G Words: Google Earth, Geocaching and Globalization

I must say, Google Earth is definitely one of the coolest toys. (Even though Google is starting to scare me it is so into our lives.) I particularly like using Google Earth with the geocaching option. I have been going out caching lately, and have been having a fair amount of luck finding the caches–which always makes me want to find more, more, more! Today between a dance class and doctor’s appointment, I was like, ‘Hmmm. What to do so us ladies don’t get bored? Ah yes, let’s geocache.’ And voila, lots of caches right where we were going to be anyway! YAY!

Tomorrow we drop off the car to see what is wrong with the front end. Oh please, let it be something cheap. And in case we have time to kill, or are looking for a little adventure…a geocache or two along the way! I’ve located some caches in the areas we’ll be going to using Google Earth (what would I do without it?) and then zipped them off into my GPS.

Speaking of cars…where the heck is my environment rebate for the Toyota? The attitude of the government’s website is all like, ‘oh we’ll get to it.’ You’re eligible after March something-or-other.

Ummmm…hello, but it is now September and some of us would like our $1000!

I have a question about China. Or maybe it is a concern. Or maybe it is just a question about our own values here in North America. Either way, here is some randomish babbling held together with a few nouns.

Awhile ago I noticed that most of my daughter’s toys were being made in China. (Lately a few more in Vietnam–is it the new China?) I’m all for giving a country our business and all that. Maybe China could use our company’s hiring their citizens. Maybe they could use the money that is generated.

Questions are:

Do the citizens actually get to benefit from our purchasing products made there? Sure they are cheap labour to us, but what are the employee benefits like there? Wages? Conditions? Are we just taking advantage of them all because they are cheap and won’t squawk?

Are we just keeping a country like China down as a second world country (or whatever they are classed as)–or are we helping them out? Because, really do you want to piss off someone that size with a whole pile of tough factory workers? (I’ve heard they are very organized and obedient.) I know that it makes ‘business sense’ to ‘keep them down’ where we can abuse and take advantage of them.

What about the environment? Their laws may not be as stiff as ours. So then what? Are we not responsible? Should we not act like we are building these items on our own turf? Shouldn’t we uphold the ideas of the environment we hold dear here? Just because these countries can’t or won’t stand up for us or simply are unaware of the environmental things we have learned, or can’t afford it, does that mean that we should take advantage of the situation?

On a more personal level and therefore a more alarming one…are the quality controls.

Sure, I’ve bought junk at dollar stores that doesn’t work. And it does bother me. How much has gone into making that product and having it shipped all the way over here, just so I can throw it out? But, whatever. It bothers me not because of my wasted dollar, but that lots and lots of useless crap is made. We don’t need it. Someone makes money, but look at the waste. Power, gas, plastic, all that stuff.

But, what about things like contaminated food? Pet and human food? How does mercury or whatever it was end up in cat food? How do we let that happen? Do we have them so pinned in the corner that they will slip something deadly into the product in order to make their profit? How do we appear in their eyes? It must be pretty bad.

And scary, scary is that some food items may not be labeled totally truthfully. For example, I heard that apple juice that is made from trees in China and made into concentrated juice there, is shipped to Canada, diluted with water and then packaged as Product of Canada. Not. Where do we get off with that? What could be in that apple juice? It is not produced with the quality controls that we assume. Part of the reason companies use China is because of the fact that the quality controls are not the same. They are lessened. What kind of morals are everyone operating under? Oh yeah, the morals of make the most profit possible.

What about Argentina honey? Do they allow sugar to be added? Canadian honey controls certainly do not allow that.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I realize that to maintain our lifestyles we need globalization. We do. But at what costs? How many people have to get sick? How many rivers, airways and countries have to become polluted?

And what about toys? The whole Mattel thing? Lead paint? Hello? Lead??? Since when was lead back in style? On children’s toys? Scary, scary.

How many recalls have their been lately on products made in China?

And what does that cost? I mean to the environment. I don’t care about me or the company. It serves the company right as for as I am concerned. Trying to get away with that. I think they should be fined too. The buggers.

