Insured

I am well aware of the fact that I am a guest in this lovely country that lies just to the south of my own. A happily employed, gratefully health-insured alien of a guest.

Yeah, I'm officially an "alien". If you look up alien in the dictionary, the first entry (at least in the dotcom version) explains that alien is simply the opposite of citizen. Nevertheless, it still makes me giggle.

But yes: a guest. And as such, I try to be discreet about my feelings regarding the country in which I reside.

Oh yeah - there is no longer any confusion about my status as a non-resident-for-tax-purposes versus my incredibly incorrect ignorance regarding my status as a resident-for-immigration-purposes. I am a full-on, legitimate resident of the U.S. now: taxes, customs, immigration, health, body, mind, soul and vehicular warranty limitations. (Uh, hey GM - 36k miles is way less than 60k km, you know. For the record.) The good news: no more getting yelled at by angry customs officers who are obviously just bitter about being stuck in the basement of the Dallas-Fort Worth airport signing off on weary through-travellers' customs forms rather than getting to work the Mexico border in Laredo where the tequila confiscation is much easier to accomplish.

I so digress.

Right. Where was I? Oh yeah. I'm a guest, and I try not to diss this country too often, at least not so much in this public-forum-stylish place. But sometimes I just can't help myself.

I think it is fair of me to estimate that the majority of you are Canadians (after all, I have a site-meter... shhh... don't tell), and my main message here is for you: I want you to stop complaining about the health system in Canada. I know it has flaws, but... well...

Oh just read on.

Last week while eating my lunch in the break room of the hangar, one of guys who works there asked me about my status as a Canadian and how it affects my health insurance while I'm working in the U.S., and did I actually have insurance here?

At the risk of sounding like Dwight Schrute:

Fact. No Canadian is allowed to set foot in the U.S. on a legitimate visa without American health insurance.
Fact. For two years we kept our Ontario health cards active, because, well... it made us feel good.
Fact. We allowed our Ontario health cards to laspe because we are trying to cut our residential ties with Canada because... um. Well, we're tired of paying for health insurance in two countries, when we really only live in one.
Fact. If we moved back to Canada, our Canadian health coverage would kick in after three months. I have no idea what we would have to do in the interim. That is only slightly disturbing, but it seems that my instinctive response to not knowing something that may or may not be important is to hope and pray that it won't be important.

I tend to avoid worrying about things that may never need to be worried about. I find I can worry about those just fine if and when the time to worry ever comes. I know I know... can't add hairs to your head... yeah yeah.

Wow, I digress.

I replied to the break room question that yes, I need to have health insurance here, and that yes, I'm with Kaiser (Permanente - for those of you who have seen Sicko, and I'm afraid I haven't yet, I believe that Michael Moore discusses Kaiser as the big bad wolf of HMOs. Oh goody for us.) Kaiser is one of the four health care options that we have at my workplace. The options, as laid out, were as follows:

option 1) Cigna premium. You want good health care? Okay. Give us your firstborn.

option 2) Cigna middle-of-the-road. You want decent health care with a nice name? Okay. Give us half of your firstborn.

option 3) Cigna worst-case-scenario. You want to pay for everything until you've paid $5000? And then we'll pay the rest, even though you've already run back to your home country 'cause WOW things got bad. Okay. Give us $5, and then go away until you've reached your deductible.

option 4) Kaiser's just-under-middle-of-the-road. You want decent health care? You want to constantly see commercials on TV telling you how good your health care provider is? Okay. Give us 1/4 of your firstborn.

And so we're with Kaiser. (Option 3 would be good if we could actually afford $5000/year in the event of a tragedy, but that's too risky for us.)

The little break room question turned into a little discussion on American versus Canadian health care blah blah blah, and at the end of the conversation I realized why I fundamentally despise private health systems:

Health insurance companies are businesses. Their goal? Make a profit. Even if Canadians paid more money for their health care (hidden in their taxes, rather than overtly stripped from their paychecks every two weeks) than Americans, which, according to many sources, they don't, then at least they wouldn't be helping some stuffed-shirt CEO of some hideous very-much-for-profit company get even more filthy rich.

Right now I'm resisting an urge to change my last sentence to use the word "paycheques".

I, personally, would much rather give my money to a government institution (flawed though it may be) and have said institution dole out said money for my medical treatment than hand over the same money to a company whose main concerns are to (a) keep their shareholders happy and (b) stay in business.

