Preps Progress

This weekend we both purchased a 3 Month Global Eurail Pass! I was a little iffy on getting my hepatitis shots, but hearing this made me feel much better about it. I mean, if we can't trust Timmy's, who can we trust, right? Lol...

Tonight we're planning, planning, planning! Update are surely to come!

Top of Your Game

I just came across a really neat little section featured on CBC.ca called, Top of Your Game with Mark Tewksbury. Right now they’re talking about challenging yourself to identify goals that you want to reach, and taking the steps to make them happen. Mark outlines it all in steps, so it’s more manageable. I’m at a stage right now where I’m just about to embark on a journey of a lifetime, but I’m simultaneously thinking about regaining focus upon my return, so this type of mentoring is really useful. As usual, I have a head full of ideas, but need some help sorting out the more important and immediate things to concentrate on.

Step 1: Ask yourself questions
Step 2: Expand your perspective
Step 3: Make a plan
Step 4: Act effectively and take the first step

Although these can be a little cliché and generalized, I’ve always thought that it was so important to at least try and keep abreast of the things you really want in life, and how you plan to achieve them. Even looking back to when I first began this blog in 2006, many of my goals did not faultier with the changing of time and experiences, but some have. That’s life and you have to expect it. Regardless though, it’s important to at least have direction - but to be fair to yourself, and expect detours along the way.

My Step 1: Asking myself the questions (abbreviated):

1) What am I most happiest doing (career wise)?
2) Where do I see myself settling down?
3) What are my ultimate goals for the foreseeable future?
4) Savings timeline for owning a house by 30-ish?

This is my homework for the next few days.

Keep Bizzy!

East Coast By Choice!

Halifax Retro was a featured guest on East Coast By Choice for Earth Week! We collaborated and wrote an article which documents in a few hundred words the evolution of our projects - Halifax Retro, Wwoofing, etc, from the past couple years, and going forward! Basically a timeline of our persuit to be more earth-conscious human beings. You can read the spotlight here!

Keep Bizzy!!

A Cure for The Times

I honestly believe that this will change the fabric of perspective for so many people in our world. In a time when we are in such a depressed and cynical state, could we have asked for a more awe-inspiring glimpse of hope? Honestly...? Not only that, but it's about time we were kicked really hard for our self induced illusions - in such a fake society we live in, we need to get back to something more real, more organic. I don't know if this was calculated - probably not - but regardless of whether it was or not, this is genius in every way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY&feature=related

I can't stop watching it!

~Bizzy

F2F Event... and me thinking I'm hilarious.

Remember back in the day, when the last few days of high school were easy breezy (dare I even say fun?) while waiting for the final dismissal bell of the year? Feet up on the desk, and being allowed to chew gum in class, finally? Yeah… my last 6 weeks of Purolator wont be like that. At all.

In fact, these next few weeks are really going to challenge my abilities - possibly more than they ever have in my last 2 years of working here. With pushing the courier leads competition that is soon coming to a close in mid-June; calling leads like mad in the interim; making my usual retention calls to my customers; organizing the Face 2 Face Golf Tourney to be held on May 31st; and training my substitute Inside Sales Rep… a tear of relief may be shed after all is said and done. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want it any other way - I’d rather be too busy than too bored any day. However, my plan is to just put my head down and charge through like nobody’s business!

Today was a pretty good indicator of my above claim. I had a 9 am meeting with my boss and the Events Manager of Progress Magazine to discuss Purolator’s role at this year’s Face 2 Face Golf Tourney. The meeting went super well – I’m always happy to get away from my desk for a bit, and to interact with real people, especially when it involves marketing in any capacity. We actually met at Julian’s French Bakery on Young Street in Halifax. I bought a loaf of 10 grain bread while I was there… it’s to die for!

