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November 27, 2005
Equipment failure
Mark took me to the Leafs game on Saturday for my birthday (they won!). Of course, I spent half the game playing with my toys (yes, it was important to find an online review of King Kong during the second period.). I took two self portraits of Mark and myself with the camera on my new phone. Click the link to see them. Obviously only someone with years of photo and gadget experience can be expected to achieve such amazing results. Don't be too hard on yourself if your photographic endevours don't turn out as well.
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November 24, 2005
Window washer
Apparently window washers don't get snow days.
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November 21, 2005
Frothy green
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November 18, 2005
Oh, and ...
Snow!
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Open door
The door to the roof was open so naturally I had to take a peek...
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November 15, 2005
What a dreary day
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November 14, 2005
Two pics
Two photos from today:
Happy cat ... you can't tell from the pic but she's purring up a storm here.
All my photos backed up onto 50 DVDs and Cd's. You can't tell from the picture but this made me a happy man.
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November 13, 2005
Ignorant Consumer
I've been putting off writing this blog entry (or any entry in this category) because as someone who gleefully participates in the north american consumer society I'm as guilty as anyone else. By actually committing to text that I understand something of the evils which are buried in the basement of this comfortable life I live, it becomes more difficult to blithely go on as if they didn't exist.
The buried evils I'm alluding to are the mistreatment of people or the environment in which companies engage in to provide us with some object or service which, they hope, we can't live without. In their zeal to garner as large profits as they can for themselves and their shareholders or to expand as fast as they can ahead of their rivals or to offer the lowest possible prices, these businesses will stoop to anything. Hiding under these shrouds they are able to justify any atrocity.
I've been reading No Logo, the book by Naomi Klein which documents the soulless business practices of some of North America's largest companies. She names names; I won't. This book has caused me to really think about how the clothes I wear come to me, who made my shoes, where the food I eat comes from and who supplies the coffee I drink.
My dilemma now becomes: what do I do about it? I could simply boycott the companies she mentions and continue on as before but wearing a different brand of shoe or shopping in a different store; feeling all smug and self righteous that I'm saving the planet and doing my bit for human rights. By posting this I've made it impossible to do nothing, that's for sure.
The difficulty is that the proper approach is much more time consuming. It requires that I take the time to dig in the basement of my world and be sure that there aren't bodies buried there. If I choose to frequent one coffeeshop chain over another I really should make an educated choice. I shouldn't let promotions or fads make the decision for me. If I choose one brand of X over another, the ethics of the company should play as much a part in my decision as the list of features or the price.
It has taken a long time to take this step; now comes the hard part: actually doing something about it. They do say that admitting the problem exists is the first necessary step to a solution.
My name is John an I am an Ignorant Consumer.
Posted by John at 04:42 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
November 11, 2005
Remembrance Day
As part of the Remembrance Day activities, the Snowbirds (I think) did I flypast in the missing man formation. Here they are with Markham in the distance.
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November 10, 2005
A love affair
johnD: ( I really do <3 Trillian)
brian: i don't understand, but i'm glad you're happy
johnD: if it were a woman i couldn't even date her, she would be sooo out of my league
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Poor kitty
She really has this mournful 'feed me' look down pat.
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November 06, 2005
Barber Mills
Here are some pics from the Toronto Urban Exploration outing to Barber Mills. It was a wonderful place to shoot. I love the sounds in an old concrete building ... the grit crunching underfoot, the echoing of the voices in other parts of the buildings. It was a grey day which added a hazy aura to everything. Amazing.
The pictures
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November 02, 2005
Autumn view
I'm enduring this horrible view:
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