Not the health and well-being of their customers?

No.

Unfortunately, I don't have a choice, living where I am, and I am forced to pay into a Kaiser health insurance plan to the tune of ~$180/mo.

Have I had issues getting something covered with them? Umm... yes, but fortunately, it doesn't involve life or death, and it doesn't involve something that has already happened, and thus needs to be paid for by someone. Something like this incredibly well-written, but oh-man-I-feel-her-pain story. I know. It's a long read, and I've already blabbered on for a good 10 minutes, but especially for you Canadians I think it's good for you to understand just how good you've got it.

Maple Leafs forever

We just received a lovely surprise in a package from Shannon. It is a little big, but that just means that there is plenty of room for the shoulder pads. Or for growing. Whichever comes first.

I love the ensemble - it rained earlier, so the boots had already been fetched for some serious puddle-stomping.

Want to trade citizenships?

Boulder has a reputation for being the People's Republic of Boulder so it isn't unusual for me to hear someone asking if I wouldn't mind trading citizenships. More often than not people can be heard saying, "He's not my President." It really makes me feel like I'm back home actually. The disturbing thing is that most of the Christians I have met voted for W - twice. (Insert question of your choice - Why? What were you thinking? Are you insane? Oh?)

Most people would agree that much of the world now sees Americans as arrogant, forceful and incapable of cooperation. Why has this happened? There is no doubt that the foreign policies of the government created this attitude. And this is why on Sunday a lady at our church told us a story I'm sure we have all heard before. While in Europe last summer she put a Canadian flag patch on her bag in order to pass as a Canadian instead of being found out as an American. The Americans I have had the pleasure to get to know are kind, gracious people and if they feel that they need our protection while abroad we should just invite them north and make them citizens or we could just welcome a few states into the Dominion. Who says a one way trade has to be a bad deal?

Happy Birthday, Canada!

I'm exhausted, but before I head off to bed, I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Canada Day! I hope your day was as enjoyable as ours. We hosted a barbecue, had a wonderful time with some of our American friends, and we even had our Canadian buddy Tim here to celebrate with us. Tim, I'm so glad we were able to hang out with you for the weekend - you are a joy to have around!

Happy birthday to my favourite country.

Oh the irony.

As a former devotee to over-the-border shopping trips, 4 years ago this would have had me dancing in the streets of Toronto:

Canadian dollar surges to 30-year high at 91.58 cents in morning trading

Now? Um... not so much.

sigh.

Something Wonderful

In today’s headlines I saw a fun little story about the CBC encouraging Canadians to vote on the top 50 nominees for the “Seven Wonders of Canada”. I perused the options, and after some thought regarding what a wonder really is, I voted for the following:

1. Bay of Fundy
2. Niagara Falls
3. The Rockies
4. Northern Lights
5. Cabot Trail
6. Rideau Canal
7. CN Tower
   

I should mention that I didn't look at the criteria until after I voted, but when I read it afterwards, it certainly fit with what I had thought.

I suppose I grouped my choices by categories: numbers 1 through 4 fall into the “natural” wonder category, but are nevertheless widely-known Canadian marvels. Being "widely-known" was one of my personal criteria for selection. Many of the nominees may be regionally known, and perhaps that is good enough for some people, but I think that a Wonder of Canada should have enough attraction to have garnered significant attention already. I am quite partial to the Bay of Fundy - I've been to Moncton a couple times and have seen the (somewhat unimpressive) Tidal Bore and I've seen the (somewhat slightly-more impressive) Reversing Falls in Saint John. I've wandered around the flower pot islands during low tide. I've also ridden a ferry straight across the Bay from Saint John, NB to Digby, NS. But the most exciting time I've spent in the Bay of Fundy was on a whale watching tour based off Grand Manan Island in which Keith and I actually witnessed a right whale breach. Breathtaking.

Hmmm. Niagara Falls - it really is rather impressive. I'll give them that. I've been there once. I think I might have a couple pictures. Yes yes, we share Niagara with the US, but it is well known that the Canadian side is better. (Or is the view from Canada that is better?)

The Canadian Rockies. I've only ever seen them from above, but I live next to the American Rockies, and I hear the Canadian ones are even more beautiful. There are certainly less people in the Canadian Rockies. Being "uniquely Canadian" was one of my slightly less-vital criteria, but here I'm willing to cede that the Rockies are so vast that we can call them a Canadian wonder and still share them with the US.

