Ideeahs

This post is about attitude and how it makes all the difference in the world.   Specifically this is about the attitude we bring to our daily routines and is based on three different men I have come across during my daily commute and one whom I have never met.  Each one made or makes the day just a tad bit better than it was - and they do it so simply. One is a Montreal cop who I used to see regularly in the Griffintown area of the city.  The second is a parking attendant at the Bell Centre.  The third is a train conductor who used to work the line I ride to and from the city every day.  The last is a singer in a band.  They are all examples of how easy it is to build a short human connection with a stranger and make the world that much more united. In every case they manage to, during a few seconds of interaction with fellow citizens, make a connection and put a smile on someone's face - well mine at least. The cop's job, during the extremely busy co...

A recurring thought recently found its way into my consciousness. The subject of this familiar thought is how the measurement of time has impacted society. Those of you who have read my book, " Avoiding the Blues ", know some of my thoughts on this subject and how time has had an impact on my life. Time management has become an ever more important skill for human beings. The slice of time we use to measure it has diminished from from years and months, through days and hours, on to minutes and seconds and, finally today, to nano and pico seconds. As a result we now have potentially more and more items that need to be managed in a day. More and more bits of data compete for these ever smaller slices and, because we are now able to measure and schedule time in smaller units, we allow more of these disparate items to enter our days. We feel a need to manage more and more into the finite number of twenty-four hours. To do this, successfully, we need to all become good ma...

This is one of the better articles I have read on the issue of technology and how it might be affecting our brains. The irony is that while I was reading it I was interrupted by the New York Times itself. Between pages 2 and 3 a request for feedback popped up and distracted me from the article on....what was it? Here is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brain.html The bottom-line is that we have now learnt that our brains do not stop developing at a young age. Our grey matter continues to adapt to the stimulus it faces on a daily basis. With the ever increasing bombardment of information -- and the resulting interruptions -- a growing number seem to be concluding that our brains are indeed adapting to the influx. How? By limiting our creativity, our empathy, our memory, our concentration. As I have said before, while I was working at IBM we often had discussions about Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. We were constantly bombarded by emails, chat me...

No....I mean salt!! It is essential to our body's proper functioning. While not essential to eating, it does bring out tastes and, for certain recipes, is a requirement to the chemical reaction that occurs in cooking. Salt can also be detrimental to our health. Various cancers are associated with it as is high-blood pressure. So we can't live without it but we need to watch our intake - just like all other food stuffs and ingredients. I tend to watch what I eat. I watch ingredients, ensure that I eat balanced (well, fairly balanced) meals. I have to admit though that eating the recommended amount of fruits and veggies proves hard on many days. But, no matter how careful you are the fact is that if you eat processed foods you will eat too much salt and sugar. What I ate for lunch yesterday is an example. It was seemingly a fairly healthy meal. One can of salmon with one tablespoon of mayonnaise mixed in. Four pitted, red pepper-stuffed green olives. About eight...

As the water poured over my naked body in the shower this morning I started thinking about the amount of water that is wasted. The previous night I had turned on our sprinkler system to water our lawn and garden. The earth was cracking in some parts so I figured I could the plants a reprieve from the heat. I knew rain was in the forecast but, not knowing how much, I decided to water anyways. It is pouring outside now. Last year I wrote about how surprised I was that the previous owners of our house had consumed over 1000 litres of water a day during the previous twelve month period. As I finished my shower (quickly!!) my mind wandered a bit more and started thinking about how much of our daily life is set to automatic. By allowing our actions, reactions and thoughts to be automatically acted out and formed for us we take decisions and act in ways that are out of context. It prevents us from taking the time to look, hear, feel, smell and touch the moment. To understand its ...

My eyes are closed and I am seeing red. I decide to have a look outside. I can't open my eyes fully. Through a pair of slits I see that the sun is bright. Its rays are sparkling through the leaves of the branches hanging over me. I am lying on our hammock strung between and apple and an ash tree. On my belly lies the book I am reading (blink, by Malcolm Gladwell) and my iPod Nano. I am listening to Coldplay's Viva la Vida album. I need to close my eyes again and so, once again, my world becomes red. Sometimes it darkens as a cloud passes between the sun and my position. For the most part, though, all is red. I can feel the heat of the sun on my chin and on the left side of my nose. My forehead also feels the heat of that closest of the stars. Minute beads of sweat are forming below my nose. This is life. Live life. The moment. Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

