Panties for Peace in Myanmar

I have been an avid follower of the story and politics of Myanmar (formerly Burma) for quite some time. Many of you will know about the recent crack-down by the ruling Millitary Junta on pro-democracy demonstrations and the situation that ensued. If you're not. I'd reccommend Googleing "News Myanmar" and get caught-up.

Are we all on the same page now?

Aside from the obvious petition-signing, (don't get me wrong, I'm on them all) here's a great chance to do something a little more tangible and naughty

It's called Panties for peace in Myanmar (http://lannaactionforburma.blogspot.com/). It was started by a woman in Thailand, and is a brilliant idea. You see, most of the government in Myanmar, especially the Junta, are intensely superstitious, and believe that by touching a woman's panties or sarong they will loose their power. Really. I'm not joking here. This is a funny situation that we can exploit to our advantage.

So the idea is this: send some panties to their embassies as a form of protest. Myanmar has what is considered one of the worst millitary dictatorships in the world. I've heard their leader, Than Shwe, described as "Like Kim Jong-il, only more stupid". Despite huge ammounts of foriegn pressure, they still refuse to give up power they lost in a democratic election, and continue to abuse their own people.

If you are a woman send in some panties! (Use it as an excuse to buy some new ones, try http://www.barenecessities.com), if you are a man, get a woman to send some in!

If you are in Canada, send your knickers to:

Embassy of Union of Myanmar
Sandringham Building, 85 Range Road, Suite 902-903
The Sandringham, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 8J6
Tel: (613) 232-6434
Fax: (613) 232-6435
E-mail: meott@magma.ca
Head of Mission:
U Nyunt Tin (Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary)
Deputy Head of Mission:
Daw Yin Yin Oo (First-Secretary)

If you stick to something small, you should be able to post it for the regular cost of a letter (just stuff them in the envelope and shell out the $0.53 or whatever it is now).

If you're not in Canada check out http://www.myanmars.net/bluepages/myanmar.embassies.htm
to find your nearest embassy.

and include a letter explaining why you are doing this. Be specific, tell them you hope that by handling your panties, they will loose their power. And that they will recognize the democratically elected Aung San Suu Kyi. And whatever else you want to say.

By all means, take other action, get on those lists (http://www.uscampaignforburma.org/, http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/, http://www.thefreedomcampaign.org/, to name a few) talk to everybody you know and get them aware of this horrible situation, but why not mess a bit with some people and get a message across at the same time?

And please, pass this on to other people. Let's swamp the Embassy in underware! And report back, tell us what you sent, brief, boyshort, thong, g-string, whatever, and if you ever get any response, let's have it!

Thanks for reading.

My stomach talks #1

Is there anything more Canadian? More sublimly wonderful? More satisfying no matter the occasion, then Blueberry Pancakes? From the most humble "just add water" mix at the cottage, with some frozen berries and "table syrup", to my overly french inspired delicacies with over-priced Ontario Blueberries and Local Maple Syrup (also over-priced), there is truly no limit to the time or place for a good Blueberry Pancake. Some people like the buckwheat, some people fill them with bananas, some prefer a crepe, others want a waffle, but for me there is no contest. I'll eat them all, but my love is reserved for the one, the only, Blueberry Pancake.
So you really want one now, right? Okay, this is the ultimate, substitute as necessary, but try for 100% duplication. This recipe is for about 2 hungry people, who might like to share a bit with their lovable dogs.

Organic Ontario eggs, like three
Organic Buttermilk, a cup or so will do
Baking powder, 1 tbsp
Salt (sea or kosher), 1 tsp
Pure vanilla extract, 1 tsp
Organic A/P flour, procured from the Tyrone Mills , a few cups will do
Fresh Ontario (over-priced) Blueberries, enough to put in however many pancakes you're making
Unsalted butter, enough for frying
Pure Ontario (not Vermont) Maple Syrup, for presentation.