The Northern Lights. I can probably count on my fingers the number of times I've seen this fascinating phenomenon, but at least I can say that I've seen them. For at least three of those, I was near Peterborough, and the other occasions were from no more than a three-hours' drive north of Toronto. The thought of the Northern Lights immediately makes me think of my friend Pete's recitation of Robert Service's The Cremation of Sam McGee back in grade 5. You can't get much more Canadian than this.

Numbers 5 and 6 are man-made wonders that contribute to our culture, while being rather uniquely Canadian. I don't have a lot to say about the Rideau Canal, except that I enjoyed watching Rick Mercer and Belinda Stronach skating on it back when she crossed the floor. The Cabot Trail, however, was certainly a highlight from our road trip to the Maritimes.

Finally, I picked the CN Tower because it is one of the most internationally recognizable man-made Canadian structure, and well, it is pretty amazing, don't you think?

Runners-up:

• Drumheller. I hadn’t heard of it before so it doesn't have the "widely-known" factor.
  
• Rankin Inlet Inuksuk. Inuksuks are just plain cool. This one came close.
• Cathedral Grove. 800-year-old trees deserve some recognition.
  

Asides:

• Confederation Bridge. This is just more of a convenience than a wonder.
  
• The Canoe. Also a wonderful piece of Canadian culture, but I just don't think a small, human-powered boat qualifies as a wonder. For the same reason, I also didn't spend much time considering the "Montreal Bagel."
• The Cup. Sorry... I love hockey, I really do. But I don't think a trophy should qualify as a wonder, either. Even though a part of me agrees that it is pretty awe-inspiring...
  
• (Prairie) Skies and (Saugeen Shores) Sunsets. While I realize that this might seem to be in the same category as the Northern Lights, there is something inherently mystic about the Aurora Borealis that befits its mythology for our First Nations people. The Northern Lights are also somewhat rare in Southern Ontario, which makes them more special in my opinion.

In the “you’ve got to be kidding me” category:

• Mum’s house in Scarborough – enough said.
• Narcisse Snake Dens. Yeah. That’s what I think about when I think about Canadian wildlife: garter snakes. Or maybe not.

So that's my take on the wonders. What about you? Have you voted? Do you take exception to my view of the badlands or the snake pits? Leave a comment and tell me what you would vote for and why.

Finally, here's a little contest: my blog entry title is from a favourite movie of mine. Can you guess which one?

Our home and native land...

At the end of the month, we will have been living in the US for two years. It's an occasion that will be marked by our 7th anniversary, celebrating memorial day, inviting some friends over for a backyard barbecue and perhaps even going on another 10K run (read: jog-walk).

Since living here, I've been asked many times by our family and Canadian friends how we enjoy living in the US. My replies often depend on my mood, but they typically range from "it's great!" when I'm loving my job and it's sweet travel perks, to "good... we love Colorado", when we've been out enjoying the great outdoors, to "we're really happy here" because it's just so darn pretty. I suppose I know that there is an expectation that we'd never say "gosh. It's horrid!" because goodness - why would we still be here? But truly, for the most part, it is great.

I still remember my first few months of lunchtime conversations at work. I frequently fell into the trap of whining about this or that missing from the grocery store, or local TV programming, or the news headlines. I honestly never meant to whine, but I genuinely missed things from Canada - my favourite cereal, or snack food, or eye-makeup remover, or Canadian TV show, or Tim's coffee, or my well-established credit rating, or ... geez, simply having a credit rating in the space above "null". I rarely meant for my whimpering to be insulting to my American colleagues, and I soon realized that I needed to just keep quiet and miss things to myself.

Over time, I found new cereals and new snack foods. I learned to make my own coffee. I got a social (security number), a credit card and a bank account, and my American credit rating started to grow. I learned to appreciate the local culture and rhythm. I started to take advantage of our prime location and began to explore the surroundings. I slowly settled into my new life as a resident of the US, even though I am officially a somewhat insulting-sounding "alien nonresident" for tax purposes.

But what I appreciated most about living in Canada has only been slowly occurring to me. Knowledge. I really miss the availability and ease of acquiring knowledge. I miss the prevalence of widespread knowledge. Simply put, I miss knowing things without trying to know them.

