September challenge
for BlogHers Act Canada:
write a post--haiku?--
about cutting waste
and packaging in my life
at back-to-school time.
First the green mantra:
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Act in that order.
Reduce: buy less stuff
or stuff with less packaging.
Ask: Do I need this?
About school supplies:
Determine what you need first.
Buy unwrapped notepads.
Keep track of your pens.
Then you won't buy a new one
every other week.
Don't print everything;
learn to edit on the screen--
fewer paper drafts.
Reuse many times.
Start to bring a bag with you--
no more plastic bags.
Bring a coffee mug,
one that you already own.
Use that all day long.
When the coffee's gone,
refill with water from a
convenient fountain.
Most city water
is remarkably healthy.
Or you could carry
a water bottle,
a filtered source from your home,
extra assurance.
About school supplies:
a backpack lasts many years.
pick one that's sturdy
and a good color.
Reuse supplies from last year.
Glue, crayons, markers
may still be OK.
Don't replace them just because
the ads say you must.
For school assignments,
if the teacher says it's fine,
use the same paper
multiple times--just
make sure to label clearly
each new assignment.
My own indulgence:
fountain pens, refillable
with inks of all hues.
These pens and bottled
inks have lasted me more than
four years already.
Recycle the rest.
When you buy a bottled drink,
use the proper bin--
on the street if you're
in Toronto, at home if
in other places.
About school supplies:
Recycle all used papers
and the thin cardboard
from the packaging
of any supplies you bought
and batteries too.
Voila my haiku
on thoughts environmental
as I head to school.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Long overdue review on "God is Not Great"
Way back in June, Metro Mama offered up a few free copies of Christopher Hitchens' God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. I jumped on the offer since I'd been planning to read a number of atheism-themed books this summer.
Long story short, a lot of stuff happened this summer and I spent about two months reading a few pages at a time. Now, it's been another few weeks since I finished the book and I don't even have it with me. OK, so this is not the most responsible way of going about a review, but it's what I can manage right now.
To begin with, I am an atheist. And have been for a while. So I don't need convincing.
Which is probably the best audience for this book. I already agree with Hitchens that religion is a human construct and that modern science trumps the explanations created by religion in the past. I read much of the book raptly; while I have a general knowledge of most religions, Hitchens has studied them thoroughly and up-close. The details and anecdotes he provided have helped me better articulate my issues with religion and introduced me to many things I hadn't known before. And so I felt fully affirmed in my atheism.
Nonetheless, I have two quibbles with the book.
The first is that the end felt anticlimactic. I was waiting for the 'solution' I thought had been promised. Instead it felt like a rehash of everything he'd already said. His basic solution: people need to recognize in this day and age that religion just isn't necessary. But that doesn't give me any idea of how we get there other than trying to reason with people--and religion simply is not an area where the firmest believers are willing to listen to reason.
The second is that Hitchens cannot find any place for religion. He recasts every good act done in the name of religion as a 'humanist' act at its root. While I agree that concern for and attention to other people is not limited to believers, I also think it is a bit unfair to dismiss any religious influence on positive actions. There are several people in my life whom I respect very much and who hold their religious beliefs very dear. They are good people; I feel that if religion is what gives them the desire to do the things they do, it cannot be all bad--if only more people followed religion in the way they do.
But I would recommend reading God is Not Great to just about anyone. Atheists and agnostics will find more support for their (non-)beliefs and believers may find an opportunity to hone their arguments in support of religion or, at least, to define how religion drives them.
Long story short, a lot of stuff happened this summer and I spent about two months reading a few pages at a time. Now, it's been another few weeks since I finished the book and I don't even have it with me. OK, so this is not the most responsible way of going about a review, but it's what I can manage right now.
To begin with, I am an atheist. And have been for a while. So I don't need convincing.
Which is probably the best audience for this book. I already agree with Hitchens that religion is a human construct and that modern science trumps the explanations created by religion in the past. I read much of the book raptly; while I have a general knowledge of most religions, Hitchens has studied them thoroughly and up-close. The details and anecdotes he provided have helped me better articulate my issues with religion and introduced me to many things I hadn't known before. And so I felt fully affirmed in my atheism.
Nonetheless, I have two quibbles with the book.