It really makes a person think.

Maybe like how the book ‘Slow’ suggests, we should try and become more localised in our shopping and eating.

Crap. Like who is going to do that? Okay, okay. I mean, I do buy local when I can. I go to the Farmer’s Market. My daughter calls the FM carrots ‘delicious’ every time she has them. Partly because the ones from California taste like wood. Yum. But, in a few months when there is snow on the ground, that is what we will be enjoying again at our table. Wood.

Anyway, I don’t know what the answer is. I don’t even know what I can do–other than to try and buy local and that sort of thing. I just know that I don’t like seeing what is happening here.

(An aside here while talking about global issues…did you hear about British banks running out of money due to citizens coming in and clearing out their accounts because of worries about the American dollar. Cripes! It is like the ’30s all over again. Very scary. But I do know what they mean. I fear too.)

Keep it Simple!

Feeling a bit grumpy. Haven’t been geocaching in awhile and so put some in the GPS the other day when going into the city. But then I had a call that barely allowed us to get to our appointment on time, so no cache on the way in. And then ran out of time and motivation to find one on the way out of town. So, no geocaching.

So today, went to the fabulous Farmer’s Market. It was great. I got eight games (board games like Trouble!) for five dollars! Plus lots of veggies, of course. Anyway, on the way out we figured, hey let’s get a geocache. There was a puzzle one that I had loaded into the GPS, so I figured hey, it doesn’t make sense on the website, but I’ve done this person’s geocaches before, so I’m sure it will make sense when we get there and get all the clues. Well, we got the clues okay. But some people just don’t make their instructions clear. I suppose it is clear if I am YOU and understand the way YOU think…

So anyway, there were three different ways to interpret the instructions on what to do with the clue. And do you really want me to do algebra, or am I over thinking this? So, figured it out both ways and no, none of the scenarios were helpful. So, no cache. That just made me grumpy!

Car Chronicles: Part One: Road Trip

Today was road trip day.

We finally got everyone together and hit the road around 11ish. Seeing that our speedometer was acting a bit wacky, we pulled over at a geocache to see if we could wiggle the wire. Well, honey it got wiggled…and broken. Because the speedometer wasn’t working, the odometer wasn’t either. So as my hubby said, “free miles!” Unfortunately, it still consumed its diesel as per usual. And, just because it didn’t think that it was going somewhere didn’t guarantee that it wouldn’t break down. But, we’ll get to that.

Geocaching. Yes, so, us girls went to find the ‘treasure’ with the kids while the guys excitedly tinkered (and broke) the car. Whatever. At least it is definitively broken now so we can get it fixed once and for all. The kids chose to trade some items for some tattoos. And then went on and on about how they needed water to apply the tattoos. Very nice tattoos. But you know, with all those mosquitoes, at least I got to see if rubbing the inside of a banana peel on the bite eases the itching. (It does.)

Back on the road…got to the grocery store to pick up the meat and cheese and veggie trays for the art show opening. The people there were so excited that we finally got there to pick them up that they forgot to give us the crackers. Being sorta slow and chatting between our vehicles, we were still outside a bit later when they realized and came out with our crackers. Sweet. We are at one with the universe.

On to Carbon! We arrived early, cookie bag depleted and red hot from the black interiored car with no air conditioning. I knew I should have ridden in the other car. They have AIR!

All is well, the kids are having fun getting rides up the handicap chair lift on the stairs. After a lovely picnic out in the gallery’s garden and of course, admiring the art and visiting with people, we headed off for pie! YUM! The moment we have all been eagerly anticipating.

