geekent's Buy Nothing Year

(originally published August 14)

In addition to denying myself some various entertainment pleasures in 2008, I'm instigating a food moratorium now. It's some weird penance thing I'm on.
Kidding.
It's somewhat dietary, but in part just realization that my metabolism is slowing down, and that thanks to a rather unhealthy summer I've lost some of my nice physique (really haven't gotten fat, but I've lost some muscle due to inactivity). To stave off further degradation and ballooning, I'm taking a couple of vices out of the equation for a while until such time that I can appropriately measure my intake:

- Pop aka Soda aka Coke (an easy one... done it before can do it again)
- Booze aka Alcohol (excluded wine, the healthcohol)
- Potato Chips (also includes nachos, tortilla chips and corn chips)
- French fries (mainly forcing me into the salad route)
- Chocolate (it's going to be bad when the cravings hit... mainly referring to chocolate bars here)
- Hamburgers (because I've been having terrible indigestion with them lately)
- Fast food (the bad ones... and, oh, no Wendy's...ach! Pizza and subs and Mediterranean is okay)
- Mayonnaise (as much as possible)
- salad dressing
- candy covered nuts
- anything with trans fat

(added Aug.28)
- donuts
- Cinnabons (but not all cinnamon buns)
- Swiss Chalet
- chicken wings from Pizza Pizza
- onion rings
- packaged cookies

(added Sep.05)
-ice cream
-Yoplait Yoptimal yogurt

So far that's the list, but more may be added.
When I was in San Diego, I realized that because I was so sick and my throat so sore and swollen that I ate incredibly healthy, since if I was going to put something in my body that would cause me great pain to start, it better help me out in the long run. I wish to maintain that thinking without being a Granola Nazi about it like those freaks at Veggie Hut who keep pestering the fine folks at Meat Shake.

or whatever.

Just added to the moratorium:

* donuts
* Cinnabons
* Swiss Chalet
* chicken wings from Pizza Pizza
* onion rings
* prepackaged cookies

As for why many of these things have been added, primarily because I've eaten them and either felt bad (as in ill) or guilty afterwards.

Well, the moratorium was broken yesterday.. and on the weekend.. no major breakdowns but a bit of bending of the rules and a lapse in judgement...

On Saturday, working behind the table at Fan Expo, I had stocked up on energy bars and whatnot, as well as having some in reserve from the last Superstore grocery visit. One of the energy bars had chocolate chips in it (*gasp*) and while you can't even tell the little buggers are in there by taste, I justified it by saying "I'd already purchased it before the moratorium went in effect".

Yesterday, a half-eaten snack bag of Ritz Bitz sat atop the counter and before I even paused I had downed a handful. Then I remembered that Ritz have trans fat, which is why I don't buy them anymore, and despite the recent spate of commercials trumpeting Ritz's trans-fat-freeness, they've yet to clear the shelves of all the old product, and most Ritz you'll still find include trans fat (the sneaky buggers have been promoting their crackers as "0 grams of trans fat*" with that meaning their serving size of 9 crackers is essentially zero grams of trans fat, but who eats 9 crackers? You can't have hydrogenated anything in your ingredients without getting trans fat, dontcha know?

This moratorium thing is a beeyotch. Monitoring what one eats and trying to restrict things from one's diet may be easy for those who have lived with allergies or insensitivities, or are diabetic, but I'm just not used to such an ordeal. I was kind of used to it when I was living with one of my exes and they were allergic to pretty much everything, but it's been years since then and the habit is no longer in place. And it would seem I violate my moratorium either just from not thinking or from buying things that contain the boycotted foods without realizing it.

Case 1: Monday, the actual labor day holiday... after being cooped up most of Sunday and Monday, the wife and I headed over to the strip mall to check if the grocery store was open. No dice, but the Dairy Queen was. The temperature, much hotter than we expected, demanded ice cream, and the demand was met. Unfortunately I ordered a DQ Blizzard and in trying to find a non-chocolate substance to mix into it, I chose the Reese's Peanut Butter cups, thinking for a second that it was Reese's Pieces. The guilt laid into me seconds later, and then again a minute later as I realized I'd love me a DQ cherry shake even more than a Blizzard. I think we have a new contestant for the moratorium...

