Published!

To my surprise and delight, I received an email this morning from an editor at Schmap Online Guides letting me know that one of my Seattle photos has been selected to be a part of their latest "Schmap Seattle Guide"!

She found it on my Flickr account - it's a photo I took last September, of the Seattle Monorail at the Westlake Center.

This is the one:


Pretty cool, huh? You can check out how it's being used in the Schmap Seattle Guide online under the "Public Transport" section here!

This year, when in Seattle (gosh, it'll be so soon - less than 2 months away!) I definitely plan to take even more photos, and if I have the time (and internet connection), I'd love to do a travel blog of sorts while I'm there. I definitely took enough photos to do one last year, and this year is bound to be no different!

Crossroads

As many of you already know, Kevin has been, for some time now, unemployed. He has also actively been seeking employment ever since the day he lost his job. It has been three months now, and although he has had some interviews, he has yet to find anything.

While I realize the market is tough right now, and that the really economy sucks, I still don't understand how it is that someone as qualified, talented, and dedicated as my husband can be interviewed for positions that he is absolutely perfect for, and yet somehow, not get hired for any of them. This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to me. At all.

For the most part, he isn't applying for "pie in the sky" types of jobs, either - he's applying for basic office/administrative assistant types of jobs that in all likelihood won't pay him anything near what he used to make, but he is more than qualified for. The man has a college degree, for goodness sake - plus real world experience. He's intelligent, flexible, a fast learner - I just don't get it. I don't understand it one bit.

I'm not sure what the numbers are up to now, but I know that about a month into this process, he had already applied for well over 100 jobs. Edit - just spoke with him, and as of last week, he is nearing 200 jobs applied for...

Part of the problem that he and I have come to realize over the last three months is that Orlando, as a metropolitan area, is somewhat limited in the types of jobs it even has to offer. Most everything out there right now is either sales/marketing, IT, or healthcare. And, with a bachelor's degree in a subject that doesn't readily lend itself to any of those fields - History - it's somewhat understandable why he's been having such a difficult time finding anything. I can't really picture the man doing sales - he's not the pushiest of people - and while he would be good at something IT-related, he is definitely not qualified without any formal training. And healthcare? We won't even go there.

In any case, all of this to say that recently, Kevin and I have been seriously re-evaluating our lives here in Central Florida.

For some time now, he and I both have been getting somewhat antsy - discontent, if you will - with the status quo. We've grown weary of the heat, the humidity, the lack of vegetation other than palm trees, the tourist traps, the serious lack of precipitation, and the overabundance of allergens that are present year-round. We're ready for a change. A big change.

Last year, we visited Seattle for the first time. And, straightforward: We fell in love. With the city! With the Pacific Northwest. With the hip, liberal attitude, and the vibrant downtown. With the sustainable, earth-friendly, locally-supplied restaurants and the availability and ease of public transportation. With the proximity of towering, mysterious mountains juxtaposed against the coolness of the Pacific Ocean. With the lush environment and the overcast, windy days. We even loved the rain.

So it's no surprise that for the past year, our sleeping dreams and waking daydreams have been overrun with thoughts of relocation. We constantly engage in conversation that has evolved from "how awesome it would be to live there..." to now "how awesome it will be when we live there..." - moving to Seattle has gone from being a pipe dream to now being a near certainty in our future. The only uncertainty left is precisely when that move will happen.

We go back and forth over whether it would be best to move sooner or later. There are certainly pluses and minuses on each side of the matter.

If we hold off on the move for a few more years, that would certainly give us time to save up money, and it would also give us time to possibly start a family - have a baby, and share that experience with all of his family that lives locally here in Orlando. Having family nearby would certainly make having a baby easier - aside from having built-in babysitters (which would of course be a huge plus), simply having the love and support so close would be wonderful. And of course, there is the part of us that truly doesn't want to deprive his family of the opportunity to share that experience and those early baby years with us.

However, on the flip side, if we move within the next year or so, that would give us an opportunity to really enjoy the city together and go out and explore our new corner of the country without having to worry about a baby, too. We could live downtown in an apartment built for two (and a dog!), and we'd be free to stay out late exploring the city's nightlife, and to go off on weekend adventures kayaking Puget Sound or hiking the Cascades. We could really take the time to establish ourselves in our new locale - to find good careers and to really build a life for ourselves out there, before adding a baby into the equation.