I work for a non-government government-funded institution. It is funded directly by an agency that falls directly under the office of the president. (I'll set aside my own personal feelings about this for now.) At this institution, we also write proposals and receive funding directly from other US government agencies. Simply put: the field of atmospheric sciences is strongly influenced by congress and the office of the president. When I learned this - which happened rather gradually - I naively concluded that 'surely it's not this uncertain in Canada!' I was dead wrong. After speaking to an old friend who now works for the esteemed and perpetually-renamed atmospheric program at Environment Canada, I learned that the funding situation for the Earth Sciences in Canada is not too different from the way it is here in the US. And it is likely just as dire.

It was eye-opening to me, this concept that there are important things about my own country of which I know NOTHING. I never needed to know these things - they simply weren't relevant to me while I was living there, employed as a simple graduate student, happily enjoying the flow of money that my graduate supervisor funneled my way.

I was reminded again of my growing Canadian ignorance this morning while I was reading A Walk In the Woods, a witty tale by writer Bill Bryson, who took a little hike on the Appalachian Trail and lived to talk about it. Early in the book, Bryson steps away from his personal account of the AT to talk about the irony of the US National Forest Service. Apparently, the Service wasn't established to protect the nations' woods, but rather to facilitate the exploitation of them in a fair and controlled manner. As I read this, my natural instinct was to fondly think of my fair Canada, who would never treat her forests so harshly... and then I suddenly realized that I really don't know what kind of history Canada has in regards to forestry and logging. I guess I missed that part somehow, when my grades 5 and 7 classes visited Dorset.

I don't even know where Dorset really is, aside from being on the receiving end of a 2-3 hour trip in a school bus.

You see, it's not that I expect to know these things, but it is odd to me that I'm learning things about another country that I don't even know about my own. This really isn't a new concept - as Canadians, we are exposed to world news on a regular if not daily basis. We are inundated with information flowing up from the US. We can't help but know things about the States. But as a Canadian living in the US, I have to be deliberately proactive to stay in tune with Canadian current events. The information simply doesn't flow in the other direction. For goodness' sake - they freak out over a Canadian quarter with a poppy down here.

So how do I like living in the US? It's great! We live in a beautiful place. We enjoy the local culture, and we have some great friends. But I honestly don't know what I'd do without my internet connection to home. I guess I'd simply fall into ignorance. Thankfully, that doesn't have to happen.

hi, i'm a u.s. army contractor and i'm a dumbass.

i occasionally read the toronto star online and i really had a hard time believing this story when i first saw it the other day. the story is a sad commentary on the state of paranoia that seems to be running rampant amoung the citizens of the united states of america. it appears that a contractor thought that our quarters were implanted with a nanotechnology-type spy device.

next time i cross the border on my way back to colorado i will have to remember to empty my pockets of my canadian spy gadgets.

I give you: the USAC

I bring you to a conversation I had with Kai while we were en route to the Oscar Party we attended last night. I'm driving, and Kai is in his car seat. (Keith is absent - he is at work on his second-last shift EVER at the very fancy kitchen store.) As we drive by the Baseline Reservoir:

Kai: Look, ice.

Me: Yes... it's very frozen, isn't it?

I notice a flock of water fowl near an opening in the water.

Me: Hey - do you see the ducks, Kai? Actually, those are Canada Geese. Do you see the Canada Geese, Kai?

Kai: I was born in Canada.

Me: That's right, buddy. You certainly were.

Kai: Do I live in Canada?

Me: No, Kai... we live in the United States of America.

Kai: I'm going to say... the United States of America {beat} Canada.

Me: [laughing] That's a great idea, Kai...

---

From the mouths of babes.

(I take little credit for his devotion to his native country, but I can at least relish in it.)

ah, the cbc is awesome

i don't know why i haven't done it before, but catching up on canadian tv is great. becky has been watching the rick mercer report online for sometime and i recently started watching it with her each tuesday night. it is such a great show, i especially look forward to watching his rants. we were able to meet him in 2001 when we were on a trip to the maritimes. linda (that's her with rick) was taping an episode in halifax of his made in canada show and we were able to be on the set during filming. he was a very gracious host while we were there and he encouraged us to extend our trip to newfoundland (his home province).

everyone needs to watch this show. especially you scott.

The true north strong and free... and warmer.

Get ready, kids! Tomorrow's the day.

No, I'm not talking about Groundhog Day, although that's an amusingly appropriate day for the event to which I am referring: the 2007 IPCC is going to be unveiled, and the language within is said to be the strongest ever. (And I quote from The Associated Press: "The most authoritative report on climate change is using the strongest wording ever on the source of global warming, saying it is 'very likely' caused by humans and already is leading to killer heat waves and stronger hurricanes, delegates who have seen the report said today.")