Case 2: Eating my Yoplait Yoptimal Immuni+ (anything to help my wonky immune system) this morning I decided to actually read the label and discovered that this yogurt has trans fat! Seriously. Trans fat in yogurt. I thought trans fat was strictly caused by superheating oils and then turning them into solids, but apparently not. I have no idea how yogurt gets trans fat (and even at .1 grams it's 10% of your Daily Value ... or something) but there it is. So much for healthy eating. How bizarre.

Added

- ice cream

The moratorium is still trucking along. No new additions to report of but I did manage to sneak in three servings of chocolate cake over the past two days. It was in honor of Aden's forthcoming birthday so I don't feel too bad about it... plus I went for a bunch of extra walks and an additional run this morning with the loan-a-dog so I should be okay. (Also, a couple of my sammiches over the past few days have mayo... uh oh).

I've been noticing that with all the moving of stuffs and exercise I've been getting as well as limiting my snack intake to, primarily, nuts and seeds (my salt intake has probably octoupled) that either I've lost weight everywhere or just on my wedding ring finger, because my ring, now about 2 months old (whereas my marriage is barrelling towards 1 month) is suddenly a lot looser on my finger. It's not falling off, so that's okay, and a triple dose of chocolate cake isn't probably quite a setback.

Ah, ye olde moratorium. I've been serving you quite well up until recently, but I've been weak, and I've faltered. I would like to say it was through no fault of my own, that I had no other option, but I did, I just chose to ignore it for what's quick, cheap and easy, like the ladies on the corner across from the old BOBTown Apartment.

Failure: Sunday, September 30.. headed out to the movies around dinner time. With no time for a sit-down meal before hand and no time to cook anything at home (so I told myself) I opted for food from the theatre vendors. Since everything there is fast food, I was kind of screwed anyway, and since I was already I went for broke and ordered New York Fries, satiating nicely that salty-starch craving (there's a half eaten bag of chips in the cupboard at home left after our last gaming session that's been beaconing but left untouched out of sheer willpower). I honestly could have done without them, and I could have grabbed some better food at home but I willfully defied the Moratorium under the pretense that I had no choice. That was bad.

Failure: Tuesday, October 1... dinner at Mitzi's Sister, skirting around my hamburger boycott I had a lamb-burger, which was delicious. Really no problems there, except for the fact it had a spicy chipotle mayo on it that was even mentioned on the menu and I didn't even try to have it omitted. Also my side salad came with house dressing, but that was just because they didn't ask me if I wanted dressing or not (at which point I usually say no).

All in all, though I've been pretty good, avoiding the "no" foods even when staring me in the face. That's got to count for something.

Ah Thanksgiving:
Turkey
Pumpkin pie
Cranberry Sauce
Gravy
Potatoes
Proscuitto wrapped asparagus
Green beans with roasted almonds
Cabbage salad
Cheesecake with blueberries...

All of this great stuff, and none of it violates the moratorium. Unlike Christmas, where chocolate and desserts and cookies abound, Thanksgiving offers few temptations for the moratorium impeded diet... yet I succumed. Booze. Wine was offered, but booze was imbibed. Gin. Vodka. Soda. Vodka.
Some say the flesh is weak, others the mind... now, the liver matches.

Ah, the trip home, when mom buys all that food she thinks you like and Dad has stashes of snack foods that would make convenience stores look understocked.

Hyperbole.

Anyway, yeah, the trip to Thunder Bay was great, providing my lovely wife with the opportunity to meet most of my extended family as well as some of my friends (the progression of the week ate away our visiting time far too quickly).

Food ate:
Mr. Sub
Turkey dinner (with ham and selection of four Grandma-made pies)
Leftovers + more pie (cherry, peach, pumpkin and raisin)
cheesies (Hawkins, Old Dutch Nacho)
Pogos
Plenty of Chicken wings (at local favourite, On Deck... their Cajun wings are the best wings ever)
A gin and tonic (a moratorium break I couldn't resist)
Old Dutch Potato chips (moratorium break... had to be done for availability of Onion and Garlic in Toronto is nil)
and since I was breaking the moratorium anyway: Bounty chocolate bar
A Tim Horton's donut (yet another moratorium break... I should have had Robin's Donuts, sigh)
Pirogies and pork chops and more pie
Finnish pancakes at the Hoito
A persian in the airport
A cookie on the plane home

I'm certain I gained about three or four pounds on this four-day, four night trip... thankfully the wife and I walked around town a lot (pretty much unheard of around those car-lovin' parts) which hopefully counteracted a lot of the damage.

We had a nice relaxing time. Should have taken the rest of the week off work, oi.