Okay, seperate the eggs, right? Whites in the bowl for your mixer (I'm lucky enough to have a kitchen aid, but a bowl and whisk will do), yolks in a big mixing bowl. Add about a cup of milk, the baking powder, salt, and vanilla and mix it all together. Then add some flour, maybe 2 cups worth? Mix all that till it's smooth (NO LUMPS!!!). Okay, what's the consistency look like? you want something roughly the consistency of Oatmeal (just no lumps, remember?). Thick. Thicker then you think Blueberry Pancake mix should be. Trust me. Now, but adding back and forth milk and flour, you can acheive this consistency, as well as bump up the volume to suit how hungry you are. Once you're over-thick batter is ready, set aside. Using whatever technology you prefer, whip those eggs whites to hard peaks (for those non-foody people out there, think the top of a lemon-meringue pie. When you lift the whisk out of it, it should make a pointy peak that stays up). Once you've got that, drop the whole she-bang into the over-thick batter. Fold it all together. Normally you fold using a rubber spatula, very gently bringing the mix at the bottom to the top, trying to incorporate it all together without knocking too much of the air out of the eggs. The instant it's all one colour stop. Handle the bowl gently from this point on, all that air you just folded in is going to make the most wonderfuly light Blueberry Pancakes. Heat a frying pan (or two if you're feeling industrious) over medium high heat (my stove has 1-10, and I set it on 7). Once heated, drop in some butter. Do the little pan-swirly deal to get it all over (even if you're using a non-stick pan, which I do, the butter helps flavour the Blueberry Pancakes). Using a ladle or something drop some batter into the pan. The size is up to you, I like a final product about the size of a cd. Give a few seconds (30 tops) then drop some blueberries on each pancake. They'll sink in a bit. In my cd-sized pancakes, I aim for 15-20 berries. Okay, these bad boys aren't like your average aunt jemima, bubbles will never break the surface, as they're too airy, you're just going to have to watch the bottom edges, and flip them when you see the edges colouring. I like something in the Mahogeny brown colour range. Don't leave them too long in the flipped state, the berries will burn, which will be a let down. Once done, you can either serve to the waiting masses (who you've hopfully made tea or coffee for), or chuck them into an oven on it's lowest setting to hold. If you do this, try not to stack them, as the bottom ones will get soggy. Serve with more butter, possibly some fresh berries thrown over the top and lots of (over-priced) Maple Syrup. So good I almost can't take it.

Enjoy.

Oh yeah, I got a new tattoo and also got my leg peice finished, but I've no pics yet, so more on that later.

10 Months

Yeah, okay, I hear you, 10 months is a long time to not update your blog.
Let me give you a quick list of good excuses why
1. My computer is in a long-term state of temporary-fixedness
2. I qut my job at Starbucks (okay, that was only like a month ago, but I would have updated then if not for that)
3. We've had some pet changes that have been keeping me busy: At Christmas time we had to put our old retreiver, Kody, down, as he had cancer. Then in January we got a big mixed mongrel, Barley. He is part Golden retreiver, part Collie, and part Malmute (we think). He came to us via Ann and Pete, the same people we got Boston from. And just this past Monday we had to have Jack, Erika's childhood cat put to sleep. Cancer as well. Needless to say we're pretty sick of cancer at this point.

Well I sure feel better about the whole 10 month situation now......

So I quit my job, which was wonderful. I had enough sick time to keep me paid for 2 weeks, so awesome! Anyways, now I'm doing rennovation work with my buddy Anton. I'm working like 50 hour weeks, and enjoying it. Weird. Anyways, that's enough for now, I didn't actaully have some mind-blowing inspriation to write, I just though I needed to break the silence.

