Are you ready for Halloween? Halloween is one of those holidays (if you can call it that) where you can easily make the most of it and fill it with several fun events or simply do nothing and watch it quickly pass.  Why not make the most of it and hit at least two halloween parties and plan some kind of an adventure!  If you’re going to be handing out candy… you can take the traditional route OR you can make a difference by providing more ethical and ecologically sound treats.  You’ll feel better about yourself for passively educating the kids and their parents by supplying these treats, and when gorging on the leftovers.  Even more, you can even take part in reverse trick-or-treating!

Want some last minute costume ideas? Try this alphabetized list here, and this list here but be SURE to check out these details here.  And you too can be David Suzuki !

Having a Halloween Party? For a killer environment (no pun intended) string up some spider webbing from your walls to your ceiling (as seen in picture below) and plug in a couple of blacklights.  Spider webbing can be attached to walls and ceiling easily, using poster tack.

If you’re in the Toronto area, you might want to check out this year’s “Halloween Haunt” at Canada’s Wonderland.  It’s sure to be a blast!

Enjoy!

Forget the fact that it’s romantic, watching a meteor shower is great for recalibrating your perspective on things… all things.   

There isn’t much that allows you to feel your place spatially on this planet more, than to look up at a clear night sky at the wonders of the universe.  Take the time to search out this experience and it may forever change your perception of life.   Again, a good meteor shower can also be quite a romantic experience to share with a partner or potential partner.   The next notable meteor shower will be presented to us from the star constellation of Perseus, peaking in intensity on August 12, 2009 and is known as “the Perseids meteor shower” which occurs annually.  Here’s a good introduction to what you can expect.   If you’re really keen and already own (or can borrow) a telescope, you can actually watch the meteors colliding with the moon.   This would probably be a less romantic and more frustrating venture as there would only be one eyepiece per telescope and you may or may not see anything happen, but it is still worth a mention.   It is also important to note that in the evening of Tuesday August 11th between 9-11pm EST will be the best display of “earthgrazers” which are the bright colourful fireballs that skim slowly across the atmosphere.   NASA has THIS excellent article explaining the phenomenon.

So, this is what you need to do….

1) Reserve your date for the experience and don’t tell them what you’re doing but tell them it’s an outdoor thing, so it would be good to dress warmly and also mention that it’s totally weather-dependent, so you might want to have a back-up plan if rains.

2) Research your local area to find out where the best place would be to go, maybe a field or a park nearby with no lights and a good distant horizon all around (or at least in the north east horizon of the sky).  If you’re really picky, get a hold of a local amateur astronomy group and ask them for advice on where to go (keeping in mind that you don’t want to be in a single small field filled with amateur astronomers while you’re on your wonderful and romantic date).

3) Pack a large blanket that will likely get dirty, a couple of pillows and something fun to smoke if you indulge in such pleasureful debauchery

4) Get to where you’re going on the evening of August 12th and enjoy!!

5) If you have a great experience, come back to this site, write in a comment below and let us know how it went!

Pic from: http://iya2009.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/perseidradiantnortheast.jpg

If you haven’t read Part 1, here it is and please read it first…

If you are interested in kicking it up a notch, here’s what you need to do…

1)  Google search ”yacht clubs”, “sailing clubs” and “sailing lessons” for your area/vicinity and bookmark each of the websites in a new folder, or write down all the website names/contact phone numbers…

2)  Find out when their next “Open House” is going to be for their sailing school then RSVP for you and a friend. 

3)  Learn a little bit about sailing on your spare time, it never hurts to acquire knowledge about anything.

What usually happens is there’s either a bbq or some snacks and pop for sale (very affordable, to cover costs), you mingle with the instructors and club members, and they take you on a FREE 20-30 minute boat ride on a 27-33 ft sailboat with a few other prospective students.   Great place to get trigger-happy with each others cameras again.  They’ll even get you to steer the boat if you want.  Now that’s a sweet photo-op.   And who knows, you might fall in love with it and when you’re not a starving student anymore…. You might just take up sailing.   There’s a lot to be said about the freedom of going wherever you want to go, not using fossil fuels to get around and having a 2 bedroom  mini-cottage (kitchen, bathroom, bar, etc.) below deck. 

NOTE:  Your “word-of-mouth advertising” afterwards of your experience (and your date’s experience) will only help the club in the future anyway, so you don’t need to feel guilty for the free ride.

Enjoy!!

Want another idea for an affordable date? Then read on….

What you will need:

- 2 fully charged digital cameras… One for you, and your date can bring theirs.   Make sure you have lots of memory (empty cards preferrably, you will see why later)

- bottle of water

- pack some healthy snacks (granola bars, fruits, etc.)

- a nearby park, forest, mountain or beach!

Now, here’s what you do…

1) Trade cameras and show each other the basics on how to operate them.

