It’s been a while since I’ve thought about why I became vegetarian – it wasn’t any one particular reason. A thought from the book, Fast Food Nation may have triggered it, however, I think it was a combination of things – factory farming, the environment and health (both mental and physical) were all combinations to keep me vegetarian. What really transformed my life was adopting a mostly raw food diet.
It’s probably the two of the best changes that I’ve made in my life. I wrote about it a few years ago for the Toronto Vegetarian Association, although it was never published. However, a link to the article is here (the link opens a PDF document).
My wait for my new lens is finally over. In the end, I got a 35mm f2 prime lens. There isn’t anything exciting about this lens; no zoom or special effects; just a plain lens like I had 25 years ago. However, it does many things very well; especially close up and in situations with low light.
I went out for a walk with it tonight and got some good results with it. This has already become my second favorite lens – my first is still my fisheye lens.
A close up and a night shot with my new lens.
However, the fisheye lens still rocks.
Here are some images with my new lens. Click on the larger image to advance to the next one.
I seem to have more energy lately; I’m not certain if it is the weather or my diet. Fittingly, today was a salad day for me, a literal idiom – if that make any sense, because I had two salads. The first, at lunch in a restaurant, left me wanting soon after I finished it; however, luckily the second satisfied my appetite.
Technically, I cheated on my 30-day raw challenge today. I went for lunch with Paul at Fran’s restaurant. The salad dressing probably was not raw and probably contained some chemicals and/or preservatives. I could have asked for lemon, however, iceberg lettuce isn’t the most appetizing vegetable. I don’t even consider lettuce a vegetable since it contains about 98% water and little else – but sometime it is refreshing to eat – like a cool glass of water!
The iceberg lettuce salad at Fran’s:
The real salad, sprouts on top of kale and other satisfying vegetables!
For breakfast, I had a repeat of the strawberry smoothie from yesterday; as well as the usually quantities of bananas and other fruit throughout the day – which I couldn’t be bothered to photograph.
It felt like spring this afternoon when I was walking home. This reminded me of the character from the film, Being There, Chance the Gardiner and his talk of the seasons,
First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again. …There will be growth in the spring!
Everyone seemed to be in a much better mood than usual. My walk home into the blinding sunlight looked like this:
On another note, I totally forgot to take photos of anything I ate today for the 30-Day Raw Challenge. Instead, I was obsessed with photographing the glassware and the soaking seeds. My breakfast was subsequently poured into and drunk from the Arcoroc glass seen below.
Sometimes it’s good to record what one eats. I generally try to eat one third each of carbs, fat and protein – today was a high fat day for me. I ate lots of nuts and seeds in addition to a whole avocado – which was hidden in the smoothie and salad. It was all very tasty though!
Yesterday, I walked by a luxury car dealership that was providing a discount because of currency fluctuations. Today, I read about Richard Branson‘s newest venture, an online charter airplane booking service, Virgin Charter. It is basically a service to purchase travel on a private jet for a discount*. I assume it’s geared towards cost conscious billionaires. He and his business partner claims that it is a green service because these planes fly empty 40-50% of the time. I’m not sure if that is true or not; I’ll be he isn’t sure either; but he’s probably right – which he is most of the time.
He seems so distant from his original days of selling discount records. Virgin’s brand now seems like it is in decline for the average person and is doing the job of helping the wealthy, which he is, save money. He was probably correct when he stated,
Now that the holiday season is over, so are the crowds, parties and if you traveled over the holidays – the long waits at the airport, train or bus stations. I experienced a delay when leaving Toronto and then another on my way back from Vancouver. I spent a lot of time sitting around at the airport.
Today, I saw a friend’s photo of the waiting room in the Ottawa train station. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the chairs in the waiting room were Eames Tandem Sling seats. Many people do not know of these seats, but have probably sat in them. Originally designed for Washington’s Dulles International Airport in the 1960s. Today, the seats are installed in waiting rooms all over the world and they are still being manufactured. Designed by Charles and Ray Eames, two brothers that designed seating and furniture for Herman Miller, an American manufacturer of furniture and office equipment.
To me, most things from Herman Miller are well designed, well made, durable and have a timeless design that is suited in any era. They are made for high traffic environments, but I dare to say, could be used in one’s home – depending upon – the style. I don’t think it would work beside some Louis XIV furniture, but perhaps in a more contemporary environment.
It isn’t easy for the average consumer to buy these seats. There are two issues, the price and trying to get the attention of the company because they don’t think you are serious about buying such items for your home. How do I know? I tried several years ago to get some of these for my apartment. Once I found out the price – about US$4,000 for a pair – I started looking for alternatives.
However, I was able to purchase some other resonably-priced chairs, Caper chairs, also from Herman Miller for my home. Strangely, the Caper chairs come with a 12-year warranty – I wonder what actuary came up with that one? As an added bonus, the chairs are made from some recycled materials and at the end of its usable life, it is 100% recyclable.
In general, Herman Miller has very high environmental standards. High enough for Greenpeace to have their office furniture supplied by Herman Miller. Most of my furniture and other furnishings are made for high traffic and high use areas – which translates to a lifetime of use for a private home – which also translates into less consumption and less waste.
In todays world, it is a challenge to find furnishings that satisfy all of our needs. Which brings me to a quote that is posted on the side of my refrigerator; the quote is from William Morris in 1880:
“If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
You might also update it to, “…or believe to be green.”
When I’m gone from this planet, I’m sure these chairs will still be in use or if not, can be recycled into some other useful item. My guests likely do not know about the history or future of these chairs; I hope they can appreciate it more if they know.
Only one of the photos in the set belong to me. The others are courtesy of Kristy and the Library of Congress – thanks!
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