The first month of the year is done and the winner is the smoothie. I managed to consume more than one per day. Close behind was salad and then oranges was a distant third.
All I seemed to be doing in January was skiing, eating and sleeping – three very important events. I noticed that started craving(?) and eating pasta again because I felt hungrier than normal – probably attributed to the amount of skiing that I did.
The breakdown of what I ate:
39 smoothies (24 chocolate, 12 fruit, 3 green )
32 servings* of salad (mostly kale salads)
16 oranges
12 grapefruit
10 servings of pasta
6 bags of chips (2 bags of tortilla chips)
5 bowls of popcorn
4 visits to Corner Tandoori for Inidian
2 bowls of noodle and soup
2 burritos from Red Burrito
2 subs
2 energy bars
1 visit to a Malaysian/Thai restaurant
1 pizza
1 piece of birthday cake (Anf’s)
lots of trail mix
…and surprisingly, no french fries!
Included in all of this also included countless bananas, strawberries, avocados and almonds.
The thing I enjoyed most was the chocolate smoothies and the least enjoyable thing was the barbecue and dill flavoured chips. Close behind was the iceberg/romaine lettuce salad at Boston Pizza. But at least the salad might have had some nutrition in it.
* When I say servings, it is generally two or more because I tend to eat more than most people. Unless I am in a restaurant, I will generally eat more than one serving of whatever I’m eating. The 32 servings was probably consumed in 16 or less meals.
Here’s the flickr set of what I ate in January. To see all of the photos at once, click through to the set by clicking here. Otherwise you can click on the large image below to advance to the next image.
West vs. east; Vancouver on the left and Toronto on the right. December 2008.
It feels like I’m trapped in the Twilight Zone in some sort of crazy weather spiral. However, the weather I’ve been experiencing over the last several years has been so drastically that crazy weather seems to be the norm.
When I arrived in Whistler earlier this month, it was warmer than usual and there was not enough snow to ski. Then it became too cold and snow started to fall slowly. When I returned to Vancouver before Christmas it started to snow – and snow it did. I think there was a snowfall warning issued daily for over a week on Environment Canada.
I flew from a snowy Vancouver to a rainy Toronto on December 24th – barely making it because there was a shortage of crew available in Vancouver because many flights were canceled from several centres in the west. Toronto is now enjoying spring-like weather. It reached almost +15c yesterday. Warm enough not to require a hat or gloves – something that I was never without in BC this month.
Much of what I do is dependent upon the weather so I will be glad when things return to what we once knew as normal – except in the mountains where it should snow as much as possible!
A familiar pose. Riding the Revelstoke gondola. Photo by Jae from South Korea.
The number refers to how many days I want to spend on the mountain this season – on skis. I’d also like to take photos. Maybe self-portraits or maybe just of the scenery. I take photos everyday anyway so hopefully this won’t be a bother for me.
The season has gotten off to a slow start so far. The weather has been a bit unusual in the past month. First it was too warm and not enough snow. Then it became too cold when there was an arctic flow of cold air. This caused the temperature to dip to -25c at the peak of Whistler mountain on some days. It was also about -13c in the village on some days. The weather is starting to return to normal now. It’s snowing more frequently and the temperature is almost normal – which should be in the range of zero to -10c on the mountain.
My ski days for December will only be six – not much considering I’ve been in the mountains for the greater part of three weeks. The weather has been a factor – if it had not, my count would probably be 20 by now. I look forward to January and the rest of the season!
My daily photos from the album 100 days on flickr. Click the image to advance to the next image.
This was the first thing I saw when I arrived yesterday morning in Whistler – a bare mountain. It was 8c and raining.
This was my first visit where I did not ski – for an obvious reason. It was still a good day for other reasons. I’ll cross my fingers that there will be snow on my next visit!
