Friends & Participants

Not a whole lot to report on this week.  I have 2 participants to go before closing the door on the data collection portion of my degree.  I was hoping to have them come in to the lab this weekend, but as per usual, the lovely individuals at Access Control are taking their sweet time in granting me access to the visualization facility.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get them in early next week.

My friend Robyn arrived in town on Thursday and I was able to meet up with her yesterday.  She’s been living in Sydney for the last 7 years and just by chance I ran into her on FaceBook and discovered she was coming to Melbourne.   It was great to catch up with her.   At the same time, Jen’s friend Kim arrived from Vancouver.  She is down here for a couple of weeks and will be staying with us while she explores Melbourne.  So last night, the 4 of us (and a few other friends) went out to Lygon Street for dinner, over to Fredos for gelato and then on to the Yacht club for a few drinks.  A pleasant Australian evening.  Tonight is all about playing Magic and possibly Wii.  It should be a battle.

Lighter Footsteps

So sustainable environment… yada yada… global warming… yada yada.  I know, I know… reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Well, lighterfootsteps.com has produced an article outlining the ten easiest ways for you to start moving toward a lighter lifestyle.  Some of the usuals are on there, like switching to Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (which I assume the majority of people reading this blog already use), but there are also some not so obvious ones.  A number of my favorites are:

1) Unplugging idle appliances and electronics.  Regardless of whether or not the device is in use, it is continues to draining power.  By unplugging these devices you could drastically reduce your power bill… I’m talking hundreds of dollars a year.

2) Leave the car at home.  Try biking, public transport or a ride-share program.  It will save you piles of money, get you exercising and seriously benefit the environment.

3) Go meatless once a week.  The human body does not need to eat meat everyday, let alone every meal.  Try reducing your meat intake.  There are plenty of excellent alternatives out there.  As Lighter Footsteps puts it: Each calorie of animal protein requires 78 calories of fossil fuels to produce, and irrigation directly associated with livestock production (including feeds) amounts to about half of all the consumed water in the United States.  Interesting…

Lets face it, something has to be done and I’m willing to change of few of my less environmentally friendly habits in order to provide a better future for my children.

Article: Lighter Footsteps – Ten First Steps