Aside: Kai's class had a vote yesterday on whether or not they want more winter, and 8 out of 13 said "more winter", including our kid. And it's not like we haven't had 8 weeks of it so far. I miss my lawn.

Back to the IPCC report: I'm not exactly surprised about either the wording or the recognition. Nevertheless, I'm sure many other Earth scientists will have a ear perked to learn the major bullet points that will be revealed, as well. For myself, and other atmospheric scientists, I'm curious to see what graphic will be overused for the next 5 years to demonstrate "weakest understanding" and/or "largest uncertainty." (They mean essentially the same thing.)

Incidentally, the big unknowns last time were the indirect effect of aerosols and the impact of "mineral dust" on global mean radiative forcing. Big big error bars on those ones. The best part is that we didn't even know which way the mineral dust error bars should go.

I digress.

Hey. I have an idea. I'll SHOW you.

Check this out:


Oh, also fun is the level of understanding for MOST of the chart: VERY LOW. That's great.

So hopefully tomorrow's report will show that we've made some progress.

Oh! Oh! I almost forgot (speaking about climate change and all): I read this article by Richard Gywn a couple days ago on the Toronto Star online and was immediately livid. Well, maybe livid is too strong a word. I was saddened. Why you ask?

Well. Let me explain. And I'll use bullet points to keep from going off on a big rant about how the Toronto Star should try to hire people who actually THINK about what they write before they go and send off little crappy excuses for copy to their editors. Oh. Right. Bullets.

• "Quite clearly, global warming is taking place. It's less clear just what forms it will take. Experts tacitly admit this by employing the ambiguous phrase "climate change" rather than the popular one of global warming." I know I covered this the last time I spoke on Global Warming/Climate Change, so I won't go into nitty gritty details, but let's just say "perhaps you could try get your facts straight, Mr. Gwyn, before you write down your random thoughts." It is rather clear that there is a lot more to climate change than just warming.
  

• "But the why – about Canadians' response to global warming – still needs to be asked. After all, Canadians account for less than 2 per cent of the globe's greenhouse gases. What we do, thus, contributes little to the problem and, at best, we can only marginally improve matters." OH. Excuse me... right. I forgot that Canada is a first-world country that is completely immune to the problems of the rest of the world. Forget Afghanistan. C'mon home, troops. Forget foreign aid. Forget the G8. We no longer care about other countries... especially those that aren't as vast and uncrowded and technologically advanced as our lovely country. Alright - I'll drop the sarcasm. Here's the thing - sure we only produce 2%, but if we look *per capita*, we're up there with the worst of them. And correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be great if Canada took the lead on this one? I highly doubt that Nigeria is on the cutting edge of fossil-fuel-free technology that will change the world. And maybe this is wishful thinking, but we may actually be able to influence the UNITED STATES, which just happens to be the worst greenhouse gas emitter. Just a thought.

• "Another reason to wonder about our sudden environmental awareness is that, although little attention has been paid to this, global warming will actually benefit Canadians, on balance. A warmer climate will lengthen our growing season and so expand our agricultural output. It will melt our Arctic ice, creating opportunities for speedier sea travel to Europe and Asia, and make it possible to increase exploitation of our northern resources. It will also reduce our death rate, which always increases during our winters." Oh my word. I don't even know where to START here. Has this guy been living in a ditch? Okay. I'll break this one down. Melted Arctic Ice. I for one, might actually MISS the polar bears. Remember them? Yeah... they need sea ice for hunting. I admit, I'm not a biologist, but I can't see a *lack* of arctic sea ice being a good thing for them. Speedier travel. What, for oil tankers? Increased exploration of our northern resources. Right... not to mention increased insect infestation, malaria, dengue fever... sounds great. Reduced death rate. Okay, I'll give you the fact that there were less vehicular deaths in Ontario this past December because the roads were less snowy than usual, but... again, correct me if I'm wrong, I believe that people die during heat waves, too. Seriously, sir, warmer doesn't necessarily mean less deaths.

• "As a rich country, we are far better situated to cope with climate change's negative effects than is a poor one, like Bangladesh." Oh for Pete's sake. For THIS reason we shouldn't worry about climate change? Mr. Gwyn, did you even read this over before you submitted it?