The first is that the end felt anticlimactic. I was waiting for the 'solution' I thought had been promised. Instead it felt like a rehash of everything he'd already said. His basic solution: people need to recognize in this day and age that religion just isn't necessary. But that doesn't give me any idea of how we get there other than trying to reason with people--and religion simply is not an area where the firmest believers are willing to listen to reason.
The second is that Hitchens cannot find any place for religion. He recasts every good act done in the name of religion as a 'humanist' act at its root. While I agree that concern for and attention to other people is not limited to believers, I also think it is a bit unfair to dismiss any religious influence on positive actions. There are several people in my life whom I respect very much and who hold their religious beliefs very dear. They are good people; I feel that if religion is what gives them the desire to do the things they do, it cannot be all bad--if only more people followed religion in the way they do.
But I would recommend reading God is Not Great to just about anyone. Atheists and agnostics will find more support for their (non-)beliefs and believers may find an opportunity to hone their arguments in support of religion or, at least, to define how religion drives them.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Back from wi-fi hell
Originally, my weekend away with Trillian for our friend's wedding was going to be a tech-free affair. Then, at the last minute, we decided to bring my laptop so that we could check our email and keep up with any news on the house-front. But of course, once the internet is up, it's never just a matter of checking one email account... or ignoring Bloglines and the daily puzzle.
Except, we spent a lot of time wrangling and cursing at the hotel's wi-fi. For which we had to pay $10. The signal was weak, the speed pathetic (from 1 Mbps to 11). We eventually gave up, though not until after a few important discoveries:
Except, we spent a lot of time wrangling and cursing at the hotel's wi-fi. For which we had to pay $10. The signal was weak, the speed pathetic (from 1 Mbps to 11). We eventually gave up, though not until after a few important discoveries:
- The owners of the house we're buying are so thankful their house is under contract and that we may have saved their lives (by alerting them to the carbon monoxide factory that is their furnace) that they've agreed to fix everything we asked for. That's a good $10,000 or so in repairs we won't have to do.
- Trillian decided to Google the brand of the range in the kitchen. She found that it's a restaurant-grade appliance that cost just under $5000--at the low end.
- The above two items have helped Trillian quiet her grumbling that we should have pushed harder on the price.
- Although Pottery Barn wouldn't allow us to purchase a wedding gift for our friend (no Canadian billing addresses, even if shipping in the US), Target would. It's too bad we couldn't get our first choice gift, some red wine glasses, since it has significance for the weekly steak-and-wine dinner she and Trillian had when they were on travel for the same work project, but at least someone was willing to take our money online.
- Since this was a lesbian wedding, Trillian and I spent some time dissecting other lesbian relationships. Sadly, this was mostly to note the end of long-term relationships among our friends.
- One of those was the relationship between our friend who was getting married (I'll call her L. since I can't remember how far I got through the alphabet before) and her ex. L. moved a long distance to live with her ex several years ago. Trillian had her doubts about that relationship (so many personality differences, plus the ex gave L. a hard time about hanging out with Trillian) and it did end not too long after L.'s move. But she stayed in the area after the breakup and met her new wife.
- Trillian and I talked about the necessary ingredients for a healthy lasting relationship. Number one on our list was a shared sense of humor. This is, of course, influenced by our own view of why we work so well together, but I do think it's very important in general.
- There were numerous reminders for us both about why we are happy we eloped. Don't get me wrong, it was a beautiful weekend and we completely understand why our friend and her wife wanted this symbolic ceremony. They are definitely at the beginning of their time together and wanted to make their intentions clear to their friends and family. When we finally got married, it was our 12th anniversary--most people who knew us recognized our relationship as equivalent to marriage, so making a public declaration of it would have been anti-climactic.
- Nevertheless, Trillian has floated the idea about having an anniversary party this year or next (though in the summer instead of February). We have had enough people express an interest in celebrating our relationship that it might not be totally out of place. Of course, we're thinking barbecue and a mostly outdoor location, very low-key, very child-friendly.