It is 14:59 - nope, correction, it is 15:59. I did not adjust my MacBook's clock to the Atlantic time zone. The wind is blowing down from the west-northwest. Veil after veil of rain, pushed along by the wind, are hitting the side of the 120 year-old wood-shingled home and past the window I am looking out of. The fields are wet. If I was in Montreal I would be happy. My manicured lawn and tiny vegetable garden would have received the water they need. But I am not in a suburb of a large city. I am a fifteen minute drive from New Ross, Nova Scotia in an area that has, for all of its existence, been dependent on the weather and nature for its economic survival - not just for its pleasure. This is an area whose economic basis is farming. A great friend of mine has decided to establish himself here. Since I have been here, he and I have been wondering whether the weather would hold up long enough to allow us to prepare his four acres for planting. To ensure that it is eff...

One of the items in the Harry Potter books that I find fantastic is the fact that, in the world of wizards anyway, people in paintings and pictures can move.  They go about their lives and decide to appear (or not) in a particular frame.   I find it to be a very appealing concept for some reason. If only... Ahh..the moving picture. It has a certain appeal doesn't it? While writing this entry I could hear the whisperings of three children — two of them my own — sitting in our television room.  They were watching Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Prior to that the two boys had played on my daughter's NintendoDS while she hurriedly did her homework.  It was a cold, rainy and windy day so I understood how indoor activities appealed to the assembled eight and ten year-olds. For reasons which are not completely clear in my own mind I often grimace when my children ask me whether or not they can watch a movie, television, or play on their DS.  W...

I am going to let Dan Barber spread his Ideeah today. All I want to say is, folks, love your food and think about where it comes from, what it tastes like (or could taste like) and what its impact on reaching your plate is. I love what Dan calls today's agribusiness model - a business in liquidation. He's absolutely right. Watch and listen please. Dan Barber: How I fell in love with a fish | Video on TED.com Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

Yet another food recall is in the works. This one may apparently become one of the widest in history. It involves some thing called a flavour enhancer. Specifically one made by Basic Food Flavors, Inc. and called a hydrolyzed vegetable protein (or HVP). Doesn't that sound delicious? This is an interesting recall as it involves thousands of products many of which do not even list HVP in their (long?) list of ingredients. It is also interesting because it involves processed foods. "If you can't pronounce it or spell it then it likely is not any good for you." I completely agree with that statement from the movie Food Inc. Ingredients that require an acronym to allow us to remember their names are an ominous sign of a bad brew. If your recipe requires hydrolyzed vegetable protein you need to change it or hire a better cook. Maybe the cook needs to ask his grandma what she used to enhance flavours.....hmmm. Salt? Pepper? Maybe a touch of garlic or chile. Or ...

TED is a great website. A place that allows some amazing people to take a few minutes to inspire. Every year three one-hundred-thousand dollar prizes are handed out to help them achieve their one wish to change the world. One of the recipients this year is Jamie Oliver. A chef from England. I first heard of him a few years ago when I stumbled upon one of his cookbooks. He is now well known as a chef but more importantly as an influencer. His wish is to empower people to eliminate obesity. This is a condition that is killing more people in the United States and the United Kingdom (and likely most rich countries) than any other condition or crime. He argues that what is happening is in fact criminal. He has made a difference in schools and communities across the UK and is starting to instill change in North America. But he can't do it alone. Listen....your children are the first generation in a long, long time (ever?) that have a good chance of having a shorter lifespan tha...

Hints from three interesting communities on how to live a healthier life. Socialize, eat more plants and less animals, have purpose in life and slow down. Listen to how communities in Italy, Japan and, yes, even the United States do it. Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

A book, a movie and a meal. This entry is about how three items came together a few days ago to further convince me that the world needs to change and, happily, seems to be changing. And how each of us can make a difference. You may not care about changing the world but at least make an effort to change what you can directly control - your diet. Make this your resolution. Food Inc. - the movie - rent it. In Praise of Slowness - the book - read it. Red Cabbage Risotto - the meal - eat it. I consider that we are a lucky family. We can afford healthy foods, we have the time to cook up those foods into delicious meals and then we sit down, together, to enjoy it. Three times a day we do this. One of our favorite meals is a risotto recipe by Marcella Hazan (fantastic cook books - get some!). It is far from fast to make but is worth the two to two-and-a-half hours it takes to prepare. Shred 4 cups of red cabbage. Then chop up some pancetta and onions. Fry these two in a large kettl...