I also read a report recently about the current state of the nation's economy that had a map showing where the recession was throughout the country, and where it was going in the future. Washington (and most of the Pacific Northwest) is expected to be the first area of the country to recover from this recession - meaning that it would certainly be the most ideal place to be once things start to pick back up, especially since it's already showing slight signs of recovery. On the other hand, Florida is expected to be one of the very last parts of the country to begin recovery. It's likely that even now, Kevin will have a better chance of finding a job in Seattle than he has had for the last three months looking in Orlando.

So, with all of these many factors on the table, he and I are certainly standing at a crossroads in our lives. Relocating to Seattle would mean a HUGE change - undoubtedly, one of the biggest changes of our lives. We would be thousands of miles away from everything and everyone we have ever known. We would truly be on our own. But with Kevin's unemployment situation nearing four months now and with no hope of future prospects, the thought of picking up and starting anew - of wiping the slate clean and moving somewhere full of new possibilities and untapped potential - is beyond tempting.

We are nowhere near making any final decision at this point - if anything, it's likely Kevin will simply start applying to jobs in both cities. And wherever fate decides to lead us, we just may follow.

The Culprit

So, for years now, I have struggled with a variety of digestive issues (stomach pain after eating, gurgling noises, loose bm's, bloating, nausea, etc) that would generally come and go. I typically chalked it up to my known lactose intolerance, which I have apparently had since I was born. I also typically ignored the fact that these symptoms would appear even after meals that didn't include dairy of any sort - I'm not sure why I ignored something so blatantly obvious as that, but most likely, it probably had something to do with the fact that I really didn't want (or need) another food allergy.

Lactose intolerance is, after all, hard enough to live with all by itself (I absolutely love dairy) - worsened by the fact that up until recently, I was a vegetarian. And if you've ever been a vegetarian, you know that a good 1/3 of your diet consists of dairy. The other 1/3 of veggies, and the last 1/3 of carbs. And while there are various products on the market to help individuals like myself deal with lactose intolerance, in my honest opinion, they don't really work. More often than not, I end up just dealing with it - I might go out for some ice cream (and as a precautionary measure, take some lactaid pills beforehand, just in case), but always with complete knowledge that I will simply suffer for it later.

This past winter, however, for reasons I still have yet to discover, my symptoms grew far worse than ever before. No longer did they manifest merely every now and then, and they were definitely not simply tied to only meals including dairy - they were increasingly consistent in both frequency and severity. Pretty much every meal I ate caused my stomach to ache painfully afterward, and I felt fatigued and bloated all the time. My bm's were clearly abnormal - up to as many as eight times a day and always loose and discolored. My stomach and digestive system would make strange noises, and there were many days I could do nothing but lie on the couch in agony. I tried avoiding all things dairy, but even such a sacrifice as that proved ultimately unhelpful. The symptoms persisted relentlessly, and I was left wondering what on Earth had gone wrong with me.

What confused me the most about the onset of all of these health problems was the fact that I was (and still am) a relatively healthy individual (or at the very least I most certainly strive to be one). As mentioned, I was a vegetarian (for 9 years) so I ate a great deal of vegetables and whole grains. I rarely eat anything made from refined flour - no white bread, no white rice - we're talking all whole wheat, whole grain breads, pastas, brown rice, and so on. I exercise regularly, drink plenty of water, am an avid green tea connoisseur, and consider one of my top 5 favorite foods to be strawberries. I actively try to do all of the "healthy" things so often promoted as being part of a "healthy lifestyle".

So WHY was I having so many health issues???

I decided to take the next logical course of action (that is, after several months of concerned insistence from Kevin, his parents, my father, and most of my friends) and go see my doctor about my many health problems. It made sense - he's a medical practitioner, he'll be able to diagnose and thusly treat my condition. I assumed that within a few months' time, I would be back to a normal, healthy individual.

Unfortunately, my doctor was not as helpful as I had initially hoped.

Knowing my history for severe allergies, he first prescribed me another oral allergy medicine, thinking it might clear up my symptoms. No such luck. At the next visit, he recommended I begin taking fiber supplements and tentatively diagnosed me with IBS. I did as prescribed, but still saw very little change in my condition. He ordered a stool sample and some blood tests, but again, still found nothing. My ob/gyn suggested I start taking probiotics. I did, and along with the fiber supplements, noticed a very slight improvement but still nothing worth noting. My doctor then referred me to both an Allergist and a Gastroenterologist, but unfortunately, with nothing but catastrophic health insurance coverage, and Kevin having suffered a recent job loss, and each visit costing potentially $800 or more, these were avenues I could not pursue. It seemed as though nothing would help. I began to wonder if I was doomed to forever suffer discomfort after every meal I ate, and if my digestive tract would ever be normal again.

