1. Cut a hole in the box.

Just kidding...

I just felt like I had to blog *something*, it being the first day of 2007 and all. Only I have no predictions, and I have no lists.

Right now I am tired, and here in Vancouver the new year started with the kind of day that makes me wonder why on earth I stay in this city. SO icky and grey. But that's okay, because all I did was sleep in, eat brunch on the Drive with my bio sister, my honorary sister, and my sweetie, and then go see "The Pursuit of Happyness". Which was heart-wrenchingly good, actually. Will Smith was really brilliant.

In other news, I have knitted two lovely Moebii. I am hooked and they are beautiful.

I feel a lot of changes ahead. I actually have no idea where 2007 will lead me and right now that's kind of terrifying. Stay tuned...

I haven't been blogging much lately, and I guess it's because my life for the past couple of weeks hasn't been particularly lived online. I checked out of it all last week, and retreated to my parents' home on Vancouver Island for a few days, where I did my utmost to NOT be online at all. Instead, I slept, did yoga, went for walks, did some meditation, and ate healthy food. Bonded with my mother. It was very lovely.

Easter weekend I went to a gathering on the Sunshine Coast, which was fun and all but kind of muddy. And then I spent the rest of the weekend (which included Monday, for me) assembling an Ikea dresser (ooooooh, man), and trying to fit all my stuff into my new and very small bedroom, in a way that feels nice and tidy. I've been building shelves and feeling like a handywoman. (Hear me roar! I love using a drill!)

I have to say that the act of NOT being online for 4 days did wonders for the compulsive nature of my online-ness. Sometimes I feel like a slave to the internet, and it's a great feeling to break the shackles of that addiction somewhat. You know how there's a TV Turn-off Week? (Coming up, actually - April 24-30) Well, I highly recommend a computer turn-off week. Or even just a couple days. Give it a whirl, and see what comes up...

(written from the ferry en route from Vancouver to Victoria)

All right, I don't need wifi over the whole ocean. But I can't tell you how happy it would make me if BC Ferries started offering wifi on the major routes.

It would make my travel experience a whole lot more productive, that's for sure. I've traveled between Vancouver and Victoria enough times now that I no longer stare captivated at the scenery, and especially during the cooler months, there's really not that much to do on board. I sometimes use this time to catch up on email offline - which is great, actually - but would love to be able to get online too.

I know, I know. I too wonder what the world is coming to, when a person (ie, me) complains about a 90 minute ferry ride without access to the internet. But I see so many people on their computers on some sailings, it just seems silly not to make it available. It would also make taking the ferry a more appealing option for some business people who usually fly, I think.

I also think - in case anyone at BCFerries is reading - that it should be free. Perhaps some of the tourist attraction and accommodation providers would be willing to sponsor it, in exchange for having their ads shown upon logging in? Or perhaps a few forward-thinking technology providers would sponsor it in exchange for exposure. I would sing BC Ferries praises to the heavens if they broke the mould and offered it free - unlike the Vancouver International Airport, and every Starbucks in the city.

It must be possible. (Though as one fellow ferry rider said to me, "If they can't even get their act together to have interact at the ticket booths, I wouldn't hold your breath.")

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 There's no link or anything. Weird spam or what?

Boots - Covent Garden, London
Originally uploaded by sarahfelicity.

(I'm testing out my ability to post directly to my blog from Flickr.)

Let's pretend that these are magic boots that will allow me to walk right out of my own reality and into a fantasy one, where it's warm, and money grows on trees, and chocolate doesn't make you fat, and everyone is peaceful, and life is sweet and easy. :)

With last week's conference craziness over, and Kris, Robert and Boris off in Torino, I figured I'd get to relax this week. But it hasn't worked out that way so much, as I seem to have taken on rather a lot of work and it all needs to get done right about... NOW. Ahhh!

(Speaking of work... one of the things I'm doing is coordinating a Branding Workshop for Not-for-Profits and social mission businesses. If you work in either of those sectors, and think you could use a little high-end help getting yourself and your org started on a path of clearer messaging about your work... then you should register yourself quick. Check out http://www.knowledgegreen.com.)

On the plus side, Vancouver has been unendingly sunny for days now, which is awesome. On the down side, I have spent basically NO time out playing in it. Just me and my laptop, together forever, indoors.  

Also on the down side... I lost my digital camera a few weeks ago, which is why the photostream to the left there has been so stagnant. Sad story!!! I miss being able to snap pictures of life as it goes by.

But back to the plus side... as the days get longer, and especially with the sun, I've been getting up much earlier again. It feels good to be getting an early start on the day. Makes it possible to start putting some yoga back into my mornings....

All right.

I am here to shamelessly promote the Litebook. If you are one of the many people who suffers in the wintertime from low energy, depression, or a whole host of other symptoms that can accompany the season of low light, then you should seriously consider investing in one of these.

I've been using mine for just over a week now, and I don't think it's an overstatement to say that the improvement was dramatic and pretty immediate. My days of sleeping nine+ hours and then wanting to crawl into bed for a nap all day seem to be over. Since i started using my Litebook, I sleep like a normal person again (between 7 and 8.5 hours, ish) and I don't feel tired all day. I feel... normal, I guess, again. I feel how I am accustomed to feeling, when I'm not in the midst of SAD season. My mood is also quite a bit better - and I'm not the only person to notice the improvement in me.

It's been quite the relief. I mean, obviously thirty minutes of light in the morning can't change the circumstances of your life, but it certainly seems to do something to improve my day-to-day perception of those circumstances. Kind of like anti-depressants for some people, I suppose. And I would personally rather sit in front of a funny little box of LED lights than start adding chemicals to the mix.

They don't come cheap - mine was $300, and I got a super-good deal. But I really can't say enough about mine so far. My only regret is that I didn't get one a long time ago.