Personal Env Impact Rpt

The Personal Environmental Impact Report or PEIR is a real breakthrough and I must say, I am blown away by the advancements in air emission studies. Producing an inventory or mapping of air emission in a region or country seems like a thing of the past. By exploiting the capabilities of GPS, carbon footprint calculators and applications in telecommunications, participatory sensing has emerged as a method whereby everyone can have a hand in tackling Climate Change.

However, being in this country where highways are built overnight in established residential areas, my hopes and concerns for Climate Change and potential health hazards has hit rock bottom again.

Working from home: good & bad

Good:

• Working hours are flexible: You don't necessarily have to sleep early the night before because there is no such thing as getting to work on time. You can start as and when you feel like
  
• The dress code is flexible: a torn T-shirt, shorts, pyjamas, barefooted, you don't even have to comb your hair, brush your teeth cause the only contact with the outside world you'll ever have is via the internet or the phone
  
• Lunch breaks are flexible: You may go out for one, two or even three hours for lunch + shopping, no worries!
• No supervision: You can work for ten minutes, play online games for 3 hours, do your laundry, take a nap, play catch with your dog, watch tv - Heck! You can work in front of the TV the whole day!
  
• Breakfast: You don't have to worry about the morning traffic, missing the bus or the train, you can have breakfast and read the morning paper in peace
• Environment: You can work at home, at the nearest Starbucks, at your boyfriends place, the ice cream parlour, be adventurous - pick one day in a week where you work somewhere other than home
  
• It reduces your carbon footprint as you don't have to travel to and from work *pat on back*
  

Bad:

• Boredom: Hrmmmph!
  
• Your productivity rate largely relies on personal discipline.
  
• The family expects you to do all chores, since you're at home all day anyway.
• You constantly need to fight evil distractions: you convince yourself you need a break from the monotony and you end up baking (for hours), your friends who brilliantly invite you out for happy hours, unnecessary surfing, online shopping, watching soaps on tv
• You get tired of staying at home and jump at any opportunity to get out of the house!

My Bekal

They used to laugh at me when I brought a 'bekal' to work. I packed my lunch every chance I got, not because I couldn't afford to eat out, but at one point in my working life, I got sick of outside food. On busy days, lunch was a chore. You'd have to think of what to eat, where to eat, where to park, you'd have to wait for your food, order something that won't make you doze off at work, etc. And I was always against packing food from a shop as I wanted to reduce the use of Styrofoam and plastic bags. Plus, think of the health risks of putting boiling hot soup in a plastic bag or hot noodles in Styrofoam packaging!

And of course, I packed my 'bekal' in Tupperware. I plead for everyone of you to do so too, not the resealable plastic bags or Saran wrap as these are often used only once before it is discarded. If you are indeed all out to green the earth, try using stainless steel products i.e. KidsKonserve, although you can easily obtain these goods (it is so common here) should you be living in this part of the world.

Hamster Wheel

It's simply genius, like how a dynamo lights up when you pedal your bicycle. Back to basics!

The Green Microgym.

By generating electricity and conserving space and energy, The Green Microgym is one of the only fitness facilities in the world running on some of its own power. We've opened a gym in Portland, Oregon that uses a combination of solar and human power and is just as comfortable and effective as any other gym.

Can't they add a bracket to the 's'?

marketingly.com

Scribbles

Fortunately, still legible! Phewph!


Mum, remember it's to taste. And don't forget to add lime juice!

I was looking through my mother's old recipe books yesterday to see if there is anything interesting and easy enough for me to cook/bake (always ambitious) on my ample free time. I noticed that some pages were scribbled on by one of us - out of the three, we don't know who did it. I showed it to my brother and he laughed and insisted it wasn't him, I have yet to ask my sister although I doubt if anyone can remember if they ruined Mum's recipe books!

Loving sCRAP?

(A page from my scrapbook. New Asia Bar-Vicky's birthday)

When I'm not knitting, I'm working on my scrapbook. To date, I think I've spent a considerable amount of money purchasing paper and other material just to feed my hobby.

Oh, before that, I must thank Ranga for the rolls of scrap paper he so generously gave me one day. I haven't had time to use it all - I haven't even had time to use the stuff that I bought...and I keep buying! Gosh!

The other day during lunch break, I was roaming Cold Storage for my usual Sunkist O.J. when I saw stickers! Puffy alphabet stickers -SGD2.95. I told my colleague I was going to get them and she goes "STICKERS? Why? For your cousin?" I proudly replied "No, for myself =)"

I also receive Scrapbooks etc. magazines (only RM9.90 each - subscription thanks to Praveen) which is a great thing to have if you are interested in Scrapbooking. The website is great as well, watch the videos and get layout ideas for every occasion. It is quite challenging to figure out a suitable layout - it's not as simple as buying an empty album, putting in your 3R photos and pasting stickers. You could, however, do this very easily with lovely albums from Prints.

Should anyone want to produce a scrapbook as a gift, but is not interested in the whole 'putting it together' concept, do contact me and I'll be oh-so happy to make you a scrapbook (or perhaps, knit you a scarf) - just pass me your photos! And ask me now, before I get a job that will suck the life out of me..........................................

Bind Off

I always wanted to learn how knit. When I was young (probably 6 or 7), Mum taught me but I was far from interested. I remember being so afraid to tell her because I was afraid I'd hurt her feelings. Eventually, I told her anyway and she was cool about it - phewph!

It was almost winter in Sydney and Anita was busy knitting. I made her teach me how to knit a scarf so I trotted off to the city and bought yarn from this huge haberdashery shop located within the Pitt Street Mall (I can't recall the name - if I'm not mistaken, it is Lincraft).

She patiently taught me the basics- Bind On and Bind Off and the purl stitch. I had a full scarf by winter which I wore everywhere!

When I got back to KL, I found wool and yarn at home and decided to pick up knitting again. I was almost done with my scarf and I totally forgot how to end it.

I found this instructional video on how to Bind Off (as attached). It is much easier to watch a video than to learn how to do it by reading a booklet. I recommend theknitwitch for clear and easy to understand instructional knitting videos.