Giving back through Kiva

A while ago, a friend asked me what I wanted for Christmas. This is always a tough one because I want stuff but at the same time, I don't like having so much stuff. That and I don't really need anything else usually. Anything I would want, would just be that -stuff I want but not need.

So she got me $25 on Kiva. This site where you can make loans to people in third world countries with that money (combined with money from other people), and they can make their business dreams come true! It's really a good way to give back! You eventually get your money back (slowly but surely) as they make money from their business and repay your loan. Then you can go into Kiva again and make another loan!

I'm explaining it the simple way cause I never really read too much on it. There's a lot you can read on their site, but what I great idea!

Anyway, usually I get email updates from them about how my donation repayment is going and blah blah blah, to be honest, I never read those. But today I got this offer from Kiva that says I can give out a FREE $25 trial to people so they can see how this works!

So here's the link! I urge you to sign up (maybe use a junk mail account? I always like doing that first with new stuff anyway, but I've eventually changed my account to my main email account). The $25 will be repaid back to Kiva (since they are shelling out the money). But there's nothing to lose! AND you can help some people get to their goals of financing their business faster!

Go and try it!!! http://kiva.org/invitedby/doris7064

And tell me how it goes!

Throw it back if it's Pepsi!

Ahh, the evils of HFCS (high glucose corn syrup or glucose-fructose for us Canadians). I'm sure the recent (few years now) of media coverage on how bad that stuff is has given Pepsi a great reason to come out with its new but old "Pepsi Throwback ".

I like the label. It's retro, I know. And I also know I shouldn't like things retro lest I want to be called a hipster (SHOUTS OUT TO MAIN STREET), but I really can't help it. I'm really loving the yellow colour on that. It really says "I Have NO Fear of Primary Colours! Designers, Hear Me ROAR!"

The taste is Ok. Different, less intense, less fizzy, less sugary and less "Pepsi-esque" than what I remember Pepsi to be. I frankly, like it a whole lot more. So much so that I have to keep reminding myself that this stuff is still laden with 150 Calories a can and has a whopping 40 grams of the white stuff (sugar... not the other kind).

This blog says it well: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/01/pepsi-throwback-kill-you.php. It talks about how we might forget that just because sugar is natural, it is also still very dangerous in very high amounts, such as the case in sodas.

I like to remind myself of natural things that can also be bad for our health, such as:
Hurricanes
Lightnings
Volcanoes (the bad ones... you know who you are)
Great white sharks

Oh yeah. That's right. Nature will and can get us all.

And unless I can throw back the Pepsi next time I go shopping, this stuff is gonna make me so fat.

Rural Living

I was in Saskatchewan for about a week.

Was it boring, you ask?

You betcha! And I loved every minute of it. I ate lots of home cooking (courtesy of my boyfriend's lovely aunt P.) and with the rest of the time? I went fishing and ATV'ing. What's ATVing? It's a lazy man's bicycle ride through farmland and deciduous forests.

Now that I'm back home, I find life is boring but not in the same activity filled way. I guess I need someone to bring me outside but for some reason, I can't enjoy myself. Maybe it's the city noises. I never noticed how loud it is in the city. Ahh I miss the rural living.

Throwing Dirty Looks On the 99 B-line

I hate people who budge in line. I enjoy throwing dirty looks at people on the B-line, don't get me wrong. But throwing people dirty looks can only give me so much pleasure.

Today while waiting for the 99, where the line kind of forms itself, a group of punks (they weren't dress like it... they were more like hipsters) in their early twenties cut into the line at the very front. Fortunately for them, they didn't try to cut in front of me or else there would have been quite the headline news about strangulation and how tempers were at an all time high on the Vancouver transit system.

People were appalled, and of course, I took the chance to throw some dirty looks their way.

I'm a bit disappointed that this behaviour happened in Vancouver. I wonder if it's a recent thing or if you've experienced it recently. I don't recall this happening a few years ago.

I guess this is as good of a time as any to tell you about a few months ago, when someone tried to cut in front of me while everyone was already boarding the bus. Again, this man was in his early twenties and was not poorly dressed. He came out of nowhere and stepped on the man boarding ahead of me. I decided that even though he was taller and a man, I could take him. And I did.

With less than 5 inches between me and him, I pulled back a bit and body slammed him out of the way. Yep. Full on body slammed. Now this isn't something I was proud of doing at the moment. But believe me, I'm damn proud of it now. It makes me laugh to think about how far back I knocked him out of the line.

When he entered the line again (by cutting in line again). He was at least 5 people behind where he tried to budge. I don't feel bad about this display of violence. I think it's fair because when he got on the bus, he had the audacity to give me a look. Obviously, as I have confessed earlier to my affinity towards giving dirty looks, I had stared him down until he sat in the back of the bus and finally looked away because he couldn't take it anymore. Yep. I am a champion of dirty looks and the stare down. I have practice, just ask my Jack Russell Terrier.

Funny YouTube Finds

I haven't blogged for a while. Not because I was busy. No. That would be like every other blogger who has a life. I just didn't blog because I had nothing to blog about. Then I thought. Wait. Have I ever mention how much I love Tim Minchin and his songs?

 I don't think I have. So if you haven't checked him out yet. You can find him on YouTube. He's pretty funny. And his expressions are awesome too.

Enjoy

Finally, I'm Allergic to Fruits!

Yesterday, I had a fresh pineapple and I think I had an allergic reaction, but I can't be quite sure.

I forgot to dip the pineapple in salt water before I ate it. I recalled (right after my throat became itchy) that my mom had warned me to dip fresh pineapple in salt before I ate it when I was a child.

There's not much about it online. Some people say it's the citric acid and some people say it's the bromelain (an enzyme that breaks down protein) that is causing the itch. Other people say it's a form of an allergic reaction.

I'm allergic to fruit? That would be awesome! I would finally have an excuse to eat nothing but meat (because why would I risk eating any other fruits? Maybe I would even ban vegetables to be safe...). But alas, I don't think it's an allergy because I've had pineapple before and it was OK (as long as I salt it).




Now I have half a thing of pineapple still in the fridge. I guess I should grab some salt in one hand and the pineapple with the other. Maybe I will attack it with a vengeance. Wish me luck

Funny