- We were a bit surprised to realize we were the only lesbian couple there, likely the only gay people other than the couple getting married. And so the weekend was a reminder of the model Trillian and I remain. There is no doubt in my mind that L. truly wanted us there--she and Trillian were great friends when they worked together and have stayed in touch; both Trillian and I have hung out with her and her other friends--but I think we were also a subtle reminder to L.'s parents, who are mostly wonderful but sometimes still have a problem with the lesbian thing, that there are same-sex couples out there with long, loving relationships. And who produce grandkids.
- And one last thing, really a confirmation of what we already knew rather than an observation: Trillian is really, really allergic to smoke. A casino was the headquarters for the wedding, and the smoke drifted into all parts of the first floor. Our floor was non-smoking, but we spent just enough time on the main floor--in the Starbucks, on the casino floor (only an hour or so, enough to lose $40 or so), in the banquet room--that the exposure to smoke was significantly more than we're used to at this point; we've gotten so used to living in areas with smoking bans. Yesterday Trillian had a sore throat and irritated sinuses. When she got to the doctor today, it had developed into an ear infection. Now she's doped up on antibiotics and allergy medications, and we're crossing our fingers she's enough better that the trip home in two days doesn't make the pain worse.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Scattered and consumed
There's a new post up over at BlogHers Act Canada; it talks about the September Challenge, the personal action readers are encouraged to take this month. I was going to write about it yesterday, but my mind has been pulled in too many directions to do it justice right now. So, go read it now and I promise a post next week that truly rises to the challenge issued by Sandra--she probably doesn't even realize the extra challenge I found in her post.
In the meantime, any number of topics have been rattling around in my head:
In the meantime, any number of topics have been rattling around in my head:
- We had our home inspection and now have to negotiate a few fixes, though I suspect we'll be able to work that out. The big one is the furnace, which is 40+ years old. And leaking enough carbon monoxide when turned on to worry our otherwise staid inspector. "Are all the windows open?" he asked. Funny how these homeowners, who put a lot of work into many other aspects of the house, thought nothing about the fact that the furnace and water heater both are original to this 1960s house.
- Outside of the issues the inspection found (and they always find more than one expects), spending three hours in the house has made me love it more. The updates were obviously done by people who put a lot of thought into how the space would be used. The master bathroom has an extra-long, double towel bar just outside the shower and a robe hook on the other side. There is a drawer right next to the oven that holds cookie sheets and other baking equipment. The play-set outside is almost exactly what Trillian had picked out online; it needs a little work--new canopy and rope ladder, some resealing--but has a great variety of activities for Scooter.
- We head off to a wedding this weekend, leaving Scooter in the care of his grandparents. This will be the first time neither one of us is with him for more than a few hours, so I'm experiencing a mix of worry and elation. This is a bit of practice too for when we move here and have the grandparents close enough to play overnight babysitter regularly.
- We spent an afternoon this weekend with a lesbian couple who live in Springfield. It was a friend-of-a-friend introduction and we had conversed online. They have 3 kids and have lived there for many years. Our conversation went a long ways to quelling the concerns we have about moving to a small town.
- Scooter made a friend at the park last week. He and another boy spent the longest time running around together, playing hide-and-go-seek, following each other's lead--all of it unprompted. We had a planned play date at the beginning of this week (which went OK until the end when Scooter got upset that his friend was playing with other kids too) and got to talking with the boy's father. Turns out he and Scooter have a number of similar issues, something we'd guessed at during their first meeting, but we were surprised by just how much they have in common.
- Scooter has been much more social in general. I can see how a number of the actions and phrases are learned--from us, from playgroups, from observation. Nonetheless, it gives me a little thrill to see him confidently go up to people, introduce himself, shake hands, and proclaim, "It's so nice a meet you."
- I'm almost done with my application to the place I want to teach in Capital City. I have a few more paragraphs to put into my statement, but have proofed and printed off everything else. I find such statements so difficult when I am truly invested in an application because I worry about the tiniest of details. I've been pushing through that the last day or so in order to finish before we head out of town tomorrow.
- Every once in a while, the thought crosses my mind: This whole moving thing is getting pretty real. We've almost got a house, I may be able to line up a job for next year, the details are working themselves out.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
The monster in the bathroom
Scooter had trouble falling asleep last night. At one point, he had Trillian close his window because of a ghost. She complied, along with a gentle promise that there were no ghosts and that he was safe.