Ooooh, all hallow's eve is a nasty piece of work. Taking the stepson for a roam around the neighbourhood was a delight but the large sack of candy (not to mentioned the undispensed remnants of what we had bought to hand out) was excruciatingly tempting, and I succumbed. Having only once fallen under the chocolate thrall in the past two months I succumbed, and succumbed hard. 10 mini chocolate bars went down the gully and god it was satisfaction incarnate... a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, Wonderbar, Crispy Crunch, Kit Kat, Coffee Crisp, Snickers, Mr. Big, Oh! Henry, Butterfinger and Smarties. I've realized in this gorging that I do have a favourite chocolate bar, and Oh! Henry is it. Peanuts, nugat, caramel, chocolate... it's a divine combination. Unfortunately the wee one only acquired two of them in his treasure trove of take-home, or fortunately, I guess or else the urge to eat more might be a little stronger. But I figured I could give myself the night of Hallowe'en off and indulge a little. Despite my thoughts that I could step off the wagon and then catch right back up to it and hop back on, it didn't work out that way.

A day full of annoyances at work followed by a grumbling train ride home followed by the breakdown of a DVD player yesterday put me in a foul, foul mood, and coupled with my wife's equally perturbed attitude we were a grumbly pair yesterday. Thankfully we had the joy of Robert Evans' company to break us out, but in the middle-time we ransacked that kid's candy corner. I didn't plow down as much as I did the day before, but I did eat away my sorrows, and the unhealthyness of it all, not to mention regret, popped up immediately after.

So, as of today, I'm back on the wagon. I can't promise any more speed bumps won't bounce me off, but I'm going to try and be careful.

Did you know

Though regular potato chips and cheesies and other snacks have eliminated trans fats from their regularly shipped products, their mini-bags for Hallowe'en still have them? Tootsie Rolls too. And probably most chocolate bars.

Ugh, so unhealthy.

The last two posts here have something in common, but it will take a bit of explaining. You see, when you cut out certain foods or foods with certain ingredients from your daily life, your body appreciates it. By eliminating chips, chocolate, trans fats and other junk foods from my diet, even with my relatively low inactivity rate of late (about an hour of walking every day, 1/2 hour on the way to work and 1/2 back, but no strength training or exhaustive cardio) I've gained little weight... actually, to be honest, I've lost some since I started the diet.

When you put yourself on a budget, and whe you put your credit cards away, so they can't be accessed, and you don't allow yourself to use any sort of credit for purchasing, well, your pocketbook thanks you. You actually start to manage to whittle away at the debt that plagues you.

It's only by ignoring (or willfully resisting) eating highly tasty, yet unhealthy foods as well as ceasing satiating, yet frivolous spending that any sense of loss (weight and debt) - or, realisticlally, gain (health and solvency) - can be achieved.

It's when you start dipping, thinking that one $40 dollar dinner here or 10 mini-chocolate bars there won't have any impact that you undermine the whole process, because invariably, one falter leads to more, and those then become setbacks. I can already the effects of the bag of Hickory Sticks (hey, I said to myself, they don't say "chips" anywhere on the package) I've been slowly enjoying over the past week, the couple dips into the stepson's Hallowe'en candy, and the pumpkin pie from last week, not to mention the few doses of pastries and baked goods as well as the triple dose of popcorn and butter I all ate during my film fest coverage. It's not been good on my body or my system, and now that I think of it, my rough sleeping is likely not attributed to my wonky film fest schedule, but more likely this gorging.

Similarly, I had made headway in paying off debt, or so I thought. Looking at my declining Visa and line of credit balances, I thought good things were happening. What I didn't realize was that my other credit card, which had replaced my Visa as primary, I had been using for various frivolous (as well as larger) expendatures over the past few months and more than tripled its balance, which in turn virtually counteracted all of the good work I'd done on my other credit.

The parallels are there, and the reality is that it's behavioural and not inherent to one or the other. I'm sure there are food addicts who are fiscally sound, as there are probably debt addled shoppers who can resist the lure of Lays and Tim Hortons. But it's really interesting to me how one sensibilty can so easily be duplicated across habits... interesting, and frightening. But knowledge is power... only, is it willpower?

I have none.
That bag of chocolate and candies and chips that the little one brought back from trick-or-treating has tempted me far too many times. And for every fifteen moment of resistance, I am rewarded with one prolonged moment of failure.

