Geeky Cat Miusings

If you want to have a bit of fun but only have a minute to spare, go to montage-a-google to create a montage using whatever keyword(s) you want. Try different keywords to see a variety of colours and patterns in your montage.

Like I said, it only takes a minute and then you can move on to the more important things you have planned for your day. You do have important things to do today, don’t you? If you don’t, please let me know and I will find something for you.

Bonus points to anyone who guesses the keywords I used to create these montages.

We did it! My team climbed the 1,776 stairs up the CN Tower to raise over $1,100 for WWF-Canada (that’s World Wildlife Fund, not World Wrestling Federation) and to show how fit we are (we all scored above average climb times).

It was a long wait in line because they had 1,794 people climbing - some 400 more than last year - so the event is becoming more popular each year. The wait itself was entertaining with some teams performing acrobatic acts and chanting their team mantras. It was a hands free climb so we could not bring our iPod’s to entertain and motivate ourselves but they posted children’s drawings on the stairwell walls - so it was much like a vertical gallery tour - and quite touching and thought provoking. One child wrote on her picture “don’t pollute -save our wildlife!”, with a drawing of what looked to me like a dinousaur ;-).

Here we are all geared up for the climb in our Seneca T-shirts:

I didn’t know what I wore would be such an issue - my team member and some other climber commented on my wearing jeans for the climb. I still don’t know what the issue is - they were roomy and was a cool day. I did see one female with some heels on though.

The hardest part for me was the beginning of the climb - since you start climbing right away, without a warm-up - you can feel the strain on your lungs and heart. The second hardest moment of the event was when I reached the top (it took 21 minutes) and I was refreshing myself with a drink of water …. and then I looked down …. ohhhhh my….I was standing on the glass floor…gulp….and I could see the tiny cars way way below me….oh my…. my fear of heights kicked in and I felt light-headed. We were high-fiving other teams so I forgot about my predicament.

At the top of the climb we received a much needed bottle of water and had some time to enjoy the view of Toronto before heading back down (using the elevators - I now realize what a fabulous invention they are) and picking up our WWF T-shirts that read hotter than I should be on the front (I don’t think I will be wearing the T-shirt in public) and our climb time on the back.

Afterwards we were treated to a nice dinner at Joe Badali’s. I was so hungry I could eat a garden shed but at least they had pasta and salads to choose from. I crashed into bed after midnight and then I woke up at 5 a.m. and started to eat my way through the fridge.

So, climbing the CN Tower is a good way to raise money for charity, but if you were hoping to do it to save yourself the entry fee, think again because you might have to compensate with a higher food bill to replenish your energy.

Well who says all TTC bus drivers are cranky - I had a real gem coming home from work today.

He was laughing and talking all the way. When he was stopped at a red light he would announce that when he claps his hands, the light would turn green. Sure enough his promise followed through.

When people got on the bus he would say “good afternoon” and “thank you” and when it was after 6 pm he would switch to “good evening”. At one stop there were 20 people getting on and he greeted everyone very quickly and some would smile or grin. When they ascended the bus (in record time I might add) he said “That’s how to get 30 people on the bus in 30 seconds”.

When someone sneezed he said “Bless you……or should I say Robitussin?”

He tried his old clap-and-change-the-light trick again. It did not change to green on the first clap. He clapped two more times and the light changed. He said “It’s all in the wrists”.

As we approached Wilson he said “Next stop is the post office and library” - it seemed like the magic school bus - I could just picture us driving through the library and picking up some books - all while not damaging a single book.

When we approached Lawrence he said “Next is everyone’s favourite street, Lawrence”. I looked around to see what could make it someone’s favourite street. Nothing. If I see him again I will ask him why.

Soon after he said “Next is your street. Not my street but your street. Next is your street.” Pause. “Nobody is getting off on your street”. And we pass by Yore Street, a street where nobody wants to go.

And so goes the story of my magic bus ride home.

Here are a couple of creative ways people are going eco-friendly:

Smart Recycling Bin - Electrical engineers have created an identification chip to embed in bins so that it can be identified as belonging to a household. The forks that lift the bins scan and weigh the bins and the system keeps tally on how much the household recycles. The household then receives “recycle dollars”, discounts at participating businesses like Starbucks. Sounds like a great idea but won’t it discourage people from buying items with less packaging - the less packaging, the less energy and fewer resources required.

Blue Jean Insulation - How are blue jeans “green”? Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey is using recycled blue jeans to insulate its walls instead of fiberglass, which contains formaldehyde, a toxic element causing asthma and allergies. Sounds like a great way to make use of your old jeans - nobody seems to want them anyway, even if they are fashionably torn.