We were in and out of his room for other things, some of them the usual sort of little-boy-who-doesn't-want-to-sleep ploys. We continued with the firm "it's time to go to sleep" reminders and limited even those to when we were passing by his room.
But then he screamed. Trillian got there first. He told her that there was a scary monster in the bathroom. When I got there, Trillian was making a move to turn on the bathroom light and Scooter informed me that he was scared of the 'slithering snake.' Trillian flicked on the light and jumped back. I was half expecting a snake* when she said, "There's a huge centipede." No discussion was required--I went into our room and slipped on my new sneakers (although new, they seemed the better choice than my Crocs) while Trillian assured Scooter that I would take care of it.
I returned to find Trillian sitting on the bed with Scooter and gesturing to the door; the centipede had come back into the bedroom and was hiding there. It really was huge, at least 8 inches long. No need for gory details. It took several stomps, multiple paper towels and a plastic bag.
Here's the thing: I don't like killing anything. But for whatever reason centipedes, even more than spiders, really freak me out. I knew that I could not simply shepherd this thing out of the house. And I knew that it was pretty much up to me to make the situation better. So I was my son's hero, even if my heart was beating a mile a minute.
*I should have realized immediately that it wasn't a snake since Trillian merely jumped back and did not run screaming from the room. If it had been a snake, no amount of motherly concern would have kept her there. Anecdotal evidence: we went to a children's museum recently. There was an outdoor area with all sorts of activities. Near the sand pit was a bunch of seating made up of tree stumps. Trillian passing where my mother-in-law and I were sitting said, "I'm going to sit in the shade." I thought that was a pretty good idea, so I headed over towards a stump just past where Trillian had settled. Looking down, I realized I was looking at a couple of snakes. As they slithered away, I let out a sort of puzzled, "Huh." Trillian asked suspiciously, "What?" "Snakes," I replied. To her credit, she did not scream, but she did leap up and run out of the area faster than one would think is possible. Leaving me there with Scooter a few steps away. I, on the other hand? Sat down, a few stumps away from where I had seen the snakes. But they weren't there any more, were they? And I was pretty sure they were either hognose or garter snakes.
We were in and out of his room for other things, some of them the usual sort of little-boy-who-doesn't-want-to-sleep ploys. We continued with the firm "it's time to go to sleep" reminders and limited even those to when we were passing by his room.
But then he screamed. Trillian got there first. He told her that there was a scary monster in the bathroom. When I got there, Trillian was making a move to turn on the bathroom light and Scooter informed me that he was scared of the 'slithering snake.' Trillian flicked on the light and jumped back. I was half expecting a snake* when she said, "There's a huge centipede." No discussion was required--I went into our room and slipped on my new sneakers (although new, they seemed the better choice than my Crocs) while Trillian assured Scooter that I would take care of it.
I returned to find Trillian sitting on the bed with Scooter and gesturing to the door; the centipede had come back into the bedroom and was hiding there. It really was huge, at least 8 inches long. No need for gory details. It took several stomps, multiple paper towels and a plastic bag.
Here's the thing: I don't like killing anything. But for whatever reason centipedes, even more than spiders, really freak me out. I knew that I could not simply shepherd this thing out of the house. And I knew that it was pretty much up to me to make the situation better. So I was my son's hero, even if my heart was beating a mile a minute.
*I should have realized immediately that it wasn't a snake since Trillian merely jumped back and did not run screaming from the room. If it had been a snake, no amount of motherly concern would have kept her there. Anecdotal evidence: we went to a children's museum recently. There was an outdoor area with all sorts of activities. Near the sand pit was a bunch of seating made up of tree stumps. Trillian passing where my mother-in-law and I were sitting said, "I'm going to sit in the shade." I thought that was a pretty good idea, so I headed over towards a stump just past where Trillian had settled. Looking down, I realized I was looking at a couple of snakes. As they slithered away, I let out a sort of puzzled, "Huh." Trillian asked suspiciously, "What?" "Snakes," I replied. To her credit, she did not scream, but she did leap up and run out of the area faster than one would think is possible. Leaving me there with Scooter a few steps away. I, on the other hand? Sat down, a few stumps away from where I had seen the snakes. But they weren't there any more, were they? And I was pretty sure they were either hognose or garter snakes.
