With blinded eyes and hands that fail,
Till the last lifting of the veil
And the first opening of the gate.

Thou knowest all; I cannot see.
I trust I shall not live in vain,
I know that we shall meet again
In some divine eternity.

~Oscar Wilde

Busy nothings

2006-12-05T11:56:00.000-08:00

My life has become a "quick succession of busy nothings" (Reference from Mansfield Park). I am keeping busy doing my part-time work, searching and applying for environmental consulting jobs, yoga, dancing, Amazing Race, reading, visiting friends, movies, Xmas shopping, and chores. There have been a few highlights recently including a Brian Keating talk at the Zoo and a colobine monkey conference at the UofC. My mom's 50th birthday was last weekend too! At least keeping busy has given me less time to get discouraged about the job search and how long it's taking! I guess people really have a hard time thinking outside the box and believing in someone who doesn't quite have the job experience. I just want to tell them that I'm not an idiot and I can actually learn all this stuff! Isn't that the point of a junior position anyway?

Happy 50th Birthday...

2006-12-02T13:47:00.000-08:00

to my wonderful mom!

UCBDC Xmas Dance

2006-11-27T10:11:00.000-08:00

Geoff and I went to the UCBDC Xmas Dinner & Dance last night. Seemed a little early to have a Christmas dance, but it was free so I can't complain too much! hehe :) We sat at a table with the now officially engaged Shauna and Steve, David, and Eugene and Tanya. The food was really yummy this time around - California greens with brie cheese and figs, turkey with stuffing and vegetables, and mousse for dessert. Our table indulged in a bottle of pinot grigio and we even managed to get the non-wine drinker David to try the stuff. He even admitted to liking it!

The dance portion of the evening was lots of fun. I think it was a quieter year (compared to 2 years ago) so the floor wasn't as crowded. Also since it was held on a Sunday this year, many people disappeared early in the evening because of work the next morning.

Geoff and I had to perform as part of our duties as winners of the talent show last weekend. We had no time to practice this week so it was kinda rough. Geoff made a mistake right at the beginning and I didn't know what to do (being the non-adaptable person that I am). I like having a routine and sticking to it because that's my comfort zone. I guess it's a throwback to my piano playing days. I ended up sticking with the pattern instead of following Geoff which I guess was my bad, but at least we got back on track quickly instead of doing whatever the hell Geoff was trying to lead. After we finished the Silver pattern once, we did lead and follow which turned out a lot better than I thought it would. Everyone thought we did really well... a few people said we have nice showmanship and performance abilities. :) Now we just need to improve our technique...

All-in-all, the Xmas dance was fun. It might be the last dance for a while too. The Prima Vera is in late March when we were planning on going on our Caribbean cruise. And next year, who knows if we'll be TAing for UCBDC. If I finally manage to get an environmental consulting job I might be spending a lot of time in the field and won't be able to commit to UCBDC. I guess we'll see...

2006-11-27T10:10:00.000-08:00

Me and Geoff

2006-11-27T10:09:00.002-08:00

Goofing around

2006-11-27T10:09:00.001-08:00

Our fellow TA Martin and his girlfriend Kirsten.

2006-11-27T10:09:00.000-08:00

Dana... without Nathan. I appear to be missing a picture of Nathan. Oops

2006-11-27T10:08:00.000-08:00

Shauna and Steve are now officially engaged because he gave her the engagement ring at the dance! It's a lovely ring, 1 large round diamond with 5 smaller diamonds on either side of the gold band

2006-11-27T10:06:00.000-08:00

Is Geoff going to successfully set a new trend?? Red Bermudian jackets for UCBDC Xmas parties?

2006-11-27T10:05:00.001-08:00

David

2006-11-27T10:05:00.000-08:00

Eugene and Tanya

Convocation 2006

2006-11-27T10:03:00.000-08:00

Bright saved the day and sent me all the pictures he took at my graduation. Enjoy!