It haunts me, that bag of those tiny chocolates. "Have some," they say in a nasally-gravelly Robert Evans-esque voice, "you'll like it."
"Of course I'll like it," I say, "but I'll like it too much. So no, I won't have any."
"Not no, yes" it replies ever so convincingly.
Damn it. Damn it ever so much.

I've lost track of my failures, but they're in the dozens over the past week, that much I can tell you.
Shame is awash over me.

Been a little less than diligent in sticking to my moratorium over the past few weeks.

The first and second breaks occurred during our work's year-end party. Dressed and dapper, we entered the ballroom and were immediately greeted with a tray containing flutes filled with wine. I picked up a white wine - Aden a red - took a sip and smiled. The hors'douvres were circulating and there was a grumble in my belly. I watched as one tray approached an had to do a double take when I looked down upon it... Pogos? Pogos! I took one without hesitation and giggled incessantly at the dichotomy of class and carnival... but then, it *was* a carnival theme (other appetizers circulating were french fries, nachos and mini hamburgers). Now, you might be wondering where processed-pork-byproduct-in-a-tube-shape covered in deep-fried cornmeal sits on the moratorium list. Well, I discovered, ever so sadly, that Pogos are loaded with the trans fats, so yeah, guess they're on the list now too.

I also had a few drinks other than wine during the evening. I'm inclined to say free drinks don't count, but even free counts.

I had a tiny bag of Sun Chips with my sub on Saturday. I just ate an orange loaf that had chocolate chips. I also had french fries during filming today (actually *for* filming). I've been bad.

Added to the moratorium:

Pogos
Pre-packaged mac and cheese
Frozen waffles

Or at least that's what I told myself. With my sister visiting on December 24th I relaxed my stance on imbibing libations... about a dozen times I'd say. A bartender's cheat sheet as my guide I was mixing an assortment of coctails for myself, learning about the proper name for things and making up my own... a "Purple Jesus" is grape juice and vodka, while a "Cape Cod" is cranberry juice an vodka. So using a cran-grape juice I created the Jesus' Codpiece. Sacrilicious.

Of course more than just liquor ingestion broke the moratorium... some leftover dip called for rippled potato chips (the first in 2 months) and of course chocolates. Christmas Day aside from some chocolate mints and chocolate covered peanuts, I managed to behave myself, but with another family get-together, that's certainly not going to last... mtk.

Update -12.29.07

I've been pretty restrained, overall, but a couple days of pressure and stress and general funlessness at work have driven me back to the bottle (and the crisps... which wasn't helped by the in-laws giving us a giant bag of leftover Halloween chips). True to form, breaking the moratorium only leads to more breaks in the moratorium. All you need to do is fall of the wagon once before you find it easier and easier to justify jumping off the wagon (hey, you can always catch back up to it again, can't ya?).

Anyway, I'm giving myself a few more days (namely three) to get it out of my system and be a bit more resolved in '08.

**ITEM**
We're selling comics, dvds and cds soon, Aden and I are. I will have a spreadsheet available of all items and prices (o.b.o), and Graig'slist will be hitting Craigslist and GeeBay around the same time... maybe... if I figure this whole internets resale thing out.

**ITEM**
I had a hamburger and fries and a vodka-laced beverage last night...and it was good. Breaking my own self-imposed rules makes me such the rebel, no?

**ITEM**
Apparently my RSS feed is a bit tankered, as the new installation of Moveable Type with all it's weird Java interfacedness isn't working up to snuff. It's causing headaches as comments and trackbacks are locked out, pinging's right off, and yup, the "convert line breaks" doesn't work properly. So previous posts you're probably seeing as one grand Kerouac-ian lump-o-text, but now, with this very post and the power of html encoding, you should see paragraphs (oh, the novelty of it all).

**ITEM**
Now that I'm not buying new music, I'm still able to get my fix of sounds-I've-never-heard thanks to CBC Radio 3 live streams and podcasts, and Vancouver's newest DJ GAK (mp3s available on-site or you can tune in live Mondays 10:30 - Midnight eastern or 7:30 - 9 pacific on CITR).

