I'm going to get back on my soap box here. This past weekend, Sarah and I participated in the American Heart Associations Heart Walk. We took a nice 5 mile walk around Lancaster city with Grandma, Grampy, and Auntie Jen. Everything was well organized, and I even got a few ideas to take with me to the 2006 Relay for Life committee. I do have two gripes with the event though. First of all, there were two "rest" stops set up at the two local hospitals in the city where they were handing out water bottles and fruit bars. I thought this was great. I asked a volunteer at the second station if they were going to recycle all of the water bottles that they had accumulated in their trash can, and she had the nerve to laugh at me! I very politely took my bottle back and carried it for the rest of the walk until I could find a place to recycle it.
We got back to F&M, where the walk started and stopped, and were fed a free lunch provided by Subway. As I was expecting, they had trash cans and separate recycling cans set up throughout the gymnasium where the food was served. My gripe with this is that I watched the janitorial staff of F&M empty the recycling bins into the trash cans, and then empty the trash cans, in effect, throwing the recyclables away with the rest of the trash. I have a big enough problem with plastic bottles and other such items being thrown away, but to have out recycling containers, labeled as such, and then not recycle them is absurd! Most people, I'm sure, put their bottles in the bins, thinking that they would be recycled, not that they would be discarded only to occupy space in a land fill for the next 1 billion + years.
I will definitely be writing a letter to F&M and the American Heart Association, and I'm debating whether or not to send a copy to the editor of the local paper. Rest assured, I will no longer rely on these public recycling bins. I'd rather carry my empty for a bit and be inconvenienced, than risk it being thrown away.
Planning for the 2006 American Cancer Society's Relay for Life has begun. This year, I am on the planning committee as the publicity co-chair. I will be involved in photo and video documenting the event as well as all of the smaller events that will lead up to the actual relay. This year, the relay will be held at Lancaster Catholic, as it has the past 2 years, and our goal is to raise 1 million dollars! This is a tall order, and everyone's help and support is necessary. I will be posting a link in the future to donate to our relay team, and be letting everyone know about upcoming fund raisers for the team as well. Karen is the captain of the MU Cancer Connection team this year, so if you have any questions or suggestions, email her.
The local Lancaster relay now has it's own website at http://www.lancasterrelayforlife.org. Take a look. We will be keeping it up to date with a list of registered teams, upcoming fundraisers and events, and other general pertinent information to the Lancaster Relay for Life.
I look forward to an exciting year, and really helping out in the planning of this event. This should prove to be the best year yet.
Yesterday, I found another podcast, More Hip Than Hippie, which deals with environmental stewardship, and all things "green". So far, I have listened to a podcast about hybrid cars, alternatives to mosquito control, and now a podcast about outdoor entertaining. There are many things that I already do, such as recycling, using charcoal instead of gas and lighter fluid, general reduction of non renewable resources such as plastic, and many others. There are a lot of things that I do not do, and this has give me a number of options to look into.
They talk about composting instead of throwing food away. A neighbor of mine has a compost pile, and I'm tempted to either start one myself, or ask if he would mind if I use it. It's creating fertile soil, and doesn't stink like I thought it would. These are also the same neighbors that grow a lot of vegetables naturally. The podcast partners with Green Feet, and typically offers a 10% off coupon to their listeners. GreenFeet has a number of products that can assist in ones quest to become more green. They even offer a composting container that will contain the smell so it can be stored in the garage or on a porch. I may have to look into this.
They also talk about the amount of recyclables that are thrown away at massive events such as the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. Being on the 2006 committee, and knowing that they do not provide for recycling, I will definately have to mention this at the next meeting and see what kind of response I get. I would even consider taking the recyclables to the facility myself if the school that hosts the event does not want to deal with this. I'll mention it and see what they say.
There are so many things you can do, things that are so easy and inexpensive or cost effective. This really opened my eyes.
Thanks to this blog entry I found earlier in the week, I have not set up my very own MoBlog at http://www.shoutstudios.com/~doug/moblog/. I'll add a link to the right hand side of the site for future reference.
Found a great link off of java.blogs this morning. Someone has taken the time to convert Episode IV of Star Wars into ASCII art, the entire movie, and string those "images" together as a "movie".
To watch, telnet to towel.blinkenlights.nl
According to the source, there is also an animated GIF rendition of this as well. I asked for a location, and will post that as well if I can find it.
With John getting his new phone and getting back into shooting for Engle publishing as well as donating my time as a photographer to the ACS for their Relay for Life event, I have started lusting after some new toys that I can't afford.
At the top of the list right now is an Apple iPod, Nikon D2(X|H), Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 AFS Lens, Nikon 300mm f/2.8 AFS Lens, among others, Firefly DVD's, Family Guy DVD's, and many more. I'll keep a running list of things I want but don't own on the side panel. Christmas is coming up :)