Monday, September 03, 2007
DIY OT: Gymnastics
We love Scooter's occupational therapy, even if we're paying for it out-of-pocket. Nonetheless, we're always on the look-out for ways to incorporate aspects of OT into everyday life, both to reinforce what he's doing with his therapist and to give it a little boost.
After the initial evaluation, when the therapist who had observed Scooter set his initial goals, we found it interesting how many of the activities he was doing in OT mirrored what he did in his gymnastics lessons. Now we would never suggest that gymnastics class could take the place of OT since there isn't the same individual attention and the activities at OT are manipulated to target his particular needs, but his weekly 50 minutes in the gym has definitely worked in tandem with the OT.
Scooter spends some time out of every OT session on the trampoline. This is one of the ways he has worked on two-footed jumps. It also plays an important role in the work on his sensory processing issues; jumping on a trampoline is an exciting action, and so his therapist has him work on catching a ball while jumping so that he has to concentrate and maintain focus. In gymnastics, they nearly always get a turn on the trampoline. Even though Scooter has always loved jumping on it, he couldn't do any of the skills demonstrated by his teachers before he started OT. Now, he's still behind the rest of his class, but he can at least jump without falling and attempt some of the more advanced skills.
Scooter's therapist also creates obstacle courses for him that require running, jumping, walking on a balance beam, climbing, and descending. A lot of this works on his balance and bilateral coordination, both of which are iffy. His gymnastics teachers tend to do something very similar for part of the class, incorporating various actions on the balance beam, rolls, and getting onto and off of different foam shapes. For the balance beam, Scooter frequently insists on holding a teacher's hand and refuses to go backwards, but I'll be interested to see if that has changed when he returns to class in a couple of weeks since he has gotten better about the balance beam in OT.
One other activity that is usually part of the obstacle course at OT is the ball pit. Most of the time, the intended path ends with him jumping into the ball pit. Frequently the therapist will roll him around in the balls or press him with a mat, both activities that work on the proprioceptive sense and are intended to help him organize himself physically. At gymnastics, they have an enormous pit filled with big pieces of foam (like cushion foam). There are platforms from which the kids can jump in, and then they have to 'swim' around in it and use their upper body strength to get out. This has a similar effect to the therapist pressing on him--and the foam pit has ended up being a favorite activity, only slightly behind the trampoline.
Only Scooter's last session of gymnastics overlapped with his OT. When we let his gymnastics teacher know about what he was doing in OT and how it shared components with gymnastics, she paid extra attention to those skills and updated us on how he was doing. She also let us know that having that information plus my explanation of how he has trouble filtering out meaningful noise from background noise helped her deal with him and keep him on task. We'll be doing the same thing for his next session of gymnastics, so I am hopeful that it will be an even stronger reinforcement of his OT.
After the initial evaluation, when the therapist who had observed Scooter set his initial goals, we found it interesting how many of the activities he was doing in OT mirrored what he did in his gymnastics lessons. Now we would never suggest that gymnastics class could take the place of OT since there isn't the same individual attention and the activities at OT are manipulated to target his particular needs, but his weekly 50 minutes in the gym has definitely worked in tandem with the OT.
Scooter spends some time out of every OT session on the trampoline. This is one of the ways he has worked on two-footed jumps. It also plays an important role in the work on his sensory processing issues; jumping on a trampoline is an exciting action, and so his therapist has him work on catching a ball while jumping so that he has to concentrate and maintain focus. In gymnastics, they nearly always get a turn on the trampoline. Even though Scooter has always loved jumping on it, he couldn't do any of the skills demonstrated by his teachers before he started OT. Now, he's still behind the rest of his class, but he can at least jump without falling and attempt some of the more advanced skills.
Scooter's therapist also creates obstacle courses for him that require running, jumping, walking on a balance beam, climbing, and descending. A lot of this works on his balance and bilateral coordination, both of which are iffy. His gymnastics teachers tend to do something very similar for part of the class, incorporating various actions on the balance beam, rolls, and getting onto and off of different foam shapes. For the balance beam, Scooter frequently insists on holding a teacher's hand and refuses to go backwards, but I'll be interested to see if that has changed when he returns to class in a couple of weeks since he has gotten better about the balance beam in OT.
