Wow I can’t believe it!
Snow just keeps coming!
Monthly Archives: November 2006
The snow has swamped Vancouver. I don’t know how much snow we have but my guess is that we ahve about 8 in so far. It is snowing more today. It is very beautiful, but I think I have lost my ability to handle cold weather. Today as I waited for the bus I had to pace around because I was so cold. It usually doesn’t get this cold up here.
Check out tony campolo’s podcast. I listened to it for the first time this morning and I found it very interesting. He has a guy asking him questions about current issues and he gives his opinion. He has some interesting things to say. Check it out.
Read my article in the Nov 29 Etc.
It is a little Advent Devotional called Lou’s Cactus.
Let me knwo what you think.
One of my hobbies is cooking. One reason I like to cook is because I know what I like. So today I made some incredible Mexican Lentil soup. The reason I say it is so good is not because I am a good cook, but because I used a recipe from a friend. Tom and Peter who used to cook soup a couple of years (oops) it is not three years ago at Regent made a cookbook. And that is where I got the recipe. It was excellent. Also I made some guacamole to go along with it. It was really good. Lisa and I made it together. That is the big news for today. I am going to bed with a smiling belly.
St. Lucia, Killer Keller and Ozomatli peformed last night at the Commodore Ballroom. The Commodore was a great venue, because it was small, classy and the workers were friendly. The concert was a lot of fun!
S.t Lucia was a blues/rock band. Killer Keller is a beat-boxer. Both were good opening acts for Ozo. At one point Keller and Ozo did a free-style bit. It was really good. It was amazing when Keller imitated the clarinet. He sounded just like a clarinet. Ozo is a great live band. They were a 100 times better than when I have heard them on CD. What I like best about their style is the diversity of music they can peform. All the guys in the band can sing and play instruments and dance. Their exit was the best part of the whole night. It was a great exit because they were not full of themselves, and kept the party going. They were a lot of fun. Check out a little clip from the concert it has a little bit of the end.
It’s snowing in Vancouver!!!!! Unreal!
We hardly ever get snow. Today it is snowy outside! After church today we had a snowball fight outside the church. The kids were also outside making snowmen. It was lots of fun.
Read Monte Reel’s article on the Penquine Revolution. I am so impressed with the teenagers and University students in Chile. They started a reform movement to improve the education system that suffered from inequality. Reel writes:
The Education Ministry soon began holding negotiations with student leaders, and Bachelet eventually promised more funding to help the poorest students and created a panel, which included student representatives, to discuss broad reforms of the national educational system.
I wonder what motivated these students to unite. It seems that text message was central to their organizing. What ever it was their political involvement has brought about positive changes. I am most impressed with their concern for the poor students. Way to go!
Last night we had a great dinner with some Regent friends. We celebrated American Thanksgiving here in Canada. It was some good food! One couple, Amy and Chris, made the turkey and some pies for the evening. Their pecan pie was so good I wanted to smack my moma! (just a figure of speech moma, if you read this).
After dinner we played four-on-the-couch, it was men vs. women. It was an intense gender war. The men have won the past two years since we started the Thanksgiving tradition. Unfortunately the men lost last night and it was the final year of the event with the Matheny family. Hey it was alright because the men are still best out of three years. The women brought in a ringer this year. Sheryl dominated. She remembered everyone’s name perfectly. I think I was the weakest link because I would just say a name that came to my head.
On, Sun. some friends and Lisa and I are going to see Ozomatli. This is going to be my first big concert I have paid for that has not been a youth group event. I have always wanted to go to hear a hip hop group. I can’t believe Ozo comes all the way up here. St. Lucia is opening up with them too. Anybody heard of them? I couldn’t find too much by them online. I will write about the concert after we get to see it.
After reading the Golden Spruce by John Valliant. I realized that the book deeply impacted me. Living in British Columbia has given me a bigger appreciation for forests. Now a few weeks after reading the book I realize that the book was really about the trees in BC and the Golden Spruce not so much about the guy who cut it down. You can hear an NPR cast about it by clicking here.
Valliant suggested preserving the forest by cutting down our use of tree products. One thing he promoted was tree-free paper products. There are three types of paper you can use instead of tree pulp paper: Kenaf (a type of grass that grows disease free and robustly in the Americas), Hemp (I am not sure if you can get this in the US) and 100 percent recycled post consumer waste paper.
At UBC you can request potato derived containers for food instead of a plastic or styrofoam and all coffee is fair-trade. This was initiated by consumers asking for enviornmentally friendly products. So I encourage you to ask your local stores to have more products like this. As consumer we have some influence on the products offered to us. So ask for tree-free products as well.
At home you can buy enviornmentally safe paper products like toilet paper. Check out Greenpeace’s suggestions on toilet paper.
