The Lost Art of the Mix-Tape: Why Spotify Playlists Can't Compare

I miss mix-tapes. I really do.

Yes, I have Spotify. I know I can make an endless number of playlists which function similarly to a mix-tape. But I miss mix-tapes.

When I was a teen, I would sit in front of our stereo system at home - which had a receiver, record player and cassette plater, plus big speakers. The system was from Sears and... my Mom is still using the speakers!

Anyhow... I digress. I would sit in front of the stereo system with a big set of headphones on my ears and I would go through my records, both the LPs and the 45s, as well as bought cassettes, and pick out songs to put on my new mix-tape.

This involved a number of decisions... did I want to use a 60 minute or a 90 minute tape? I would then have to figure out the order of the songs, which is important you know... and then total up the play time of the songs (complete with the gap time between tracks)... Did I have 30 or 45 minutes? Or was one song too long? Tweak the playlist a bit... cause there's nothing worse than having a mix-tape where Side 1 ends in the middle of a song!

Once I had my playlist mapped out, then I would have to physically put the record on the turntable and line up the song and then hit record on the cassette player. Wait until that song finished, hit Pause on the cassette player and then get the next record (or 45) lined up. Or the next cassette too... because I had most of my Abba albums on cassette and luckily we had a double cassette player so I could tape off of the bought cassettes too! But finding the start of a song on a cassette is way harder than on a record! This took time and effort.

And of course, as each song was being recorded, I'd need to write it's title and artist very neatly (and in very small print) on the cassette playlist label. Neat and small... not always easy!

It was a process that could easily take an afternoon, but a very enjoyable afternoon. Sometimes, after the mix tape was done, I'd be listening to the radio (on that same stereo) days later and... a new fave song would come on!!! I would hit Record immediately and tape the song on the radio... which of course messed up the mix-tape but... I got my new fave song on tape now! 

I'd also make mix-tapes for others, for friends, for my sister, or my Dad. These were gifts given to share songs that I thought they would like. I once made a Nana Mouskouri mix-tape for my Mom. A lot of time went into making these mix-tapes, time and love and attention. Heck, I used to get mix-tapes from friends and family. It was a personal gift that gave me a window into their music interests. It was personal. And profound. And EVERYONE had access to a cassette player... be it on a stereo, a ghetto-blaster or a walkman... the medium was the same.

Back to Spotify. Yes, it can all produce a similar result, a list of songs in a playlist that I can play whenever I want. For a subscription fee of course but hey... cassettes weren't cheap back then either. If I hear a neat song on the radio or in Starbucks, I will Shazam it and then search for it on Spotify and add it to my latest playlist.

But my latest playlist often has a title like... 2024 Faves... 2019 Faves... I just add a new song to that playlist without any real rhyme or pattern. It just becomes the last song and onwards.

I did make one "conscious" playlist a few months back, my Cleaning the Airbnb playlist, where I wanted peppy, fast, zippy songs. So I went through all of my annual Spotify playlists and created a new playlist and added in some peppy instrumentals in between. I took some time and effort and even added a cover image and gave it a real name.

What about sharing a playlist? Well... does my friend have Spotify? Or are they Apple? Or Google Music? Or something else again? And sharing a url link isn't quite the same as wrapping up a mix-tape and gifting it at Christmas. Seriously. A URL link?? Sent in an email? Or write it out on paper and mail it? Meh. Not very personal. And I can tell you now... my mother is NOT going to be listening to a Spotify playlist. Just. Not.

The other thing I've noticed is... I don't really know who the artists are on many of these songs. I like the song, I Shazam it, I search for it in Spotify and add it. Back in the day, if I liked a song, I would have to listen to the radio announcer and get the name and title and then go to the record store and search for the artist and either buy their 45 or, more likely, buy the entire album as an LP or a cassette. And then... with their whole album, of course I would listen to their other songs and maybe even find another one or two (or more) that I really liked. I might even buy more of their albums (Hello Abba).

But now... with Spotify, that doesn't really happen... I might look at other songs on their albums, but I might just do a quick preview play of each and then move on. I don't ever listen to their entire album. So I never really connect or bond with the artist.

Something has been lost. Something has been gained.