**ITEM**
The Ricky Gervais-fuelled, HBO/BBC produced Extras is airing from square one on the Comedy Network, starting last night (yeah, I know it's been on DVD for ages). Rating: Uncomfortably hilarious. Because Extras is a full half hour show, it runs longer with commercials added in the mix. As such Comedy Network has to fill in about 20 minutes of time and has turned to Adult Swim's 12-minute monstrosity Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. Rating: Bewildering. The show is not conventionally funny, but instead so beyond irreverent that you just have to stare in awe. Aden was stunned after a few minutes, unable to formulate words to describe it. The creators of the already peculiar Tom Goes To The Mayor un-cartoon have topped themselves, with the help once again of Mr. Show's Bob Odenkirk, and Walk Hard's John C. Reilly ("I'm not ready...").

**ITEM**
Aden received Battle of the Planets DVDs on loan from a co-worker, but they shall not be reviewed, because, quite frankly, there's no way in hell we're going to make it through watching all 16 episodes without either being drunk or wedging the corner edge of a table into our foreheads. The basic idea behind the show is it's a Japanese cartoon (or "anime" as all the kids call it) that was transported to America in the late 1970's, only Japan's cultural take on cartoons in that era were much different than the ol' USA's, and what was teenaged entertainment was made kid-friendly. Each episode was butchered to remove any real violence, any suggestion of death, or, quite frankly, logical storytelling. I wonder if any of the episodes retain even the basic plot of their Japanese counterpart? Instead, a little robot creature, 7-Zark-7 has been inserted into the cartoon, mainly through a voice over to either explain what's happening or to clarify to the kids that all the bad guys evacuated their exploded ship safely, were collected and are now behind bars. The Japanese Gatchaman tamed into Battle of the Planets by the same crew from the Superfriends (shared voice actors and similar musical accompaniment) is a bizarre experience; there's a curious similarity to how Space Ghost: Coast To Coast or Sealab: 2021 would re-use old animation for twisted new purposes, but here it's lacking creativity and moreover diminishing the original animation. Wikipedia details some of the big differences between the original and butchered remakes.

**ITEM**
All out of items for today.

A month and a half into Buy Nothing Year and I really haven't stated how my Diet-Nothing-Year (not a good name at all) is going. Well, I have to say, I'm not doing too badly, but not goodly either.

the Rundown

- Pop , normally not a problem for me but...
- Booze (excluding wine), ... I've taken to having a little rye and ginger or gin and soda lately. About on a week average
- Potato Chips ... well, the in-laws gave us a huge bag of leftover tiny bags of Hallowe'en chips which I divulged myself in on New Year's Eve. Also, succumbed to a craving two weeks ago.
- French fries, only two breaks here, one forced upon me while shooting the show, the other voluntarily ordered in a moment of weakness.
- Chocolate, hard to avoid sometimes as it sneaks itself into various loaves of bread or granola bars. I've stayed away from chocolate bars, but again, the in-laws provided us with a tray of chocolates and, well, I'm weak okay.
- Hamburgers, eaten with voluntary fries above. But just that once.
- Fast food, I've actually been able to stay away from this. It helps that most of it is indigestible tripe.
- Mayonnaise, the occasional sandwich has arrived with mayo on it, and Aden recently bought some Miracle Whip which has made it onto one slab of bread or another, but we're stingy with it.
- salad dressing, I only have it if it comes on my salad without me asking
- candy covered nuts, done and done... we went the other way and have been buying nuts in shells, leaving the nut bowl on the coffee table between the couch and the tele, meaning we snack on nuts more than anything else, and the additional effort to get at them means we eat less. Knowledge.
- anything with trans fat (Yoplait Yoptimal yogurt, pogos), been about 95% successful. Every now and again I wind up eating something only to read the label while eating it (a cereal or granola bar, yogurt, cheesies[ahem])
- donuts, with the exception of the occasional Timbit that gets thrust into my face, yup
- Cinnabons, love the smell, not the bloated uncooked dough and obscenely sweet icing that sits in the stomach after ingesting, so yeah, it's easy to stay away.
- Swiss Chalet, success!
- chicken wings from Pizza Pizza, ditto!
- onion rings, tritto!
- packaged cookies, we got a tin of cookies from somewhere that I dove into in one or two of my weaker moments. I'm not proud of myself.
- ice cream, belly remains unsullied by ice cream, thank you.

Overall, I'm not doing too terrible, as I don't consume any of the above on any basis that could be determined as "regular" but also, do break the moratorium quite frequently, more than I think I should. I mean, Aden and I eat quite healthy for the most part, making nearly everything from scratch as opposed to buying something premade or frozen, but at the same time, we do indulge our cravings every so often which isn't good. Every time we indulge a craving, it resets the crave-o-meter back to zero, and we have to start again. Because, you know, when your crave-o-meter reaches 110, you've broken your craving. Really.