I began doing my own research via the interwebs. I started with the symptom checker tool at webmd, and explored the various possible diagnoses contained therein. One possible explanation that came up often in my research was food allergies and intolerances. Again, while deep down inside really hoping this was not the case, I decided it was time to start giving the thought some merit. After all, I do suffer from some pretty severe allergies along with one already-diagnosed food intolerance - lactose. The likelihood of my possibly suffering from another intolerance was that much greater.

My findings all lead to the same inevitable conclusion: I would have to undergo an elimination diet in order to accurately diagnose whether or not I was suffering from any kind of food allergy or intolerance.

Using information gathered from my research about the top food allergens in the U.S. along with knowledge of which of those allergens my diet included, I embarked upon a 6-week-long food trial. I elected to completely cut out not just dairy (which I already knew irritated my digestive system) from my diet, but also wheat as well. Since, in my attempts to be a healthier individual, I ate so many products containing wheat (bread, pasta, etc) - and truthfully, a great portion of my diet consisted of this grain (we're talking breakfast, lunch, and dinner!) - I figured it was the first logical allergen to check.

Now, cutting out wheat is not nearly as easy as one might imagine. Wheat gluten, the specific allergen in wheat, is in practically everything! Not just is it in the obvious wheat pastas, breads, cereals, tortillas, breadcrumbs, and so on, but it's also hidden in everything else from almost all baked goods, most processed cheeses and lunch meats, soups, sauces, dressings, marinades, and even chocolate! Label reading would be a MUST if I had any hope of success.

I decided to go the all-or-nothing route, figuring it would be the surest path to success - I would go to my local natural, organic food stores, and I would stock up on everything I would need for the next month. Gluten-free pasta, sandwich bread, tortillas, cereal - you name it. If it was something I ate regularly, I got it, but in gluten-free form. All of my meals - breakfast, lunch, and dinner - would be entirely gluten-free. It would be somewhat pricey venture, as most gluten-free products are considerably more expensive than their wheat-containing counterparts. But, it could also be worth it. If, after 4-6 weeks, I failed to see any improvement in my condition, I would know for sure that I was not allergic to wheat gluten, and I'd be able to move on with my life.

After the very 1st week, I knew I was doomed. My symptoms disappeared almost entirely.

By the end of week 4, there was no room for doubt - eliminating wheat and all things gluten (along with any cow-milk dairy) from my diet made all of my symptoms completely disappear. I felt 100% better than I had felt in years. I felt like a normal human being again. I felt healthy.

After all of that - all of the doctors visits, the months and years of digestive discomfort, the confusion over what was wrong with me - I finally know. I can't say I'm entirely pleased with the discovery.

The fact that I am gluten-intolerant (along with being lactose-intolerant as well) is certainly making my life more difficult. Eating out is like navigating a minefield - it is near impossible. Buying gluten-free products at the store is unavoidably expensive, and requires that I shop at three different stores just to get the best prices. Some of my favorite pass-times have to now be re-evaluated - baking cookies, brownies, homemade bread - all of these activities have to now be altered with gluten-free baking flour (which is honestly quite the science experiment, since I'm never entirely sure how it'll turn out), and even something as simple as going over to Kevin's parents' house for dinner is now a stressful experience, as I have to worry about whether or not the dinner they're serving is safe for me to eat (and in most cases, it isn't) - in which case, I am faced with either not eating much of anything, or eating what they serve, and then suffering greatly for it later.

And perhaps the greatest difficulty that I'm finding so far with this ongoing war with gluten is the fact that unlike my lactose intolerance, on those occasions that I do have to slip up and eat something with gluten in it, the suffering is far worse and way more far-reaching than it ever was when I would just have a little ice cream now and then. Instead of suffering for a few hours, I end up suffering for a few days. Definitely doesn't feel worth it, that's for sure.

In any case, I am thankful for one thing. I am SO thankful that I'm no longer a vegetarian. If I were, there would literally be almost nothing I could eat. The fact that I now eat meat gives me a great many more gluten-free options than I would otherwise have.