One other activity that is usually part of the obstacle course at OT is the ball pit. Most of the time, the intended path ends with him jumping into the ball pit. Frequently the therapist will roll him around in the balls or press him with a mat, both activities that work on the proprioceptive sense and are intended to help him organize himself physically. At gymnastics, they have an enormous pit filled with big pieces of foam (like cushion foam). There are platforms from which the kids can jump in, and then they have to 'swim' around in it and use their upper body strength to get out. This has a similar effect to the therapist pressing on him--and the foam pit has ended up being a favorite activity, only slightly behind the trampoline.
Only Scooter's last session of gymnastics overlapped with his OT. When we let his gymnastics teacher know about what he was doing in OT and how it shared components with gymnastics, she paid extra attention to those skills and updated us on how he was doing. She also let us know that having that information plus my explanation of how he has trouble filtering out meaningful noise from background noise helped her deal with him and keep him on task. We'll be doing the same thing for his next session of gymnastics, so I am hopeful that it will be an even stronger reinforcement of his OT.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Playing house
Trillian and I bought our first house in a seller's market. We did not get the first house on which we put an offer--and the competing offer was similar enough to ours that we and our agent suspected that the owners preferred not to sell to two women. But that was OK, because the house we did get had a better location, cost us less, and probably appreciated more. Not that we knew any of this when we put in our offer. And it was dumb luck that in that crazy seller's market we managed to get our house for below asking.
Luck was on our side again when we sold that first house. The area was still in a seller's market; we put our house on the market literally a week or two before it slowed down. And so we got asking price with no contingencies.
In both transactions, we did not deal with counter-offers and the like--the deals just happened. So the past couple days have been a new experience.
We expected that there would be some negotiation this time. Even though it's a buyer's market in Springfield, we put in a low offer on Thursday--10% below asking, which was already more than 5% below the price the house started out at a couple months ago. Counter-offer 1 came back promptly on Friday; we answered within a couple hours. Their final counter came back this morning, pretty much in the middle of where both sides started and exactly at the top end of our range. We accepted.
And so now, assuming the home inspection goes well and the appraisal comes through for that amount, we have a house. It hits the limit on what we were willing to spend, but we didn't set that amount arbitrarily, so we can truly afford it. This house is probably the single house we saw that we felt was worth that amount.
Some of what we are getting: walking distance to the elementary school, a large and level lot with room for both playing and gardening, a house that uses all of its space wisely, including a kitchen with plenty of cabinet and counter space. It is all on one level, meaning that my mother-in-law will be able to access everything and that we won't have to worry about navigating stairs as we get older--and we can both picture getting older there.
I'm crossing my fingers and knocking on wood until the home inspection. We've got a plan B and even a plan C, both houses that have their own merits. But this is the one I'm already furnishing in my head.
Luck was on our side again when we sold that first house. The area was still in a seller's market; we put our house on the market literally a week or two before it slowed down. And so we got asking price with no contingencies.
In both transactions, we did not deal with counter-offers and the like--the deals just happened. So the past couple days have been a new experience.
We expected that there would be some negotiation this time. Even though it's a buyer's market in Springfield, we put in a low offer on Thursday--10% below asking, which was already more than 5% below the price the house started out at a couple months ago. Counter-offer 1 came back promptly on Friday; we answered within a couple hours. Their final counter came back this morning, pretty much in the middle of where both sides started and exactly at the top end of our range. We accepted.
And so now, assuming the home inspection goes well and the appraisal comes through for that amount, we have a house. It hits the limit on what we were willing to spend, but we didn't set that amount arbitrarily, so we can truly afford it. This house is probably the single house we saw that we felt was worth that amount.
Some of what we are getting: walking distance to the elementary school, a large and level lot with room for both playing and gardening, a house that uses all of its space wisely, including a kitchen with plenty of cabinet and counter space. It is all on one level, meaning that my mother-in-law will be able to access everything and that we won't have to worry about navigating stairs as we get older--and we can both picture getting older there.
I'm crossing my fingers and knocking on wood until the home inspection. We've got a plan B and even a plan C, both houses that have their own merits. But this is the one I'm already furnishing in my head.
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