I've gained more time, that's for sure. I no longer sit in front of a stereo for hours with my headphones on, happily making mix-tapes. But I've lost that experience as well. I've lost those happy afternoons.

I've gained a HUGE pool of songs and albums and artists. I have a whole A&B Sound in my smartphone!! I don't have to buy an entire LP album for just one song. My horizons and musical tastes have broadened. Spotify will actually suggest new songs based on my listening preferences. There's always a new artist, a new song and so the old playlists very quickly become... old and out-of date. I've lost a connection to the artists, to the bands, to the albums. There's always something new, something better and there is no time to sit and let a song or an album simmer and soak in.

Although... I do have to admit... I love the Repeat One Song feature in Spotify!!! I love playing a new song on repeat for hours. That was impossible with cassettes... well... I guess not... I never did it, but I guess I could have made a mix-tape with one song on repeat... But I never even thought of that back then.

I've gained the ability to share my Spotify playlist with everyone! Like... everyone and their dog. I just post the link on Facebook and... boom... everyone can listen to it. But it's lost that personal touch... I don't make a separate playlist for this person, or that person... based on what I think they will like. No, I just share MY playlist... the songs that I like. It's not the same as a mix-tape. Not at all.

Whipping up a playlist can be superfast now... but it's different than creating a mix-tape. Producing a mix-tape used to be a creative act, a personal act, an intimate act and now... it's not.

I miss mix-tapes.

From Digital Junk Food to Mindful Living: A Mid-Year Reflection

O.M.G. The year is half over. As I sit here and write this, on July 1, I have no idea where the year went.

Never-mind June.

To be fair, I was out of town working from June 11-23, soooo there goes half the month but it seems like it was just June 1.

I follow these Hedger Humor cartoons in Facebook and every first of the month is the same... "It's June!" "What!!??"

So, obviously I am not the only one who is appalled at the rapidly accelerating pace of time.

Part of it for me is that I look back and think... what have I actually accomplished in the past month, 6 months, whatever. And it always leaves me feeling... inadequate. Wanting. Like... I should have more to show for this month!

Time is that one precious, non-renewable resource that we all have and we all get to spend in whatever way we choose. But at the end of the day, week, month... I often find that I have spent my time on the equivalent of junk food.... scrolling the news sites, scrolling Facebook, scrolling Instagram... watching cat videos... Under the guise of "relaxing". But this form of "relaxing" always leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth and a packet full of regrets. Sure, cat videos might make me smile but... seriously... there is so much more to smile about in real life... particularly if you had a real cat... but we won't talk about that. (We are going cat-less after our beloved Minnie passed away in April... we are strong... strong I tell you...)

Scrolling, scrolling, scrolling... it leaves me feeling empty, slightly bleh and filled with regret that I have let an hour fritter away. This is not unlike how I feel when I eat junk food... still hungry (give me more), feeling definitely bleh... and filled with regret. 

But scrolling is so easy... it's right there... and just like junk food which has that perfect symphony of salt, sugar and fat... scrolling has just that right amount of addictive interest to keep us coming back and wanting more, more, more... but never feeling satisfied. You know when you open the bag of M&Ms... you can't just have ONE... they are so small, so yummy... and so you just gobble them up, one after the other... not unlike those short, small TikTok videos or Instagram Reels or... whatever... More, more, more!

I know this is probably a dopamine, endorphin, brain chemistry thing... social media is designed to keep us scrolling... the same way junk food is designed to keep us craving more.

And soooo... I find that time just slips away... eaten by my scrolling fingers... Day after day, week after week... month after month. I am sitting here at 6:24 am on a new day, of a new month, at the halfway point of 2024. Could I choose a different format for July? (I know this is getting published in late August so you won't have to wait long for the results of my experiment!).

Could I choose to do something else during those moments when I reach for the phone? Why the heck do I reach for the phone? Most of the time it's because it is easy... it is right there, always in my back pocket, always within reach. There is a reason for that... as an Airbnb host, I need to respond to guests soonest... but that also means temptation is always easily accessible. But perhaps I could have something else close by, my e-book reader, my journal, a pad of paper to write down thoughts. Heck, I could even just close my eyes, take a deep breath and have a mini-meditation.