• "Combating global warming is the ultimate collective cause. It's about doing good, not just to ourselves but to our grandchildren. It's about doing good not to and for just our own country, but to the globe itself." Blink blink. Okay, Rich, you make ONE good point, but the tone with which you make it is... icky. And I recognize that *perhaps* the tone of the entire article was to make people think about the REASONS they are suddenly so interested in the global good when it comes to climate change, but there were too many damaging notions presented earlier to make this jump into the opposite realistic. Climate Change isn't just a feel-good cause to throw our energies into. The way Gwyn writes, we need to have a cause and since no others are to be found right now, we'll make global warming our cause. I'm sorry. It's just not that flippant.

Okay, so I might not have been able to mask my ire, but where else but here should I let my true feelings out?

So I wasn't actually going to present this at all, but while I flipping through the virtual pages of the Star today I found a link to this and all became right with the world. Well, for now. Enjoy.

Thoughts on Action

Photo courtesy of First People

This post started as a lengthy comment on BubandPie's last post, but as I was writing it, I was concerned that it might not reach as many people if it is buried under 16 other comments, so I transposed it to my, er... somewhat recently increasingly frequently-visited blog. (Is it legal to string that many adverbs together?)

Anyhow, I was commenting because there have been a number of people responding to me and B&P that they, too, are concerned about our climate, but feel kind of like I did: "now what?" So here's what I came up with:

/comment mode on

I think one of the most important things we as individuals can do is to communicate our concerns with our MPs, congressmen and women, senators, MPPs, etc. They are our elected officials, and it is their job to care about the concerns of their constituents. Both Canada and the US are going through rather chaotic times politically, which means that having an ear for the public is crucial.

Contact your MP/congressman/woman/etc. and tell them that you are concerned about global warming/climate change, and that you want to see stronger initiatives being implemented. The "Clean Air Act" in Canada is really a joke, people. Something needs to be done SOON, not by 2050. We need to put pressure on the policy makers to turn things around over the next decade.

I'm very encouraged in the US over the decision to put polar bears on the "threatened" list. That means that there are arms/factions in the Government (US, primarily here) that are listening to the concerns of scientists and environmentalists. We need to encourage them to keep it up.

/comment mode off

It's a start. I'll let you know if I come up with anything else...

Soapbox Revisited

I know I don't live in Ontario, but an innate need to know what's happening at home combined with the pathetic lack of reporting in the US on the World Junior Hockey Championships prompted me to check out the online version of The Toronto Star yesterday. I happened upon a couple interesting articles that address Global Warming. Which brings me to my aside:

---
Global Warming v. Climate Change.

Last night there was nothing [interesting] on TV. I wandered around the usual On Demand options and found a couple Daily Show clips. In one clip I was naively surprised to learn that there are some people who think that the term Climate Change is a right-wing spin on Global Warming, presumably to make it sound more benign. Noncommittal. Uncertain.

I'm not going to claim I know the entire history of both terms, but I can tell you one thing: in the geosciences the more generally accepted term is Climate Change. Even though global warming was used first, it is now understood that climate change caused by human activities, or climate forcing, may result in not simply an overall warming; some areas may actually cool. But there are other effects beyond temperature changes: increased droughts in some areas, increased severe weather in others, changes to the salinity of oceans, and possibly even drastic changes to ocean circulation (and hence the possibility for very drastic temperature changes, positive and negative.)

Change is a little more all-encompassing than warming.

But I do realize that the general public is more familiar with global warming. I can live with that. No worries.
---

Back to the Star. The first article I found paints a rather descriptive picture of what life will be like in 2050. It is rather grim (as the title of the article suggests), but it is also sadly quite realistic. The second article I found was a book review for Hell and High Water by Joseph Romm which I think I might have to read. It sounds like an interesting take on both the political and scientific aspects of climate change. I recommend reading the articles if you have 20 minutes.

Finally, as Meg mentioned, and as has happened many times over the last year (hottest on record), the past month of warm weather in Ontario has made many people think seriously about global warming. As most conservative (and I use the term literally, not politically) scientists warn, however, one shouldn't assume that all warming trends are proof of global warming. It very well may be directly caused by climate change, but the obvious pitfall to this kind of thinking is that the next cooling trend could cause doubts into the legitimacy of global warming.

We're a cautious bunch, us scientific types. Maybe that's our collective downfall.

