I Heart The Earth, And You Can Too

Originally written and posted at www.myspace.com/wallyzblogger on March 28/09

I heart the earth


Current mood: ashamed

I've got a ton of issues related to the environment rolling around in my head and I dont know what to do with them. Some of them are more developed than others, some of them are just point form observations. But this is as good a place as any to get them out of my head and on to a page.

Earth Hour It's only an hour ppl. I know that with all of the ads and facebook event invitations and parties and all the rest it has become the thing to do, but it is only an hour. What we need are daily commitments from ppl to make environmentally influenced decisions. Turning the computer off when you are not home, unplugging the microwave when you are not using it, same with the toaster and the coffee maker. These little things mean useless electricity is not sent into appliances that are not doing anything. Just because they are off does not mean the juice stops flowing.

Earth Hour is a great start, but we need ppl to be able to have some lights on at home while still making a positive impact on a regular basis. The CBC website still has the One Million Acts of Green page online and active and I welcome and implore you to go and register your act of green, no matter how small it may be.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle do you remember when the three Rs were taught to us in school? I am in my mid to late 20s and I remember. That means that 15 years ago educators knew that the environment was this important. Why did it take so long for everyone else to catch up?

I will fully admit that reduce can be tricky to implement on your own. Products are still over packaged and until companies get the picture that consumers will be ok with less, there is nothing really that you and I can do about while still buying the things that we want to. What you can do to reduce is easy. Use a travel mug, just that one thing by me saves anywhere from 10 to 20 coffee cups from the trash and subsequently landfills.

Side note I have not been that great lately, but we will get to that.

Reusing water and juice bottles is a great way to cut down on both dirty dishes and trash. Refilling your water bottle at work means buying and recycling only one bottle of water. Less dishes means less water in the sink. And I am happy with that because I hate doing dishes.

Last but not least is recycling. Whether it is pizza or cereal boxes, juice bottles or milk cartons it is easy to recycle. Just by making the effort not to throw a big empty plastic bottle in the regular garbage you can help. If you are going to take the garbage to the curb anyway why not the separate trip for the recycling? I know almost everyone recycles now, but it is still an important part of the process.

I mentioned that I had not been that good with the travel mug lately. But let me explain. I have been brainwashed, and so have you. Tim Hortons sells more cups of coffee in Canada per day than any other retailer. I do not even need to research that fact. (If you want to and I am wrong, good on you) And as you may know this is the time of year that we as Canadians, and some Americans, Roll Up The Rim To Win. I love my travel mug. The writing is wearing off of the side, but it keeps and extra large coffee hot for a long time and it saves me 11 cents a cup. But it is collecting dust right now because I do not want to lose the chance to win to you if you are behind me in line. Nothing against you, but it is my right as a Canadian to win that donut. And until Tim Hortons realises that we are still gonna buy coffee in ridiculous amounts if the contest has scratch cards for ppl with reusable travel mugs or starts giving away mugs as prizes nothing will change. And I know I do not have an excuse, I am not really brainwashed. But I am caught up in the game and I am throwing away at least 14 paper coffee cups a week. I am sorry.

My quick rant got kind of long winded. Sorry about that. Hopefully you are still on board. I am going to link this to the daily blog tomorrow at www.newmorningmusings.blogspot.com because I want these words to get out.

We can make a difference ppl. But it has to be for more than an hour a year.

Thanks.

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-Wally

This Isn't Love, It's Fantasy Hockey!

Hey there my puck loving friends,


This week is the second week of the second half of this season’s hockey pool. The last season and a half haven’t been especially great. I have done alright in the last few weeks but I need to be able to put a streak together.

The key to the pool that I play in is paying for short term production. The weeks go from Saturday to Friday and then it’s time to pick 12 new dudes. I get 6 forwards, 4 defensemen and 2 goaltenders and I get 30 points to spend to get them. Each dude is valued 1 point to 4 points each with goalies going from 2 points to 4 points each. The value is directly related to the player’s talent, as you may have assumed.

The other key to fantasy hockey and all fantasy sports, is not to fall in love with the dudes on your favourite team. Trust me, it’s not always a good thing. Now, if your favourite team is the Penguins or Sharks or Caps than you are in better shape than most. But in general, one of the worst things you can do is pick with your heart instead of your head. This isn’t love my friends, it’s a competition. You have to be mean and calculated and take risks that you wouldn’t think you’d take. Okay, so that last part sounds like love, but that’s it.

This year’s fantasy studs have been Henrik Sedin from the Vancouver Canucks, Joe Thorton, Dany Heatley, Patrick Marleau and Dan Boyle from the San Jose Sharks, Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green from the Washington Capitals, Thomas Plekanec of my Montreal Canadiens and even Thomas Kaberle of E-ve’s Toronto Maple Leafs.

Now, because this is a cap system there comes a point decisions have to be made. Do I spend on defensemen and hope for power play points? What cheap forward am I going to take a chance on this week? So far it’s been Alex Ponikarovsky , Andrei Kostitsyn and Stephen Weiss among others.

While last week wasn’t a great one, I’m hoping for a big push this week. But more importantly I don’t want to get myself into a big hole. There’s a car on the line for the winner. Also, I try every week to get the better of one of my co-workers. Last week I did. Most weeks I do.

This week I’ve got a bunch of really good hockey players on my roster. If you see names like Kovalchuk, Heatley, Thorton, Gaborik, Richards, Byfuglien, Robidas and Nabakov you’ll know that I’m doing alright.

You know what else is awesome? E-ve supports my habits. I smile big when she watches the ticker with me and counts points. I’m a lucky dude that way. I know that I have what can be an overwhelming affinity for sports, and not just hockey. But having her entertain my fancies is a huge bonus. I’m a big fan of her as well as the sports.

So, wish me luck. This thing is a big fun part of my fall, winter and spring.

And if I win the car I’ll DD.

Like wham!