Nothing will make you want to save the planet more than immersing yourself in nature:

The First Undersea Restaurant -The first ever all-glass undersea restaurant in the world. See the relaxing blue waves of the Indian Ocean, the vibrant colours of the coral reef, and the graceful array of fish all while experiencing a fine dinner - stunningly beautiful.

I can’t go there anytime soon, but taking a hike with the Toronto Bruce Trail Club will probably do the trick (if I ever manage to go).

And Toronto had its 20 minute makeover yesterday where all people are asked to clean outside their work, school or home for 20 minutes. I cleaned the bird droppings off my windows and dealt with some pyromaniacal youths, so I think I have done my bit for the community clean-up day.

My computer is like a cat:

• It prefers to have a nap instead of responding to the mouse.
• It hides the files in places I wouldn’t think to look.
• It makes unusual noises - leading me to think it is unhappy and wants attention.
• Doesn’t do want I want it to do when other people are around.
• Sends cryptic messages to me - which I stay up all night to try to decode.
• Likes my keystrokes but insists I go at its own pace.

I have been using epicurious.com to search for recipes since I first connected to the internet - I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced almonds. On occasion, I could not find what I was looking for, so I would try to search the Web for a specific recipe or a recipe containing certain specific ingredients, and the search would usually take a lot of time with much frustration and not always positive results.

But now I have found a clever site - Foodieview - that searches the major recipe sites for recipes matching the criteria you specify and saves any recipes in one central place (with links to the original site). You can browse by different categories such as main ingredients, special considerations (like dairy-free, low fat, veg), holiday/occasion, cuisine, and you can also specify that the recipe should be from some famous chef (i.e., Nigella Lawson). For example, I entered the following in the search box: category:Italian category:vegetarian category:beans category:top_rated and Foodview returned 40 results. I always find other people’s feedback on a recipe very useful to determine if the recipe is worth pursuing. Will the dish taste good? Is it easy? Do they recommend modifications? Fortunately, Foodieview provides a star rating for the recipes and my choice, Winter Vegetable and Bean Soup with Pesto received 4½ stars from 49 reviews. I think that is a good indicator that I should go ahead and make the hearty soup.

An additional feature: the Recipe Box has a quick link to social bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us so that you can share your favourite recipes with others.

Buono appetito!

On April 26 I will climb 1,776 steps of the CN Tower with my Seneca College team. I climbed the stairs in 19 minutes is support of the WWF in my youth and I am interested in revisiting the challenge.

I will be raising funds for WWF Canada to support their efforts in:

• Fighting global warming on every scale
• Building a network of marine protected areas for Canada by 2010
• Working to protect, manage and restore our forests and freshwater
• Assisting in the recovery and protection of endangered Canadian wildlife and their natural habitats.

Please sponser me online here http://wwfcentral.ca/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?&pid=385&srcid=386&frsid=10594.

Supporters will help protect our oceans and coasts, our freshwater and forests, and wildlife everywhere.

Right now I just want to recover from Easter so I will sit back and share a few things with you:

Random live webcams from the Net
The Ass-Kisser Project
And see if you can you read this

This is what I do to get by:

1. Befriend people who do not like to wear jewelery - they will gladly hand over any jewelery they receive as presents. It works - that’s how I have accumulated much of my jewelery.
2. Befriend as many geeks as you can - geeks like to get the latest technology and are happy to give you last year’s model - that is how I got my iPod. Anyone have an extra camera phone or PDA?
3. Take public transit - it gives you some free time to enjoy your gadgets and saves you 1000’s of dollars and you can toot your green horn.
4. Work somewhere that has a good library like a college or university. Computer books are expensive and you need a new set every year to keep up with the ever-changing technology.
5. Don’t order wine at dinner - you can cultivate your inner silliness and so people won’t notice that you are not drinking. If you are a geek you probably have millions of bits (or a yottabyte) of knowledge circulating in your neurons that can be used to humour people - talking about how to achieve a pilates smile is always a winner.
6. Tell everyone you are working on your certification - you can avoid the costs of going out and when you do get your certification you can ask for a better salary and finally go out.
7. If you only need something occasionally, like a video recorder, tell someone how much you love their videos and want to know their secrets for capturing precious moments. Follow that up with a kind request to borrow the device for a short time.
8. You can save over $20.00 by climbing the stairs of the CN Tower for fund-raising purposes (i.e., WWF - Canada) instead of paying the entry fee and taking the elevator

I can’t get enough of cats — they always make me feel so good — that is why I really enjoy my cat-a-day calendar. This is the photo for today . Such a sweet image really helps my blue mood.

Cats are a great source of comfort and companionship… studies report that owning a pet can help relieve depression, lessen anxiety and lower blood pressure. One thing is for sure…they make me smile