So I suppose that's the silver lining in all of this.

It's funny, this blog started off being about my transition from vegetarianism to meat-eating. And now, it appears as though it has a new direction: my transition from eating like a normal human being, to eating gluten-free.

Expect more posts in the future about my trials and tribulations concerning gluten-free living. I'm almost guaranteed to have a plethora of new material, thanks to my new diet.

Uninspired?

I'm seriously the worst blog updater EVER.


The end.

Top 5 Friday - Cereals!!

Once again, taking a cue from the lovely lady Lauren, I am participating in "Top 5 Friday" - this week's theme: Cereals!

When I was a child, I really loved cereal. I think it was mostly due to the fact that I loved milk. I was one of those weird kids who didn't drink soda or even juice, and opted instead for either water or milk. Skim milk, yes, but milk. Chocolate if I could swing it. (Later in life, after hitting puberty, I learned that thanks to the added growth hormone in most processed milk, little girls have been "developing" at a more rapid pace than in the past - turns out my love of milk was really my undoing... early puberty, big boobs, ugh!) Anyway, what's weird about this is that I kind of hated (and to this day, still do) soggy cereal. So although my theory is that I ate cereal because of my love for milk, I would never actually use a lot of milk - just enough to wet the cereal, but not enough to turn mushy.

For awhile, especially during late high school and college, I went through a period of absolutely hating cereal. I don't really know why this came about - whether it had something to do with the fact that my lactose intolerance was getting worse and I had to use soymilk instead, or if, going back to my theory, because I was no longer drinking regular milk (or even a fan of it, having learned what it did to me as a kid), my love of cereal had been completely diminished.

Recently, however, I have rediscovered my love for cereal. Granted, I have to avoid most cereal right now (unless it's specifically gluten-free cereal), but I still have some favorites that when tempted, I'll dive right into.

So, without further ado, my top five (in no particular order):

1. Cocoa Bumpers - All the goodness of Cocoa Puffs, but better for you (and the environment)! This cereal is still chocolaty and crunchy, but it's organic and has none of the yucky processed ingredients (like high fructose corn syrup) that it's name-brand counterpart does.

2. Annie's Cocoa & Vanilla Bunnies Cereal - Can you tell I'm a bit of a chocoholic? In my opinion, it's never too early in the morning for some yummy chocolate! Anyway, what I love about this cereal (and really, all of the "Annie's Homegrown" products) is that it's all little bunny shapes! And of course, it's organic and free from the bad stuff. Also, the combination of cocoa and vanilla flavors in this cereal adds a little extra something over other cocoa-flavored cereals.

3. Honey Nut Cheerios - These are classic. Dating back to my childhood, I would tote around a ziploc bag of this cereal almost everywhere I went. What I most love about this cereal is the fact that it's tasty with or without milk, and although a big name brand, it's still healthy and all natural.

4. New Morning Cocoa Crispy Rice - A recently discovered favorite, this gluten-free rice cereal packs a whole lot of flavor, and still manages to be organic and low in fat. I daresay it tastes even better than it's namebrand counterpart, Cocoa Crispies.

5. Erewhon Rice Twice - Another gluten-free cereal that I'm a big fan of, this cereal is organic and fat free, and doesn't upset my gluten-intolerant tummy. The best part? It actually snaps, crackles, and pops!

Hope you enjoyed Top 5 Friday! If you're feeling adventurous, totally go out and try some of the cereals on my list. You won't be sorry!

Top 5 Friday - Stolen from Lauren!

Okay, so I totally swiped this post topic from Lauren over at Half Deserted Streets, but I couldn't help it! I'm a bit TV fan and an even bigger character fan, so it just made sense to do my own top 5 list on the subject of:

Top 5 TV Characters
(I'm not using the "currently on tv" thing cause frankly? I'm of the opinion that there really isn't that much good tv on anymore...)

And so! Without further ado, and in no particular order...

1. Jack Bauer (from "24") - Seriously, does this guy even NEED an explanation? It's f-ing Jack Bauer, dammit! He's quite possibly one of the biggest badasses to ever grace the tv world. He has saved the world from terrorists countless times, and although he has suffered greatly and lost much, he still pulls through to do the right thing for his friends and his country. His almost superhuman ability to dismantle bombs at the last second and take on armies of terrorists with a single gun always leaves us wanting more.