Imported Goodness

I just finished off the second bag of Lay's Ketchup Chips that our friend Chris brought to us yesterday. As a kid, these were definitely a favourite of mine. He tried to find Hostess for me because they're, well, better... but as Shannon informed me recently, they are getting more and more scarce. Sad. The Lay's were sufficiently tasty, though.

As I was wandering around the internet, trying to find out whether or not Ketchup chips (and dill pickle chips?) are another of those "uniquely Canadian" treats, I found this little gem. I suppose that in a world where you can buy almost anything on e-bay, getting Canadianish items shipped to the US shouldn't be too surprising. Oh the nostalgia! Vector "meal replacement" cereal, Kraft peanut butter, Tim Horton's coffee, Chipits, Bick's relish, Malt bread... but wait. There are a lot of things that I can have shipped to me, for only the cost of shipping + $5 "handling" that I can get here in my local grocery store. Kraft Dinner? Not Canadian. Oreos? Pretty sure you can get those here. Reese peanut butter cups? Last time I checked, they're EVERYWHERE.

So these people are scamming us a little. Maybe the recipes for some of the items are just a little different. (Canadians aren't as addicted to high fructose corn syrup as the yanks.) Maybe some people really miss having French on their packaging. For now, we'll just sweetly ask our friends and family to bring us the many items that we miss from home.

Remember

Memories of the whirlwind

We are back at home. Got here last night around 8 pm local time. Unloaded the van, plugged in the adapter and phone, called the parents, put the kid to bed, picked up the dog, unpacked a few items, went to bed in our own beds. It was nice...

Our trip ended with a very LONG car ride that we forced into two days, with a stop halfway in Columbia, Missouri. Keith and I both got two new states during the trip - Missouri and Kansas, and Kai picked up three - MO, KS and Ohio. The kid is 3, and already he's been in 10 states! The drive was pretty uneventful, but we got to watch a very cool storm to the south of us as we left Kansas and travelled across eastern CO. Thankfully, the only rain we got was as we drove down the hill of CO 36 coming into Boulder... and it's been raining ever since. I can't complain. We get somewhere between 5 and 10 days per year of "all-day-rain", and we've been having drought-like conditions for the last month(s?), so it's good for our reservoirs. Bad for flooding, but that's another story.

A snippit of conversation from the trip:

Keith and Me: blah blah blah Toronto blah blah blah

Kai: I was born in Toronto, Canada.

Keith and Me: that's right, Kai.

Me: And do you know what that makes you, Kai? You were born in Canada, so you are a ...

Kai: a HOCKEY PLAYER!

Me: uh... well, sure... you could be... but sadly that's not um... innate. you kind of have to work on that one.

So Canada was good to us. We haven't actually counted the number of people (friends, family, and old colleagues) that we saw, but it was pretty high. A little overwhelming at times, but we still didn't get to see everyone that we would have liked to have seen. It was nice to be in Canada for Canada Day, and it was fun seeing Kai experience a bunch of new things. Some highlights, in pictoral form:

Kai got to sit inside Bob Frank's Massey Ferguson tractor, which happened to be attached to a John Deere Round Baler. VERY exciting! (Kai's excited face is a little on the "mildly intrigued" side. We know that he's really excited about something when his mouth is a little pursed and he becomes super-observant. It doesn't really scream excitement, but it's there.)

Then he got to ride a bunch of rides at Centreville, on Centre Island in Toronto, including the old fashioned fire trucks, a few boat rides (including a swan boat), and his very first roller coaster! He did say afterwards that the roller coaster was a little too fast... Sometimes I'm not so sure he's my kid.

On our last full day in Canada, we went to the Greenview Aviaries near Blenheim, which is actually a pretty big zoo with a big playground attached to it. My favourite was the ostriches. Those things are WEIRD.

It was a good vacation. Lots of catching up, lots of relaxing, lots of activities, and lots of berry picking/eating (mmmmmm... strawberries...) :

I guess I should actually unpack our belongings now... but that can wait until tomorrow. (Ah... laundry.)

oh canada

well we have been back in canada for five days now and it feels great (except the humidity, although it hasn't been that bad).

right now we are in barrie. not much seems to have changed, some new construction here and there but that can be expected. it doesn't feel like we are on a real vacation because of the visits with family and friends. it just feels like we are at each place for a long weekend.

kai has had fun playing with all of the kids we have been visiting with; their playtime together hasn't skipped a beat.

yesterday we went to a local farm and picked strawberries. kai had a blast. nancy (grandma) showed him how to pick the berries but he was intent on staying with becky as they moved down the row. at one point she moved over a row and instead of walking through the row of strawberries he went all the way to the end of the row and as he walked up behind me politely said "excuse me dad, i need to get to mom." as he passed by me, he was carring his basket with all of the berries he had picked. he carried that basket all the way to the van, never letting anyone help him. as we were riding on the wagon back to the parking lot i asked him how many berries he ate, he replied "three".