The F2F Golf Tourney is something I’m really, really excited for. It’s happening a week before I leave, so I’m also thinking of it as a farewell party (I can pretend, right!?). The best part is that this year, Purolator will be more focused on meeting and greeting the SME’s in attendance, and getting to know their businesses more! After all, it’s the SME’s of this country that are going to see us through this recession, and even thrive from it (I believe anyway!). This ultimately means that I have to step up and make sure things happen since this is my realm, and my customer base. We have some great ideas for networking, not to mention we have some hilarious events happening throughout the day. Purolator will be hosting several golf competitions to raise money and awareness for Tackle Hunger, namely a Hockey Glove Driving Contest! It’s pretty self explanatory. I’m in the middle of writing up our meeting notes from this morning, and polishing up the Purolator F2F Business Plan.

So this is pretty much how my days will be for the next 6 weeks… busy, and all over the place. I’ll let you know how it pans out once I’m on the other side… other side of the world that is…!!! OHHH! Get it? Haha...

~Really Bizzy

My New Buddy!

... his name is Asolo! Sounds like something from Star Wars, no? I might alter it slightly... to Captain Solo.

In all seriousness though (...even though I'm totally serious when I say my backpack's name is Captain Solo, or Asolo, depending on my mood)... I love my backpack. It's so light, yet durable. Or at least, I think it's durable - that's yet to be seen I suppose. It's perfect as far as I'm concerned. There's enough room to fit a couple light outfits in, has 2 (!!) detachable daypacks; the top comes off and is like a huge fanny pack, but I wear it like a messenger bag, and on the front is a super tiny backpack, or hydration pack. It's made for girls, so the waist sits really nice, and it a good size for my somewhat small upper body and shoulders.

Well, here is an actual description and picture of my bag. Adam's packpack can be seen here. For some reason, his looks much smaller than mine in these pictures, but his is actually bigger (and heavier, unfortunately).

Stayin' Bizzy!!

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"When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money."

~Susan Heller~

Ramping up...

We spent this last weekend rummaging through two year’s worth of belongings and organizing various piles – the Salvation Army pile – the "my friend would probably want this" pile – the "oops, I forgot to give this back to my sister" pile – the "what the hell is this?" pile… you get the picture. Its funny how some things you never see until you’re packing up to move somewhere else. I have this Swedish love knot that my nana gave me several years ago, and I wont throw it out. I have empty jewelry boxes from when I was really little that I've just always hung onto. I realized that for whatever unimportant reason you hang on to certain things for, most likely laziness, after a while it’s the mere principal of never letting it go that becomes the reason why you don’t let it go, ever. I mean, I don’t think I’d ever miss those empty jewelry boxes, heck, I don’t even know where most of them came from in the first place, but there they are… in a box marked bedroom.

I think I did a way better job at "freeing" myself this time around of pointless “things” – because that’s all they really are, just things. I’ve had some pretty great memories over the past few years in this little apartment – I don’t need much more than that anyway.

With that said, we have storage booked for the first of May, which gives us an entire month to stow away our apartment, instead of rushing near the end. Best news is, it’s a block away from us! Oh, and not to mention... and maybe most important (obviously the most important!) – our tickets are officially booked! On the way there, we fly from Halifax – Toronto – Frankfurt (exciting!!) – to Dublin! On the way back we fly from Paris – Montreal – into Halifax. I feel like the plane ride there will be one of the most exciting parts!!

That’s probably an exaggeration... I'm just way too excited...!

Keep Bizzy

Toothpaste for Dinner

I have an unhealthy obsession with Toothpaste for Dinner.

I just...... can't...... STOP!!!

Free Skool Links

Being an e-zine founder (Halifax Retro), and a follower of the Halifax Media Co-op, I'm always on the lookout for similar organizations and networks that produce free newsworthy articles and social/ political commentary.

I came across two great websites today that coincide with the purpose and values of Halifax Retro in many respects - offering a symbiotic network of social, political, environmental research and critique.

• openDemocracy
• Globalresearch.ca

Take notice of the new section on my sidebar for these links... fancy!

Keep Bizzy!

Fat Tax

This infuriates me.

"Tax sugar drinks to fight obesity, authors say" (??!!)