Stage fright

Okay, so here's the thing. I don't really get scared in front of crowds. Occasionally I've been known to get the shakes *after* some sort of big performance, but before and during? Never. An example: I played a really fun small coffee house with two good freinds of mine last weekend. We didn't really know what to expect. We definitely didn't expect to be the headline band (funny, as we didn't have a name), but there we were. Nor did we expect the first opening band to be a *very* well rehearsed band, who obviously practised more, wrote more, and generally cared more. None the less, when we stepped up on to a (literally) shaky stage, with questionable monitors (acctually, our drummer Remi's didn't work at all), and me reading a hand-srcawled chord chart, I wasn't the slightest bit nervous, and really, I should have been, My wife and my best freind were in the crowd, and they have long memories.
SO, you can imagine my surprise when, last night, at Boston's first obedience class, I was really quite scared to get up when the instructor asked if any of our Dogs knew any tricks yet. Boston and I fumbled our way through sit and lie-down, and we got a bone-award for our troubles, but there it is: I was quite scared for us. Boston, for his part seem about as interested in the tricks as ever (which is to say, interested until he feels there are no further treats to be had). I was also quite nervous when we were doing what the instructor was telling us. Was he getting it? Did it look like he cared that I really wanted him to eat the treat and then look at me, like he did for the instructor? Why can't I seem to look away long enough to see if all the other dogs are being equally unsuccessful? Next week Erika is the handler, so theoretically, I won't have anything to comment on for two weeks, but who knows, maybe watching our little Beagle sniffing everywhere but where he's meant to will cause me just as much fright as a spectator. He's quite fun to cuddle with while watching tv though

Boston

Well, we got a new dog. Acctually, he's not too new, he's two years old, but he's new to us. This past saturday, through a series of weird, God-led type events, we ended up in a place called Potageville, not far from Canada's Wonderland, walking a fairly high strung beagle along a dirt road. He came home with us and has settled in quite nicely. He had been rescued from a shelter where he'd been picked up as a stray (beagles are known for wandering off). He had then been fostered by a lovely couple called Anne and Pete. They had placed him with a family, but the single mother didn't have time for him, and as he wasn't housebroken, they returned him fairly quickly. While living with them, he was attacked by a large dog, and still has the teeth marks in his back to prove it. The poor little guy had a pretty rough go, but hopfully things will settle down for him now. Here's a few pics to show him off

Kody and Boston

More Boston

Here's the other picture. He really is quite cute. Some of his favourtie things are sniffing jsut about everything he sees, following us around like we're going to abandon him at any second, and sleeping on the couch.

Boston

Cell phones

Okay, I know just about everyone has some tirade on the over-use of cell phones in the world, but here is mine:
Working at Starbucks, I get a lot of customers who are on their cell phones. I don't know who they're talking to, maybe business people, or family, or freinds. No matter. BUT, when they get to the front of the line, they lean over and quitely order their drink, trying to be polite and not interrupt their friend/whatever. They then are nearly impossible to talk to, which can cause problems, when you need such information as "what size?". Damn. So I've come to realize something: There are some people in the workd who are rich or powerful or cool enough, that those issues they are dealing with on that phone, need to be resolved at that instant. These people, however, should have staff who can deal with the issue for them, allowing them to order their coffee like a normal human being. Or, if the customer is vital to the conversation, the same staff could come and get the coffee on their behalf. Why is it that soccer-mom house-wives feel that their day is so consumed with making sure the nanny gets the kids out of the house, making sure the nanny gets back to clean the house, and going to get their nails done, that they must order coffee and bitch at their freinds on their blackberries at the same time? And why do they need balckberries? Do the nannies e-mail them updates about vaccuuming?
Okay, I'm done.

Three thingsclose to my heart

It's been a while, I know, my sincerest apologies. Life continues on. The weather is warming up very nicely, my minds turns to the garden and barefeet. It's true I love winter, but I also adore the warmth of summer. I can't wait. Now that I've held you in suspense regarding the title of this blog, I'll show my hand:
The three things are this:
The ONE campaign.
Please take some time and check this out. http://www.one.org/
"This is not a cause, it's an emergency" Bono
The Lance Armstrong Foundation
A support for those living with cancer. http://www.laf.com/
and now that I've depressed the hell out of you:
http://www.lonelyplanet.mytripjournal.com/pims-voyage
My father-in-law's blog detailing his world trip. Good for some happiness and nice pictures.