Jean-Paul & Erica

End of Season at Whitewater Ski Resort

2008-05-08T22:32:00.000-07:00

The closing weekend every year at Whitewater Ski Resort is a huge Beach Party - although some skiing does occur. :-) There are two big events. One is the Slush Cup - where skiiers come down the mountain at high speed and try to skim across a pond at the bottom - most people end up soaking wet. The other main event is the Dummy Downhill when people build dummys and send them off a jump on skis. Almost all of this year's dummys lost their heads.

Slush Cup

This guy get's some air...

Faceplant...

And finally one makes it across!

Dummy Downhill

Organic Milk

2007-03-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

The most important food to buy organic is milk.

Organic milk is produced without antibiotics. Antibiotic overuse leads to resistant bacteria. Organic milk is produced without synthetic hormones. Bovine growth hormone (BGH) is given to factory cows to stimulate milk production. Synthetic hormones are dangerous and can cause dramatic changes in human beings. Organic milk is produced without herbicides or pesticides.

Beside the health benefits to humans, organic cows have access to open air and graze freely on organic land. They are not forced into production levels beyond their natural capacity and they are given 100% organic feed.

As with any organic product, organic milk is higher in vitamins and nutrients. A study shows that organic milk has higher levels of Vitamin E, omega 3 essential fatty acids and antioxidants which help fight infections. Organic milk also contains 75% more beta carotene which is converted to vitamin A in the body.

2007-03-11T03:11:00.001-07:00

I Alert U

2007-03-03T00:05:00.000-08:00

For you mac users.... I love this! Not entirely practical but a cool video.

Thirst Relief

2007-03-01T17:55:00.000-08:00

Every DAY over 5,000 people die because of lack of clean drinking water. Just $5 can save a person's life for purchasing filters, pumps, and digging clean water wells.

Thirst Relief International is photographer Mike Colon's charity.

For my photographer friends, many great photographers are auctioning off their time for a 90 minute private mentoring session whose proceeds go to the organization.

Here is Mike's promo video:

Whitewater

2007-02-25T02:02:00.001-08:00

Whitewater is the ski resort just down the road from us in Nelson. Erica has been learning to ski this season.

JP skiing... you will have to wait a minute, then you will see a small figure moving toward the camera

A video from the chair lift

Some other people's YouTube videos of Whitewater:

A trip back in time of Whitewater and Nelson:

PVC: The Poison Plastic

2007-02-24T23:23:00.000-08:00

There are many different types of plastics which are made from various polymer compounds. Some are better than others because some can be recycled, while others cannot. Certain plastics can leak toxic chemicals and cancer causing agents into food and liquids. For these reasons, it is useful to know the numbering system used for plastics (see below). By far the worst plastic is PVC (plastic type 3).

The Center for Health, Environment and Justice recently launched their PVC free campaign. PVC is a poisonous plastic compound that is not recyclable and chemically unsafe, potentially cancer causing. See video below.

This organization is now petitioning Target stores to phase out their use of PVC products. Last year Wal-Mart, Nike, Microsoft, and Ikea amoung others have agreed to phase out the use of PVC.

PVC products have a recycle symbol with the number 3 in the middle. This is confusing and most people would think that seeing the recycle symbol means that the product can be recycled.

In fact, there are 2 types of symbols, one means "made from recycled materials" and the other means "this product is recyclable". The circular arrow symbol should be enclosed inside a circle to indicate that the product can be recycled. The recycling symbol is in the public domain, so it often ends up being misused. Manufacturers may put it on their product’s packaging to indicate it contains recycled content, to indicate that the product is generally able to be recyled, or to simply to show support for recycling.