2) Go for a walk and just take LOTS of pictures.  Take pictures of landscapes, candid random pictures of your date, posed shots apart and together,  action shots, be creative!   Learn to use the macro feature on the camera and get close-ups of each others eyes, faces, flowers, tree bark, bugs, etc.   Just be creative!

3) When you come across a really cool spot with a great view, take a break! Whip out your water and snacks and enjoy!

By trading cameras, you are adding an element of risk and trust-building with your date.  This is a good thing.  When you’re checking out the pictures later on together, you can play the game that you are only allowed to delete 3 pictures that the other person has taken and they have to choose wisely…

You can learn a lot about yourself and your partner’s insecurities by looking at all of the pictures together while hanging out with someone new.  Most importantly your own issues.  Is there something you don’t like about yourself? Your posture perhaps? Your ”weight”? your hygiene? or something else you’re observing? This is key to pinpoint so that you can start to practice accepting yourself  (improving yourself could be a good first step) leading to ultimately moving to truly loving yourself, which will then bring you to a better place mentally and emotionally and you will be more desirable (possibly your current date?).  Why wouldn’t someone want to be with someone who exudes real confidence and self-acceptance?  And it never hurts to have a larger selection of pictures of yourself… There could be a gem in there that may end up on the mantle of your future grandchildrens’ homes…  Or at least as a profile pic on Facebook or on a future internet dating profile pic…  Just go out and have fun!

In the end, you will have mostly pictures of yourself  when you get your camera back, (which you’ll highly appreciate, years down the road) but those ones of the both of you will be a wonderful treat…

In Part 2,  a whole other more adventurous adventure awaits…

If skiing or snowboarding is a passion for you, and you want to make the most of it this season, read on…

If you’ve never considered a season pass, or are looking to pick one up this year, early Fall is the best possible time of year to get the best “early bird” deals on them!!

This is what you do:

1. Figure out, realistically, how often and when you’d be able to go (and where).   Get a rough number of the amount of trips and write that down.
2. Visit the websites of your local hot ski spots that you are considering and check out the prices for their daily lift ticket.
3. Multiply the price of the daily lift ticket, by the number of days that you realistically believe you could make it out to the slopes.  Write that number down.
4. Go to the Season Pass tickets section of your local ski resort websites and review the options (for example, full 7 day/night pass vs. 5 weekday/7 weeknight pass vs  full evening pass, etc.) and find which you would most efficiently make the most of for the price.  IMPORTANT: “Early bird” pricing for 2010 Season Passes are available now! (Make note of when the price goes up for your choice resort/s).  This is why you’re doing this now!!
5. Compare the $ figure you calculated in step 3. with the favoured passes in step 4.
6. If the numbers are almost the same, you are probably better off holding on to your money an NOT getting a Season Pass.  If you find that you will accrue significant savings aquiring a Season Pass, then there’s your answer.  Now compare driving distances, prices and preferences between resorts before you narrow it down to your winner. 

For Southern Ontario, I have found that the most affordable and worthwhile season pass to get, all things considered, is the 5*7 Pass for Blue Mountain (of course, it all depends on where you live).

Need a ride to the slopes? Join a local ski or snowboard club that’ll help get you there! In Toronto, check these guys out.

If you too are from Southern Ontario, the Toronto Ski, Snowboard and Travel Show at Exhibition Place and it is a great place to pick up some new or used gear as well as to get you stoked!!  Can’t afford to get in? No worries!! Read on…

This is what you do:

• Arrive about a 30-40 minutes before they open to the public, walk around the sides of the Automotive Building looking for a random door that has been stealthily propped open by smokers who are having their last smoke before the big rush, greet them with a smile and a ”It’s gonna be a busy day!” and walk in like you belong there (holding your coffee in your hand for full authenticity).
• If you get asked who you’re with, it’s up to you to abort the mission or have an answer. Head to the washroom and chill out for a little while until 5 minutes after they start letting people in, now you’re home free!  Well, almost…. You have just introduced a little bit of bad karma into your world…

Photo: pRaNaJuLeS in heaven!

On Saturday November 28, 2009, millions of people will be participating in the 17th annual Buy Nothing Day, which is a fast-growing, successful event/campaign to promote awareness of consumerism and its effects on society, culture and the environment.

It is the perfect opportunity for you to bring to your awareness your own bad consumerist habits that you unconsciously indulge in, such as buying a cup of coffee every morning, fast food lunch every day, or chocolate bars or chips.   Adbusters posted a great article this month titled ‘Nothing To Do But Shop’ which you can read here.

To prepare for Buy Nothing Day (in order to get the most out of it), this is what you do:

1. Print this card and carry it with you in your wallet, in front of your credit card or debit card.
2. Visit this forum to find out about an event (to engage in numerous pranks and shenanigans) near you.
3. Try having a Buy Nothing Day TOMORROW! and document your story by adding a  comment, below.