2. Starbuck A.K.A. Kara Thrace (from "Battlestar Galactica") - Once again, a total badass, but in female form! Starbuck is a loud-mouthed, disobedient, emotional viper pilot who, with her gutsy and sometimes dangerous flying maneuvers and her total disregard for authority, always manages to pull it out of the fire at the very last second and save the day. Although she rarely feels at home anywhere but on the battlefield, her complex love life and unpredictable emotions make her perhaps one of the most human characters on the show (regardless of whether or not that's what she actually is - we'll never know for sure!).

3. G'Kar (from "Babylon 5") - Although not the most obvious choice if one were to select a favorite character from this series, I can't help but love G'Kar. He makes such an incredible journey as a character from the very beginning of Season One to the series end in Season Five, that I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that. He starts out as an impulsive, angry, and selfish individual who daily lives off of the hatred he feels towards those around him. By the end, he is an almost priest-like figure, who has forsaken his previous ways and instead serves as an ambassador for peace. He often speaks words of wisdom and truth, and is trusted deeply by those closest to him.

4. Fox Mulder (from "The X-Files") - Not only did I spend a great majority of my early pre-teen and teenage years nursing a major crush on this character, I have to admit that even today, he still holds a special place in my heart. But not for the same reasons! Today I love him not because I think he's cute, but because he really is such a fantastic character - he, too, makes an incredible journey throughout the series (9 seasons worth!), so much so that his role is almost entirely reversed by the end. His unwavering desire to "just want to believe" and his willingness to go to the ends of the Earth to seek out answers to the darkest questions of his heart, makes him an all-time favorite in my book.

5. Shepherd Book (from "Firefly") - Although this series was seriously and tragically short-lived, it still shines today as one of the best and brightest offerings from the mind of Joss Whedon. Firefly gave us so many lovable, complex characters, and it's difficult to choose a favorite - but the reason I went with Book is because he is quite possibly one of the most intriguing of the bunch. We never learn very much about him - just what he lets slip out in bits and pieces of conversation - but we can easily gather that he has a much more interesting past than he lets on. His ability to easily hold his own in both close combat and large-scale battle situations hints at a definite darker side than his usual subdued, preachy pastor front.


There are so many other characters I would have loved to include on this list!! Honorable mentions include:

Gaius Baltar (from "Battlestar Galactica")
Captain Jonathan Archer (from "Star Trek: Enterprise")
Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds (from "Firefly")
Jake Green (from "Jericho")
Dana Scully (from "The X-Files")

Late Night Musings on Religion

On the discussion board for my online class (Magic, Witchcraft & Religion - a class I thought would be much more interesting than it has been, unfortunately), under the topic of "Religion and Culture", I believe - a student wrote: "We need a religious expression that promotes peace and tolerance" - this statement struck me as particularly interesting, because the fact of the matter is, Christianity, as Jesus taught in the Bible, is just that. It promotes peace, tolerance, and understanding - Jesus instructs us to help those who cannot help themselves, to watch over and care for the needy and the poor, to love as we would be loved, to treat others the way we would be treated, and so on.

The problem is, so many people take what the Bible teaches us completely out of context. These people take bits and pieces from the Bible and use these out of context verses as cannon fodder for political arguments, and as a means of persecution and intolerance.

I find this completely heartbreaking.

Religion (Christianity or otherwise) should never be used as a means to justify the marginalization of anyone. Religion should instead be used as a means of finding guidance and morality in a world where unfortunately, all too often than not, our baser instincts tend to win out.

Flickr

After MONTHS of good intentions but poor follow-through, I have finally managed to get around to updating my Flickr account with some new photos!

A few highlights:


These two are seriously one of the cutest couples I know. We did this photo shoot back in October when they came down to visit for their "Babymoon" (a super cute idea - since they were due to have Casey sometime before the end of the year, they decided to take a fun vacation, just the two of them, before their lives changed forever :D).

I loved photographing them, it was so much fun! Jessie had initially approached me with the idea of doing some "baby bump" pictures, and I'm so glad she did. They're such a lovely couple, and when he gets older, Casey will have these pictures to look back on. He'll be able to see all the love his parents had for him before he ever even stepped one foot into this world.

New blog! (sort of!)