So, we are about 10km from the gallery and a zillion from home and have not yet gone ‘the 20km out of the way for pie’ when bang! A burst of smoke comes billowing out from the front passenger side. Loud squealing fills the air. Great. Just great. I had a feeling that we were going to breakdown today. And not just because my hubby the tech god was having computer and GPS troubles this morning. See, I have the soon-to-be-proverbial black thumb of tech troubles and he has magic tech fingers. I kill the cars and…well, I kill the cars. So, when I had the magic tech fingers this morning and he was doing the driving…well, you know how to spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

So, I hop out of the car and pop the hood. Well, the smoke is already gone. Just like that. Smells like rubber. Tire is fine though, that is the first thing I checked. So, we all peer in there and everything looks okay. But I tell you, that smoke just about had the guys speed dialing the tow truck. (It was quite impressive, really. I wish I had taken a photo.) So, I started up the car, after telling them to get their heads out from under the hood. Everything seems good. Typical. The car is like that. Someday I will tell you about the trip where our 2 hour trip turned into 10 due to a loose block heater cord. Yeah, that messed things up in a superficial sort of way. The car always acts all dramatic over some tiny, little, stupid thing. That car has a weird sense of humour. It’s not nicknamed ‘Schiz’ for random reasons.

On we go. And then hubby tries to steer. Ugh. That is hard! Damn, it was the power steering! Gone. So, who knows just how bad it is, but we drove it home. We have no mercy on our old beaters. Currently, we have a list about as long as our arm for repairs on that poor car. And last night, just spend $1600 on airfare to visit family this summer. Yeah…so not exactly flush for making repairs at the moment. Yikes.

Needless to say, we drove home daydreaming about new cars and when I got home, I called my grandma to see if she is thinking of trading in her Saturn yet. She is getting close to the 5 year trade-in mark. Although, since she is in her late eighties, she is wondering if it is smart to buy a new car. Do it for us, Grandma! Do it for us! You can do it! You’ll be driving until you are a hundred! (Really, she is a FABULOUS driver. We once figured out (through degrees of separation) that she has pretty much taught everyone in the extended family how to drive. And I might add, our accident record is quite good–as in we don’t hit things–other than animals. But that is mostly my brother. He makes up for the rest of us humane types.)

So now we begin saving up for replacing our old beaters…<Sigh>

Road Trip Plans

The first ever Hiebert-Oram road trip is scheduled for tomorrow. It should be an interesting and fun day. Originally, we planned to leave the house around 12:30ish to make it to my mom’s art show opening at 2. Now we are the meat and cheese delivery people. So it is important that we get there before the art show guests, so bump that time up a bit. Now we are leaving around lunchtime, so we have lunch to contend with, plus the traveling over 150km with three kids 5 and under. So, when the heck do you leave? We are thinking leave around 10 to make sure we get there by 2…

So let’s pack a lunch and load up the GPS with geocaches! We’re going on a road trip! Ah yes, and we have to stop for pie on the way home. Country Cousins’ pie is the BEST ever! I challenge anyone to top it.

You know, I wonder about road bullies. I really do. Driving on the QE2 in Alberta is an interesting adventure. I also find it varies on how you are treated depending on the vehicle you drive. The older, smaller, rattier nondescript car you drive, the worse you are treated. The bigger, nicer and newer vehicle you drive, the better you are treated. That highway is like a little snapshot of our society, eh?

Here’s to no road bullies tomorrow!

Spring Has Sprung

May just seems to keep on going on and on…or at least the last half of May. I have no clue where the first half of May went. The trees are FINALLY blooming here. It feels like forever ago (2 months) that we were in Victoria, BC and got to see all the beautiful trees and flowers in bloom.

It’s geocaching season again! I’m so excited. Warm up your GPS boys and girls, it’s time!

It is also Ultimate Frisbee time. There are a bunch of people who get together to play. I hadn’t tossed a Frisbee in well…let’s see…6 years?…and nervously, I met up to play. It’s informal and a BLAST! And on a nice note, I am not all sore today. The first night I played, by the next morning, even my feet hurt! The agony! But, I went back for more last night. I’m not much of a runner, but there is nothing like playing with strangers and your husband’s colleagues to make you want to run your butt off. That and the killer mosquitoes that are just waiting for you to pause long enough so they can descend upon you in a dark cloud and suck you dry. It doesn’t matter if you have ‘Off’. These guys have a nice big bottle of ‘On’.

Now if only I could snatch that Frisbee with one hand instead of my ‘clap’ grab move that I rely on…