Give me a break! Taxing sugared drinks? Yes, this is the answer -- of course! Because a 10% tax on a Red Bull is going to influence the decision of someone who already pays the rediculous prices for caffein drinks anyway, right? You mean, I have to pay $3.30 instead of $3.00? Just like keeping marijuana an illigal substance prevents people from getting it? Or raising taxes on cigarettes prevents people from smoking? Because that's exactly what the government wants - the tabacco industry to decrease! Riiiiight... I forgot that the government doesn't depend on taxes - it's probably the cause of all these objective news articles I've been reading.

....please forgive the sarcasm. Obviously this tax ordeal isn't about anyone's health, or their grocery bills. Taxpayers are not the ones benefiting here in the least. It's actually the complete opposite.

Great spin, CBC.

A more appropriate title?

"Fat Tax: Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures".

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My Little Guardian

I have a little mouse that hangs around my desk at work.

I’ve never seen him, but I know he’s somewhere close by. I had a supply of trail mix and granola inside my desk a few months ago and one day I picked it up out of my drawer and a steady stream of mix fell through the bottom. I then thought I could prevent this from happening again by keeping my hot chocolate on top of my desk, and in a cloth bag.

But when I came into work this morning, my little mousy friend chewed through the bag and must be on one hell of a sugar rush today. Judging by the little teeth marks, he’s only a teeny one.

I haven’t told anyone in the office. We have each others' back's.

And he might be good luck!

~Keep Bizzy~ (like my little mouse friend and me!)

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“It's true that every time you hear a bell, an angel gets its wings. But what they don't tell you is that every time you hear a mouse trap snap, an angel gets set on fire."

Jack Handy

Zeitgeist

A couple nights ago, I had the hardest time going to sleep, and it was due to none other than another controversial documentary I had watched, this time being Zeitgeist Addendum.

I understand that this type of thing has to be taken with a grain of salt – even though in this particular case, I do believe that many of the lines they’ve drawn carry a lot of validity. Even if not for the exact theories they’ve concluded, but simply for the possibility of them being related at all, in any measure. It’s interesting to investigate these types of things, and I’ve done my fair share of discovery on various socio-political alternative theories in the past little while, to say the least.

It wasn’t the logical Biblical translations, or the corrupt government facts and hypothetical theories that bothered me necessarily. It was more due to the running concept that they incorporated throughout, and referenced for the most part, called The Venus Project. It seemed logical at first, but ultimately manifested an inevitable realization that whichever side you’re on, we are headed in one direction.

The Venus project is basically a ‘social design” that eliminates politics, poverty, and war because it eliminates measures of power such as our current monetary system - and focuses on creating a “resource based economy”.

“When education and resources are made available to all people without a price tag, there would be no limit to the human potential. Although this is difficult to imagine, even the wealthiest person today would be far better off in a resource based society as proposed by The Venus Project. Today the middle classes live better than kings of times past. In a resource based economy everyone would live better than the wealthiest of today.

In such a society, the measure of success would be based on the fulfillment of one's individual pursuits rather than the acquisition of wealth, property and power.”

My insomnia, as mentioned earlier, did not stem from the introduction of such a complex philosophy, but was more based on the realization that maybe Aldous Huxley wasn’t far off. If this is the polar opposite, and most radical adversary of what they claim the world is heading towards anyway, aren’t we going to be living in a fish bowl regardless? I was left wondering if Disney’s Wall-E was just an inevitable destination, as opposed to a surreal fantasy. Disney seems to have a knack for romanticizing tragedies in history, such as Pocahontas, why would their future predictions be any less skewed, yet revealing?

Also check out Zeitgeist the Movie. It's another take on traditional social acceptances.

Keep Bizzy!!