The number inside the recycling symbol on plastic packaging indicates the resin type it is made from, which can give a clue on whether a product can be recycled. The number also indicates what polymers the product is made from, some of which can potentially be harmful to our health. Not all plastics are recyclable. Numbers 1,2,4,5 and 7 are generally recyclable. Numbers 3 and 6 are not. #3 is Vinyl or PVC, and #6 are mainly styrofoam items such food trays, foam egg cartons, cups, plates, but also include compact disc jackets and plastic cutlery. Therefore from a recycling perspective, one should avoid #3 and #6 plastics.

The number is also useful in identifying which chemical components are in the plastics. Some of these components are toxic and can be transferred into food if used as a storage container, especially when heated or using hot liquids.

When it comes to food and liquids, avoid numbers 3, 6, and 7 as they will leak toxic chemicals. In particular, AVOID #3. Plastic #5 is a reasonable choice for reusable containers. Numbers 1 and 2 are only suitable for one time use. (There is a misconception that Nalgene bottles do not leak toxins, however this is not necessarily the case).

Bottled water is generally stored in plastic #1. These should be avoided, or only used once. Repetitive use of water bottles can cause the plastic to break down and leach even more toxins into your drink. Do not store water in plastic for long periods of time. Use glass or ceramic instead.

Avoid the heating of any food in plastic. DO NOT USE PLASTIC WRAP IN MICROWAVES.

Note: The recycle symbols for other materials such as glass and paper are different.

If you'd like some more basic info on plastics, here is a great PDF. This document is especially important for mothers with babies.

For more information on the PVC free campaign, and a higher quality video, visit http://www.pvcfree.org

Whitewater

2007-02-22T01:49:00.000-08:00

This is Erica's 2nd time out at Whitewater and first season skiing.

Snowboarder almost runs into Erica

JP skis by

JP skiis backwards to film Erica

Cabo Trip

2007-02-18T19:12:00.000-08:00

A few pics from Erica's recent trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

The pirate ship:

I took this guy home with me

Erica with two of the wedding industry great photographers, Jessica Claire and Liana Lehman.

For more photos, see Erica's professional photography blog.

Say No To Trash

2007-01-22T11:47:00.001-08:00

Sarah McGaughey and Kyle Glover are a Toronto based couple whose goal is to eliminate all household garbage. They have not fully succeeded, but they have managed to produce only 1 bag of trash over a period of 1 year. What is even more amazing is that in their no garbage plan, they even avoid recycling since recycling causes some waste, instead they just do not buy any product that cannot be fully consumed (i.e. buying in bulk).

No More Garbage Blog

Seattle Trip

2007-01-22T11:04:00.000-08:00

We went down to Seattle to visit our friends Andy & Alexandra.

While in the area, we stopped at Snowqualmie to ski.

Baraka

2007-01-22T00:23:00.000-08:00

We discovered the documentary Baraka through a friend a few years back.

The movie is a collection of videos from around the world with environmental themes while showing humanity's relationship to the eternal. The term Baraka is a Sufi word meaning essence of life and the movie combines scenes of nature, religious ritual, oppressive city life, and war - in many instances with time lapse photography.

The movie is shot in widescreen 70mm. I just came across the full movie on Google Video

Live in Arlington

2007-01-21T23:56:00.000-08:00

Our Arlington condo will be available for rent beginning June 1st. If you know someone who may be interested, please forward our condo website to them. It is located 2 blocks form the Virginia Square Metro Station.
http://www.lexingtonsquare.blogspot.com

Thank you!

Skiing at Whitewater

2007-01-06T01:06:00.000-08:00

These are a few photos from our first ski at Whitewater this season.

Riverfront Park

2006-10-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

We often fly through Spokane Airport on our trips between DC and Nelson. There is a beautiful park near the downtown area of Spokane. There are many attractions at this park including a gondola, pavillion, carrousel, giant red wagon, train tour, ice palace, turn of the century clock tower, and IMAX theatre.

Here we are about to ride the Riverfront Park Skyride which travels over Spokane falls and the Gorge area.

This Clocktower (which chimes) was built in 1902 as part of the Great Northern Railroad Station.