For over a year now, I have been running this Book of the Month Club with Lauren - it started out, really, because of Twilight, but it quickly became something else. We really loved the idea of having a book club, since we love books so much and love reading (yes I know, we're dorks), and the concept of sharing that love of reading with all of our friends was very appealing. Why not create a club that would actually give us a valid excuse to buy books, and get together at the Borders cafe or wherever to discuss said books?

Our original system involved having a new book every month, and we would take turns choosing the books - Lauren would select the new March book, and then I would select April, and then Paola would select May, and so on.

This system worked out decently enough initially (probably because we were all reading Twilight anyway, and since it's a four-book-series, we had our monthly selections picked out for a good quarter of the year already! ;p), but once the Twilight craze began to subside, we found that we were running into some trouble.

The books that were chosen ended up being terribly random, since no one but whoever's month it was got any say in what the next book would be, and we really ran the gamut from classics that we all read in high school anyway (Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights) to more Stephanie Meyer work (The Host) to books that few of us actually read (Eye of the Needle, Life of Pi) to the occasional diamond in the rough (Water for Elephants).

Recently, after taking an online "book club" survey, Lauren and I became inspired to revamp the club - breathe new life into it and really start to take things seriously. Because really, what's the point of having a book club unless you do it right, anyway?

Which brings me to our newest development:

We now have a blog!

Lauren created it with her immense Blogmaster skills, and we plan to use it as a means of better communicating with our club members, and selecting better books.

You can read the most recent posts if you want to find out more information about how we are going to work from here on out, and if you're interested in joining, we would love to have you!

Earth Hour: Reactions

This past Saturday, Kevin and I participated in a global event called "Earth Hour". For the uninitiated, the folks behind Earth Hour list this statement on their website:

"(Earth Hour) is a global call to action for every individual, every business, and every community. A call to stand up and take control over the future of our planet."

I, personally, see no problem with making a statement (a global one at that) whereby through a worldwide effort, awareness about climate change and the many other environmental problems that loom ahead of us is created.

Climate change is real. Deforestation is real. Our daily consumer-driven lives are taking a pretty steep toll on the world around us. The list goes on and on and on...

In any case, it's clear that as a species, we need to take a step back and re-evaluate our role on this planet. Human beings are, undoubtedly, the cause of a majority of the environmental issues that face us today, and if our behaviour continues unchecked as it has in the past, the world of our children's children may very well be unrecognizable from the world we know today.

Call me a tree-hugging hippie, call me a cock-eyed optimist, call me a dreamer, call me whatever you want. I will never let the negativity of the majority of people around me get me down. I will continue changing all of my old tungsten light bulbs to a more eco-friendly variety, and turning off lights when I leave the room, and making eco-conscious, informed buying decisions about the cleaning products I use, and where my food comes from. I will continue recycling my water bottles and buying recycled paper products. I will continue using my Publix "green bags" in leu of plastic grocery bags. and I will never stop caring about what effects every one of my daily choices have on this planet we call home.

And now, for some differing points of view.

On Saturday night, I posted the following Facebook status in regards to my Earth Hour activities:

Colure Caulfield is going to eat dinner by candlelight tonight during Earth Hour with her husband :)

Simple enough, yes? Offensive? Not at all. One may even call it romantic.

The following is the response I received from the facebook internet world:

Davin Pavlas at 6:15pm March 28 EARTH HOUR IS DUMB AND YOU'RE DUMB

Christopher McCollum at 6:45pm March 28 Wtf? Why are you using candles when you have electricity available? Is it a date? :P

Megan Young Kaczmarek at 8:15pm March 28 We're trying to get the little man off to bed in time to get all the lights off.

Colure Caulfield at 9:41pm March 28 via Facebook Mobile Davin, YOU'RE dumb ;p You and your German anti-environmental ethics ;p heh. C - we used candles so as to NOT use electricity, thus the entire point of Earth Hour. One hour without using power! Megan - how'd that work out for you guys? Keviin and I agreed that it's no wonder people in the old days went to bed early! It's kinda hard to stay awake when it's dark!

Christopher McCollum at 10:07pm March 28 Did you turn off the main breaker in your fuse box? :P

Brian Potter at 10:49pm March 28 Earth hour is kind of like writing a ten dollar check to UNICEF right before you go spend 2000 dollars on a plasma TV...You know, just sayin'...

Jessie Floyd Fulks at 11:03pm March 28 It was actually a great excuse to spend a distraction-free amount of time with family. Chris actually wants to do it once a week now!