Pleasure > Pain

So I made a promise to myself at the beginning of our Eurotrip planning, that I would not let anything stress me out too much, because the last thing I’d ever want to do is ruin a once in a lifetime opportunity by worrying about futile details (which I’m extraordinarily good at, unfortunately). Alas, here I am on a Monday afternoon in a total sweat over where I'm going to rest my weary head when I step foot onto Canadian soil again - at least until Adam and I can find another apartment anyway - which would require about a 3 week temporary stay somewhere (anywhere!) in the median. My good friend Alana (Japan-A-Lana) is off teaching English in Japan, as of last Sunday - so that’s out. I have a few more options this far, but the not-knowing kills me! Not the best characteristic to have when traveling the world on a shoestring budget I suppose…!

I’ve decided that I must accomplish a little something everyday to prepare for Europe - so I’m not rushing near the end. Tonight I’m inquiring about a hepatitis vaccine and tetanus shot – two important precautions to acquire before any foreign trip. I’m a little hesitant about vaccines in general, but sometimes, I think, you have to pick your poison. Or, in other words, oh! the things I’d do to enjoy just one croissant and cup of gourmet coffee on a quaint café balcony dans la Paris!

soyez occupé !

Secret Unveiled: EUROTRIP 2009!!!

I’ve mentioned in prior posts, a certain foreshadowing that I’ve been up to something lately. The reason why I’ve bee packing, is clearly because I'm moving out of my very first apartment. We’ve lived here for two years, post graduating, and a lot of things have happened while I’ve been here. We’ve gone camping in Cape Breton twice, went to Quebec City on our one year anniversary (over a year ago now!), raised a little Siamese kitty, started an environmental publication, started a website, we’ve moved out of here for a month because our living room was flooded. Now we're leaving it all behind in 2 months. But that’s not all…

We're backpacking Europe for 3 months – from June- Sept!! It’s one of the most adventurous and craziest things I’ve ever embarked upon, or even thought about, but there’s nothing else in the world I would want to do more at this point in my life. The reason why I couldn’t uncover my secret for so long was due to the fact that we both needed to see what our current work situation would be like after coming back. I mean – I’ve personally never heard of anyone taking a few months off from work to do something like this. After talking with my HR department, they even seemed a little skeptical (but still positive), that I would be able to ask for such a thing from my boss. But I did. Because I knew if I didn’t, I’d regret it forever. Everything I need from my company by means of permission is so far signed, sealed, and delivered!

Not only that, the reason for this trip is not only to take in a completely surreal experience, but we are volunteering through Wwoof. Wwoof is a volunteering network that stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms!

The seedling for this adventure was planted when we began Halifax Retro, during the summer of last year (2008). The thought that we could be this creative and free in a time when it seemed like society itself was, and still is, on the brink of an economic and political collapse, globally speaking, provided a feeling of urgency and independance. I had heard about the Wwoofing program a few years ago, and started to do some research. Learning how to be more sustainable, and how to survive without the complete reliance on corporate food or provisions, became a new deep-seated value that we took very seriously. It’s all about DIY, after all. Last July, as always, we were camping in Cape Breton, which never seizes to bring us a lot closer to nature in a physical and spiritual sense. On our particular campsite, they offered little outdoor seminars during the night, on the Boreal forest, wildlife, etc. The idea of learning within a natural environment felt right.

As the summer turned to fall, and as Halifax Retro hit the streets, Europe seemed increasingly possible, because we overcame the improbable at that point - Halifax Retro inspired us to believe that any goals which probably seemed outlandish from the beginning, were possible if you really wanted it to be. It was all an evolution. Now it’s something that has to be done – it’s too ingrained in our minds not to.

Up until this point, it had been all talk really. We had a plan, but nothing was concrete. But now, we have our Wwoofing memberships, our tickets booked (flying into Dublin, and out of Paris), we have our backpacks (which I will post later!), our tent, and as I stated earlier, we’re packing – this apartment has served it’s purpose, but paying rent while away isn’t really plausible.

And that’s the long and the short of it, but now that it’s unveiled – expect frequent updates!!

Jackie + Adam + Halifax Retro = EUROPE ADVENTURE 2009!

~Keep Bizzy!!~

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“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain