mattm

Here's something I'm not kidding about - there's an expectant mothers parking spot in front of the liquor store at Hampton Park Plaza in Ottawa.

That's exactly the parking spot I had in mind when I started this rant.

and that's funny as hell. I was thinking walmart

Lol, good call eh?

The Yukon's stats:

Fuel Type: Regular

MPG (city): 21

MPG (highway): 22

MPG (combined): 21

Greenhouse Gas (tonnes): 8.7

The Fit:

Fuel Type: Regular

MPG (city): 28

MPG (highway): 35

MPG (combined): 31

Greenhouse Gas (tonnes): 5.9

Lol, the yukon isn't quite as good as the fit, that's true, although compared to it's non-hybrid brother:

Non-Hybrid Yukon:

Fuel Type: Regular

MPG (city): 14

MPG (highway): 20

MPG (combined): 16

Greenhouse Gas (tonnes): 11.4

That's a tough one. Does the person who forked over the extra $20,000 to get a hybrid Yukon deserve the spot or does the person who couldn't afford that and went with a fit (better on the environment anyway) deserve it more?

The answer? Neither!! It's a gesture by IKEA to spread a message (and probably has some marketing value as well). It's a first step in the right direction of promoting less harmful vehicles and it sucks that the environmental initiatives they are taking garner negativity rather than positivity and optimism, excitement that if a large corporation like this can change, so can others...

For those that look at this with positive eyes and feel that excitement, I say cheers

Think about the whole earth hour thing. What does it accomplish? Saves power for an entire hour but moreso, and it's true purpose, it raises awareness that it can be done and that it's not as difficult as maybe people think it is...

I'm been thinking about the ubiquity of these re-usable bags. Seems they are being produced much faster than anyone can re-use them. Stores even market their own special brand of the re-usable bag. We're just going to have landfills filled with this crap instead.

They don't make as many as the plastic bags, not even close and how many people do you know throw them out rather then re-using them for something. Not to mention, hit up a store like loblaws and check how many bags they have. I bet it's something like 1000:1 (plastic:re-usable) or a ratio similar to that and the re-usable ones can take a bigger load (based on me putting more in them because they are stronger and won't break like the handles on the plastic ones and the ass making assumption that this is the case for others as well).

The question also comes up, are the re-usable ones biodegradable? If so then a landfill full of them isn't as bad as a landfill full of plastic ones that will be there in a couple thousand years, in my opinion.

As to the LCBO, the reason I found out was because I got some sixes and I didn't like the paper bag but had to either take it or pay $1 for the re-usable bag. I took the paper bag which now leads me to wonder, will stores start over producing those? Sure they biodegrade but they also take trees don't they (I guess they can be made out of recyclable material).

Also, is it legal for IKEA to do that? Like if a non-hybrid was parked there would they tow it? Same question re: maternity spots too. The specialization of parking spots is getting out of control.

I can't see why it wouldn't be legal. I'm pretty sure that since they own the property, they can have whoever they want towed away from it. As in if you park in my driveway, it's my property so I can have you towed if I want (at least I think I can, anyone know the actual rules behind this?).

Besides, what's out of control about a maternity spot? I think they're great. Being preggers sucks, I know this and I can't even get pregnant. I can however walk an extra couple feet to give a pregnant lady a break. Doesn't hurt me but man, if she's near the end of her term, she sure could use a little break like this.

The SAQs (Liquor stores) in Quebec no longer offer bags. It's a great start to a great trend.

Actually, the LCBO should be completely off the plastic bags by now, too. They started phasing them out last year and were not going to be replacing them (there may still be stores that have some stock but there won't be new stock). Recycled paper bags and $1 reusable bags there now...

lol, I like that toaster. Reminds of the giant hot-dog that drove around my hometown when I was young.

For the Record: I want that toaster trailer, how fun would that be to take to festivals and such

Looks like they just got a reward for being so "green":

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2009/16/c2006.html

The more I read, the more I'm proud of them. Why can't other companies follow this? As in, if grocery stores stopped supplying plastic bags, would there really be a drop off in sales? Would people really stop shopping for food and just up and die? Or travel way out of their way to go to a store that does have plastic bags? Nah, they'd just get reusable ones so why not just do it? Same with many things.

As to local, did you know that IKEA even purchased a whole tonne of the pine damaged by the beetles? That's a bit local. They used the wood to make pins instead of getting metal ones made in china...

http://www.earthimprints.com/blog/IKEA

FYI: There were hybrids in both spots when I got there but one was leaving and I took the pictures after.

I also notice that they will no longer have plastic bags in their canadian stores soon, you either bring your own or you can buy one of their re-usable ones for just $1.

Just thought I'd share that. I think it's nice to see a large company taking some environmental responsibility or using it's vast resources to send a message, good on them.

http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/about_ikea/social_environmental/environment.html

what's wrong with Bob Blumer?

Yeah, explain please. Glutton for Punishment is a fun show.

I quit cold turkey. It was really hard. Do what you have to do but if you care about yourself, quit. If you have kids, then even if you don't care about yourself, care about them and quit. That's it. Lots of things in life are hard, quitting smoking is near the top as far as I'm concerned, but as with anything else it just takes effort. If you get a craving and start heading to a store, stop, turn around and go somewhere else, hell call in sick for work that day so you don't pass said store. Take a vacation for the first week so that you can completely change your routine around (best thing to do I think).

The main thing is, when you feel that urge, just don't go for it no matter how hard it is. It will get easier (although I don't think the cravings will ever go away, it's a lot easier to ignore them now and takes way less effort or way less of a creative excuse to myself to accomplish).

Good luck to those that try but really it boils down to hard work. How hard, or how much crap can you put up with...

He believes it will reduce the D.C. heat and grease the way for the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger to be approved.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i73b3660e2c6025e6ec1b2e98a5e7328e

hmmm, never heard about it till now. That's what I call monopoly (other than the game, which I also call monopoly)

No tickets for us yet that I know of. Did you get them in the lottery or after they went on-sale publicly? The email said they would send them out starting 2 weeks prior to the show (which worries me moderately).

Also, good job on the 204's. Steph and I got 308's from the lottery which I think are pretty good seats but 204 is better

Happy birthday Brad. I was waiting to just say it in person last night but alas, couldn't make it. Either Steph or I will be there tonight at least but last night was just too late

he's still supportive of these jokes because they generate so much money for the record companies that they can in turn support the lowlier bands just starting out.

Good point. I was joking around but in seriousness, have to agree with that. I wonder how it would make me feel if I was a smaller band, knowing that my funds exist because of nicleback. Probably thankful that I had any funds at all, lol.

Same thing goes not just for music in canada. Take hollywood for example, and how many movies come out that are only good because the cast has a popular actor in it (we won't even get into the actors) or something on those lines. Thing is, they will bring in kajillions of dollars and though the actors for some reason get a mad huge share that I think should be divided a bit more down the chain such as in editing and whatnot, the money does help to enable all sorts of other projects not to mention also helps fund education in that art...

"canadian art of all forms will be better when they're gone"

hmm.

If you're looking for clarification with the hmmm, the reason I am of that opinion is that since nickleback are rich, if they did not exist, at least some of that money would still be funneled into art but who knows, it might end up being a movie or tv show, can't say for sure. I also cannot say that it is a true statement, mostly just a funny way to express my view of whom I think are candidates for worst canadian band ever.

ike, I agree with that, but my point was in that case the fault would lie with the receiver, not the sender.

Agreed, and to go further, any incoming communication that isn't a phone call should not be able to wake up the receiver and if it does, it is the job of the receiver to fix this. Phone calls are understood to make noise but emails and other communication that can wait (and that means all text communication since if it can't wait then make a voice call) can come in at any point in the day. Further to this, any response to communication other than a direct call should NOT be expected immediately. If an immediate response is needed, make a voice call.

My $0.02

Hey Brad, two nights, good job. Now Steph and I can both go, one night each Not sure if we can actually swing that but we'll for sure try and at least one of us will be at at least one of the shows.

lol. One of the guys here at work put that picture up on my cubicle cause I look very like the dude on the left. Although I thought it was funny, I still wonder if my managers looked at it and went "hmmmmm"...

Oh, nickleback sucks and canadian art of all forms will be better when they're gone.

How come I can't have a blackberry? I'll take emails in the middle of the night

We turned everything off and then went out for a walk. Ottawa was completely lit up. Parliament was dark but the rest of Ottawa, from the bayview bus station view, looked like normal. All the big office buildings we could see in Hull were on as well, fed buildings I think. Looked like a weeknight and everyone was working late. Quite thoroughly disappointing after hearing Steph describing some of the cities in the world going dark.

my $0.02

reminder

happy birthday and thanks for the happy birthday

we're just staying at the holiday inn in batavia. Easy, comfortable and there's a pool.

Have you reserved a spot for camping? I've checked a couple times and the darien lake website said it's entirely sold out for those days, including hotels, camping and rv rentals.

Denied for gorge earlier? Maybe some credit cards bounced or maybe you only got denied for other shows.

301 row 8 for darien for steph and I.

I want to know as well. According to the darien lake website there's no room left anyway so any good places around there?