Colure Caulfield at 11:38pm March 28 via Facebook Mobile C- that we did not do, but all lights were off at least, as was the tv and such. Potter- ummm no, not really... ;p Jessie- it absolutely was! I totally agree :) That's a great idea!! We just might do that as well :)

The (mostly) negative response continued with another facebook status update of mine, later on in the evening:

Colure Caulfield had a lovely candlelit dinner with her husband and doesn't care if people think she's a tree-hugging hippie for observing Earth Hour ;p

Seems that my statement of not caring what others thought was simply fuel to the fire...

Jessie Floyd Fulks at 11:02pm March 28 Good for you, and yay for being tree-hugging hippies!

Davin Pavlas at 11:25pm March 28 No it's more like a superficial hippie OH BURN.

Colure Caulfield at 11:36pm March 28 via Facebook Mobile Thanks, Jessie! :) And Davin, it's actually not superficial at all! I got to spend a lovely interruption and distraction-free dinner with my husband, all while participating in a GLOBAL event in support of climate change awareness! :)

Davin Pavlas at 12:04am March 29 Building awareness is the lazy person's version of making a difference.

Colure Caulfield at 12:35am March 29 via Facebook Mobile Actually building awareness is the BEGINNING of making a difference.

Christopher McCollum at 3:54am March 29 Hate hippies.

Colure Caulfield at 10:19am March 29 via Facebook Mobile I was born and raised a hippie - it's in my blood!

Christopher McCollum at 12:23pm March 29 Ewwww. take a shower and shave your arm pits. And also, stop taking your dog into restaurants and bars, and then acting like you're not committing a major health violation!

Colure Caulfield at 12:29pm March 29 via Facebook Mobile I'll have you know I shower and shave on a very regular basis! And I don't bring Strider out into the public because he would certainly lickinate everyone to death!

Christopher McCollum at 12:42pm March 29 Hmm... I'm getting pretty good at this level of hate. I just listed four argument-proof reasons why I hate hippies, in two concise sentences. :P

Frank Blanco at 3:47pm March 29 hippie!

Colure Caulfield at 9:07am March 30 Yes yes yes I know, can't help it ;)

So while I did receive some positive response, there certainly is a lot of bile out there in regards to anyone attempting to "make a difference". I can't even tell you the number of facebook status updates and tweets via Twitter I saw from people proudly asserting that they would "turn on every single light in the house so as to counteract all of the Earth Hour activities out there" - I mean, seriously? Is your life really that sad and pathetic that you have to act out against people who are merely trying to do something positive in this world??

Today I noticed that a friend of mine on facebook wrote this note about his feelings towards Earth Hour. And while he makes some decent arguments (specifically, that there is no easy solution to the problems we face in our world today, and that for real change to occur, people are going to have to be willing to make some pretty major sacrifices in their day to day lives) I find that I am saddened by how quickly and easily people are willing to jump to the conclusion that they may as well shrug off the problems of the world that surround them because they don't think that even the smallest changes make a difference. They are too jaded and overwhelmed by the problems that face us, and so they say things like "So what?" and "I can't" and "Not me".

And you know my response to that note? Shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, considering my track record of responding to negativity with a positive, hopeful answer...

Colure Caulfield at 2:13pm March 30

While you make some good points, I think you ultimately may have missed the point of Earth Hour. At least as far as I can tell, Earth Hour wasn't actually created with the purpose of making an immediate, tangible difference with the environmental issues we face. The point of Earth Hour was to create *awareness* of the environmental issues that we face. To make a big enough statement to the government and to the rest of the world that people are *finally* taking global warming and a slew of other ecological problems ahead of us seriously, and that it is time to do something about it. Time to invest time, money, and resources to the research and development of alternative energy, time to re-evaluate not just fuel emissions standards but also our own living standards in general - where our food comes from, how it is grown, where our waste goes and what the long-term effects are that it has on our environment. Yes, it won't fix EVERYTHING wrong in the world. But it's a start.

And that's my point, in all of this. That's the reason I participate in events like "Earth Hour" and the reason why I try to do little things in my daily life that, while at first may seem insignificant, could eventually lead to greater change.

While we certainly can't expect to fix everything wrong with this world of ours, we can begin by taking baby steps in the right direction. Change has to start somewhere. Would it be so terrible if it started with us??