Once in a while it’s good to review what keeps me ploughing forward. Anf challenged me to this a while back and I’ve been thinking about it for about a month.Over the last twenty years, my life really hasn’t changed that drastically – I do many of the same thing now that I did then. The biggest change was becoming vegetarian several years ago. The other items in the first list I’ve been doing since I was a child.
The lists…
Things I am Passionate About
Being Vegetarian and spreading the word because it can help reduce disease, animal cruelty and is environmentally-friendly
Photography because it’s a great way to share memories
Being outdoors because the earth is too beautiful to spend it indoors
Travel to meet different people and hope to understand about them and their surroundings
Doing what I think is the right thing in my mind; regardless of what other people may think
Things I would Like To Do Before I Die
Be a volunteer to the less fortunate such as in a third world country where I teach a skill because education can help them work towards a different future
Learn additional languages to be able to communicate with more people
Climb to base camp of Everest for the sheer beauty of it
Things I say often (lately)
No worries
Fantastic
Books I have Read Recently (well, in the last several years)
The China Study : The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health – T. Colin Campbell
Silent Spring – Rachel Carson
Fast Food Nation – Eric Schlosser
A Short History of Progress – Ronald Wright
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People : Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
Made to Break : Technology and Obsolescence in America
Biography of Sainte Augustine
Shantaram
The Art of Travel
Songs I Could Listen To Over and Over
My Baby Cares for Me – Nina Simone
What a Wonderful World This Would Be – Sam Cooke
Goodnight, Irene, Goodnight – Nat King Cole
Universal Soldier – Buffy Sainte-Marie
Here’s To You – Joan Baez
Leaving on a Jet Plane – John Denver or Chantal Kreviaziuk
Heroes – David Bowie
Home Town – Joe Jackson
A New England – Billy Bragg or Kirsty MacColl
Being Boring – Pet Shop Boys
Go West – Pet Shop Boys
Flamboyant – Pet Shop Boys
All Through the Night – Cyndi Lauper
Guided by Wire – Neko Case
When You Say Nothing At All – Alison Krauss
Oh, Atlanta – Alison Krauss
Traits I am attracted To In Friends
Funny
Independent
Not afraid to speak about what is on their mind
Reliable
Trustworthy
Caring and sensitive
The next challenge which I have put off for even longer is to describe myself in six words. I’ve been thinking about this for almost two months and have not been able to come up with six words!
As the signs say, closed. Actually, it is only the steeper runs that are closed because there is a greater risk of avalanches because of the warm weather. May 17th was too warm for even clothes at 18c in the alpine and 31c in the village. Blackcomb mountain is open until June 20th and the glacier is open until the end of July. My ski pass is valid until the end of May, but I think this is the end of my season. I’m ready for summer now!
Avalanches as seen on Seventh Heaven from one day to the next. Near the right side of the photo, you can see a new avalanche.
Here are my images from my last day of the season on Blackcomb mountain. Click on the larger image to advance to the next one.
My fancy is always skiing and spring skiing definitely exists at Whistler in May. This was the latest in the season that I have ever skied. On Friday, it was 28c in the village and 18c at the top of the mountain. I was without a jacket, but was still over-dressed. One could have worn a t-shirt and shorts and it still might have been too warm.
Tourists and skiers co-exist in different uniforms on the snow on Blackcomb mountain.
Here is my Flickr photo set from Friday at Whistler; on Blackcomb mountain. Click on the larger image to advance to the next one.
Everyone seems to be traveling or on the road these days – including me. I’ve traveled more in the last eight months than I did in all of 2006 when I went on about eight trips and took about ten weeks off work.
Here is one of my favorite images from India in 2006. When one leaves the cities, the country side is pristine and stunning.
Here’s one of my favorite images from the Dharavi slum in Mumbai.
100 days, Blogroll, Couchsurfing, Environment, Food, Photography, Raw Food, Recipe, Skiing, Uncategorized, Vegetarian, Whistler | Garry February 6, 2009 | 
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