On the budgeting side of food-related things, we've reduced eating out for lunch about once every two or three weeks (chile, stew, sandwiches, lasagna and soup are our regular lunch fare these days) and our eating out is about the same, once every two or three weeks. We don't count the occasional pizza into "eating" out, since it's a nominal expense ($10 - $13 feeding three plus one additional lunch, value!).

Hotflash - on the food moratorium since last report, I've been, well, in the not-so-good. I've eaten a few french fries and I've eaten Swiss Chalet (coincidentally both of those were at the same time, although the french fries were mistakenly brought instead of my potatoes, which were later brought at no charge but... you know... temptation + weak will = fatty). I even had a burger, but it was free, so does that count? I've been drinking a lot... well, not a lot, but a lot for me. About two drinks a week. Those drinks, often, have been rye and ginger ale, meaning I've been drinking pop, but only ginger ale, so that's kind of okay right? Maybe not. I blame my sister who left us with a dearth of alcohol before she moved out to BC. I've nipped into some salad dressing about three times, and the occasional bit of mayonnaise (well, it's Miracle Whip Light, which is only marginally less worse). Potato chips have gotten the better of me and enter my diet once every two weeks or so, but I've found Old Dutch's low-salt Rip-L-Chips which have half the sodium content of regular chips, which is, you know, almost better. I have, though, discovered that cheesies (almost all types) have trans fats so they're off the list. Trans fats only enter my system unawares, so I'll say yes, I've partaken but not intentionally so. Also having trans fats: Ice Cream. I did not know that, but there you go. Avoided! There was an incident with macaroni and cheese that has officially put me off it (thank you). Otherwise, I'm getting healthier, eating more fruits and veg than ever before, although I can unequivocally say that my red meat intake is pretty high right now and that I should really, really watch that.

Hotflash! - I missed all but the last 10 minutes of the second episode of this season's Battlestar Galactica... and you know, I didn't really care much. Didn't look like I missed anything important. We'll see how episode 3 goes.

Hotflash!! - To tell the truth, I missed BSG because of playoffs hockey. I've discovered the joy of having two games running on two different channels concurrently. Every time there's a stop in play on one, I just flip to the other... unless TSN happens to delay their broadcast because of golf (golf? Yeah, it's the Masters, but come on, man, this is playoffs hockey!). I'm a monster. That said, I get burnt out on hockey after about 5 hours so most Western division games I don't finish watching.

Hotflash!!! - Since my predictions last week here are how things are shaping up:
1) Caps v. Flyers -- tied 1 game a piece. Still looking pretty splotchy, but I now think the Flyers are looking more cohesive and team-like than the Caps.
2) Red Wings v. Preds -- Detroit leads 2 games to 1, but the Preds are giving them a show. Still looks like Wings in 5 or 6 games.
3) Pens v. Sens -- Pittsburgh up 3 games to nil. Expect the sweep to conclude tomorrow as predicted. And yes, I've been screaming "The Gonch!" a lot.
4) Flames v. Sharks -- Calgary surprised everyone with a crawl-from-behind victory in game 3 to lead the series 2 - 1, but the Sharks aren't going belly up any time soon. We may actually see a Calgary upset, but It's looking more and more like a 7 game series.
5) Canadiens v. Bruins -- though down 2 games to 1, the Bruins are showing signs of life. I still expect it to end in 5 games though. And that hit on Chara from game 1: hilarious

6) Rangers v. Devils -- Okay, I lied. I'm way into this series. Not that I want to see the Rangers (currently up 2 games to 1) win, but more that I want to see the Devil lose. There are some great rivalries in the NHL, from Gretzky and Lemieux to Crosby and Ovechkin, but I think Brodeur and Avery is easily the biggest freakshow.

7) Avs v. Wild -- I've chosen on the side of Colorado, but Minnesota is up 2 - 1 in the series, and despite the Avs pluck, I still don't think they're going to make it past 6. 8) Stars v. Ducks -- Another match-up I didn't really think I'd give a damn about, but it's been sheer joy watching Dallas trounce the (ugh) defending Cup champions 2 games to nil. Surprising, Stars, keep it up.

HOTFLASH!!!! -- starting next week, I'm going to try a little schedule with BNY. Mondays will be TV/TVonDVD day, Tuesdays will be Music day, Thursdays will be Movies day, and Friday will be comics day. Wednesday, Saturday and Sundays will be free days to post whatever or not post at all. I'll try this out but don't look for it to stick.