Banff Mountain Film Festival

Something really strange happened this week: Keith and I got a babysitter for Kai TWICE in three days! It was one of those coincidental things. On Sunday evening a friend of mine from ACCESS (Atmospheric Chemistry Colloquium of Emerging Senior Scientists - a.k.a. free schmoozing trip to Yellowstone and Big Sky) who has been in Boulder for 6 weeks wanted to go out for drinks with all the Boulder ACCESSories one last time before she moved to Berkeley. Then last night, Keith and I went to the first of two Boulder showings of films from the Banff Mountain Film Festival. No, we aren't going tonight, but I am curious to find out what films they will show.

A quick run-down of the films we saw last night:

Soul Flying or High Fly Summits (France) - a film about some rather insane skydivers who don suits with webbing between their arms and legs and between their legs and skim down the slopes of Mount Fuji and Mont Blanc before opening their parachutes. It was entertaining, but likely my least favourite of the evening for lack of production quality.

Person as Projectile (USA) - a fairly short film about the art of falling while skiing. The skier in the film skies off cliffs and falls anywhere from 20 m to more than 140 m, landing on his back, and *most* of the time he continues to ski down the hill. The post-production is what made this film worthy.

The Magic Mountain (Canada) - a 50 min film about a Canadian woman, Cynthia Hunt, the founder of HEALTH (Health, Environment and Literacy in the Himalayas) who is working in Ladakh, northwest India. The film is very inspiring, but seemed a little out of place.

Balancing Point (USA) - a film by a local Boulder filmmaker showing the "reverse destruction" of balanced rock sculptures. This was certainly one of the most creative films of the evening.

Harvest Moon (USA) - a 39 min film about a Swiss expedition to climb Thalay Sagar (22,650 ft.) in the Himalaya of northern India. Definitely a nail-biter. I have no desire to do technical climbing in the Himalaya.

The Hatch (USA) - a 17 min film about the time once a year at the Gunnison river (southwest of Boulder) where millions of 1 1/2" long salmon flies hatch and the salmon bite at anything with reckless abandon, and about the fight against allowing the river to be dammed. In terms of production quality, this was one of the best films of the evening. In terms of making me interested in something I had nearly NO interest in prior to last night, it was certainly the best film. Gunnison isn't far from here... and Keith has fly fishing gear. If it wasn't for the flies swarming all over everyone, I'd be there!

Solilochairliftquist (USA) - a 4 min film about the musings of a skier on a chairlift in Telluride, CO. Kudos for the best title of the evening. This was definitely the funniest film of the evening, with the audience in stitches during almost the entire 4 minutes. This is one that I'd love to see again.

So as you can see, there were a number of American films, at least three of which were from here in Colorado... I seem to remember the festival showings that I've been to in Toronto being a little more... international. Anyhow, as I said earlier, I'm curious to hear which films are played tonight.

I knew I voted liberal for a reason

I'm a big fan of midwifery, as many of you know. I wasn't brave enough to attempt a home birth, and as it turned out, due to minor complications I would have had to go to the hospital to have Kai after all. Regardless, I was very pleased with my entire midwifery experience (pre-, mid- and especially post-delivery) and am grateful to a couple friends who spent time sharing their personal midwifery experiences with me. I, in turn, would strongly recommend to anyone that she consider the midwife option, and that she do so early in her pregnancy (i.e. immediately after the stick she pees on gives the appropriate sign) as there is a generally a high demand for midwives. Which brings me to why I'm writing...

I just read a short article in the Toronto Star indicating that the Ontario government is going to hire 50 new midwives to "address the growth of midwifery in the province". Although it was suggested that part of the motivation is that births attended by midwives result in lower average hospital stays for mothers and newborns, thus a financial incentive, I'm pleased to see the Ontario government is noticing that the demand for midwifery is growing. I doubt 50 midwives will have a big impact on the overall system, but it's a step in the right direction and it will make a difference for many women who would otherwise be turned away.