HOTFLESH -- I've caved and I've Booked myself in the Face. I hope you're happy. I'm already regretting it, and I'm just not sure I understand it yet, nor that I have/want to devote much time to it... but good to see some-y'all.

PotFlush! -- Aden and I learned on Sunday that, tragically, my Review of Dexter season 1 was incomplete. We were renting the DVDs from the local franchise video outlet, and each of the first two discs contained four episodes, while the third only had three. The fourth disc was labelled "Special Features" so we figured episode 11's ending to be the cliffhanger. We were wrong... the 12th and final episode was on disc four. Moops. Shit. Season 2 lies in wait.

MOBRUSH!! -- I mentioned before that I was running my first RPG campaign this month, and that did actually happen this past Sunday. It's the first part of a highly adventurous 8-part story that required a hell of a lot of planning. It took a good three weeks to get the structure of it all together, plotting out each chapter, devising the player component and their opposition, and creating a timeline for the overarching story structure. I spent some time training in my GM role and helping our newest player to get comfortable with what we do. I've really put a lot of thought into this (at least ten pages worth of notes to start), but I found myself quite unprepared on Saturday for the next-day's event, scrambling to review the Player Characters, notify the players of any changes needing to be made, and then revise the Non-Player Characters to make them formidable opponents. Then the scripting chores for the first issue were undertaken and with about an hour to spare, I was ready. Nervous as hell, but ready.

The game took a while to get started but once I got into the groove of it, I found it pretty easy. I had some assistance in helping the players to figure out their powers and everyone around the table was having fun with their characters, the concept and each other. Lots of suggestions going on, lots of teamwork and no attitude to speak of. The player's actions threw off my planning but good, yet I managed to fudge the structure just enough that it worked just as well, if not better than planned. It was over rather quickly for one of our games (about 3 hours long, 90 minutes shorter than common) but it felt like a full event, and everyone seemed pretty satisfied, including myself.

With one part of the 8-segment story out of the way, I'm feeling a bit of relief, in my GM performance, the players' reactions, and the story itself. It's come off pretty smoothly, all things considered. I have part 2 in two weeks to plan for, and I'm pretty jazzed to get there.

POTLATCHES -- for my birthday I forced Aden to buy me Kids in the Hall tickets at Massey Hall (June 5th). I'm happy, dammit! Onion AV Club interviews the lads (and, I noticed, the guys from Mythbusters too), cooldown

Oh, remember how I was on a certain "food boycott", or "moratorium"? Yeah, I'm not sure there's anything on there that I haven't broken in the past months:

- Pop aka Soda aka Coke: compared to some people I know (compared to some people that live in my basement) I don't drink a lot of pop... however... ginger ale has become a staple in my liquid intake... (see immediately below)
- Booze aka Alcohol (excluded wine): well, I've certainly been drinking wine, but I'm also back on the drink again, taking much pleasure in the mixing of libations. Rye and ginger ale is a perennial favourite, as is Cran-Grape and Vodka (I've had my first taste of potato vodka and I loves it), and of course Gin and (apple) juice (especially the good Tropicana fresh-pressed apple juice...yum). Oh, and chocolate martinis (equal parts vodka and creme de cacao on ice), served with a nice herbed havarti or smooth goat cheese. Yum. I don't drink a lot, or often, but I do so like it
- Potato Chips (also includes nachos, tortilla chips and corn chips): there was a period there where I just said "fuck it" and gorged myself silly. I've stopped that (for) now.
- French fries (mainly forcing me into the salad route): I have had french fries maybe 3 times in the past 3 months, but only a few at a time. I still always choose the salad option.
- Chocolate: I dipped into the little guy's Easter chocolates a few times, but each time I find it quite unsatisfying. I did also buy a Bounty bar a while back to curb some cravings but overall, I'm good at staying away (primarily because I quite object to paying over a dollar for a chocolate bar).
- Hamburgers (because I've been having terrible indigestion with them lately): oh... oh, it's been a bad, bad time of late. I had a hamburger a few weeks ago, and I had really strange dreams that night. I've also eaten hamburgers every day this week for the past four days (had a big father's day BBQ at the in-laws and we were sent home with too many leftovers). I'm now officially off burgers for another, let's say, six months.
- Fast food (the bad ones... Pizza and subs and Mediterranean is okay): still avoiding the fast food joints like the plague. The wife pulls me into a Harveys from time to time, and it's not a beautiful thing, let me tell you (I usually choose chicken or veggie burger... money not well spent)
- Mayonnaise: apparently Miracle Whip isn't mayonnaise. I have had a couple of sandwiches at restaurants come with mayo, but I've not personally requested or added Mayo to anything
- salad dressing: I've nipped into some oil and vinegar SD on occasion, and some restaurants serve their salad with house dressing even if you ask for "no dressing". For the most part, salad consumption is way, way up, and generally dressing free.
- candy covered nuts: (a strange item for the list, but yeah, I've avoided them) - anything with trans fat: what? Cheese has trans fat? NoooooooOOOOOOOooo! I still eat cheese. Anything else with trans fat, though, out of the diet as much as humanly possible.
- donuts: I was doing so good, that is until we went to SilverCity Yorkdale, the only movie theater with a Tim Hortons in it that I've been to (and they don't hyper-inflate their prices...crazy!). The craving overtook me and I had some. Then Kevin and Nat brought a couple boxes of donuts over for my birthday (evil) and left them behind (evil). I'm off donuts again. I gained a lot of weight on my birthday week. Yowza.
- Cinnabons (but not all cinnamon buns): we bought some incredibly trashy raspberry filled danishes off the discount cart at the grocery store at the end of May (I told you, I ate like crap then). Not cinnabons, but nasty, tasty stuff.
- chicken wings from Pizza Pizza: actually quite easy to avoid those travesties of cuisine
- onion rings: I've had a few, mostly from Aden/my Harvey's visits.
- packaged cookies: I'm sure I've had one or two, but I've purchased none, and I usually decline any offers (and regret it immediately if I don't decline)
- ice cream: all of it, contains trans fat. bad.
-Yoplait Yoptimal yogurt: actually the only yogurt I buy now is Western Dairy no-fat plain (for putting in the morning smoothie). It's got 2 ingredients, and is awesome.
- Pogos: not a one
- Pre-packaged mac and cheese: we made this recently (Master's Choice white cheddar) and my bowels screamed in protest. You see the amount of sodium in that stuff?
- Frozen waffles: some getting plenty freezer burned in the freezer (duh) right now. They'll stay that way

So I've been very, very awful in staying totally away from the moratorium foods, however... and this is a big, huge, gargantuan however... I'm eating probably 80% healthier than I was last year. I tend to have a fruit smoothie every morning (made with mostly organic fruits from our farmshare... more on that in a second) and the cereal we're eating is, mostly, on the low side of the ingredient count. That is to say plenty of shredded and/or puffed wheat. Things with less than five ingredients... we check labels diligently now.

Ah yes, the farmshare. As noted in the In Defense of Food review, we signed up for the community-shared agriculture via Plan B Organic Farms. Click the link and read all about it... but if you're lazy, here's the gist:

- you pay up front for a "share" of the farm's yield
- you can buy a half-share (10ish pieces) or a full share (18 pieces) and you get 20 weeks (starting 1st week of June) of fresh, as-the-land-provides produce from a local organic farm
- As opposed to "organic baskets" all the veggies are locally sourced, and in most cases coming from one farm (diversified crops)
- A fruit share is also available and contains fair trade, organic fruit (always locally sourced where possible)
- pick up shares weekly at the local community depot drop-off

We bought a 1/2 share of veggies and a fruit share, and today is our third week. We've been loving it, even though we've got more parsnips than we know what to do with (what do you do with parsnip anyway). The difference in quality of spinach or greens or cucumbers is noticeable compared to store-bought. The general price for us with both the half-share veg and the fruit share is about $40/week and is more than worth it. Getting our shares every week, we make a concerted effort to eat the fruits and veg as opposed to thinking about what we want to eat the coming week and buying it at the store and letting it go to waste. In fact we've not spent more than $80 in groceries the past three weeks (when our typical bill was about $120/week). It's a different way of thinking about our food and diet, but it's also a better way, I think. I definitely been eating much better meals than ever before thanks to it.

If you can't get to the local farmer's market (which is the best way to get your fruits/veg/meat, I suggest you go this rout. Supporting local farms and farmers not only provides them with a living but provides you with the best (nutrients-wise) and freshest food possible, equally minimizing the impact of transportation/shipping on the environment and the budget.

If you don't live in Toronto, try doing a search for "community-supported agricuture + [your town]" or consult this list