I know that it is a habit. I know that I want to scratch that itch. And sometimes I find inspiration in my feeds... well... on occasion... ok fine... very rarely. Sigh.

So I am setting my phone's "Wellness" settings thusly:

• Total Daily Screen Time - 2 hours
• News/IG/FB Time - 30 minutes (that's 1 hour less than my normal intake)

And I'm hoping that being more mindful, more aware, more attentive, more present will.... slow down time. Maybe. Not sure.

But perhaps at the end of July, I can look back and not gasp in shock when someone says "It's August!" and wonder... where did the time go??

Socks and Sandals: The Surprisingly Chic Look You Never Knew You Needed

My niece and I have had a long-lasting fashion "discussion" for many years. I get disapproving stares, eye-rolls, giggles and whispered comments of "Weirdo!".

I admit it, I am NOT a fashionista. Or, rather, I tread my own fashion path, quite happily I might add.

What is my fashion crime, in the eyes of my niece (and my partner too)?

Wearing hiking socks with hiking sandals. Or, more basically... socks and sandals.

Yep, I am one of those folks who thinks nothing of wearing socks with sandals... whether it's with shorts or jeans, doesn't matter.

I've always thought of this as a signature West Coast thing. I happily wore socks with sandals all through my university years and beyond.

Although, on reflection, perhaps it started during my geology years. We'd come back to camp after spending the day clambering around mountain ridges and take off our hiking boots and sweaty socks. After a day of living in hiking boots, the skin on my feet was quite soft. I've learned the hard way that you can't just wear sandals after having your feet sweating away in shoes or boots all day. That is the fast track to a blister or sore spot. Solution? Wear fresh socks with the sandals.

Or maybe it started when my sister and I traveled around Europe. On a day that was set to be sunny and warm, you'd want to leave the hostel with your sandals on your feet. But... the mornings were too cool for naked feet in sandals. Soooo... wear socks and sandals! Of course, I'd never take the socks off because... when you wear socks to start the day... your feet get soft and tender and sweaty and wearing plain old sandals... well... same problem as above.

And whether people admit it or not, socks and sandals are infinitely cooler than shoes and sandals, so yes, socks and sandals are a solution to a hot day.

However this trend started... I am a staunch supporter of socks and sandals... mostly. I'm not so sure about the older guys who wear dress sandals and knee high socks. That's not my fashion trend but... hey... to each their own. If that is comfortable, then rock the socks! Maybe knee high socks are compression stockings? We don't know, so why judge?

I have all sorts of reasons for wearing socks and sandals... from cool mornings, to hiking in sandy areas, to adding an extra layer of cushioning to my feet. Let's face it, if you are going to be hiking in sandals, that's a lot of straps rubbing on bare skin... why not just cushion the skin with some socks?

Of course, if you're just strolling 50 feet from the car to the beach, well... then maybe sandals and naked feet make sense. But walking for any distance? Give me socks with my sandals please.

Maybe it's a fashion faux-pas. But I have yet to encounter the Fashion Police. Nor heard of anyone being hauled away for wearing socks and sandals.

Eh, who cares. I'm not a fashionista and will happily trample multiple fashion faux-pas in a single outing. I'm all about functionality and comfort.

Let my niece and partner giggle and roll their eyes... one day... they will experience the bliss of socks and sandals!

N.B. Both images were created by Google's AI image generator - Gemini. With much prompting from me. It was impossible to get it to unroll the pants of the jeans in the second image. Perhaps rolled up cuffs are now derigeur in the fashion world?

Shiny New Bathroom Fan, Dead Air: How I Missed the Easy Fix and Chased the Hard One

I am embarrassed to write this post. It has triggered a whole "How could you be so stupid!?" storm in my head. But... if someone else out there learns from this... then it's worth it. Right? Sigh.

The Problem

We have our two-bedroom basement suite listed on Airbnb. In the last year, ever since we got the suite entry door replaced, it has been a real struggle to keep the humidity below 50%. The original entry door was a bit gappy around the edges, so in the winter it was always cool in the entrance hall. The new entrance door is super snug so now there is virtually no air exchange with the outside world. Snug windows. Snug door. Not a good scenario.

We had some guests stay in October/November who sent the humidity through the roof. They had a lot of showers, they steamed a lot of rice. It was not a good scene with condensation dripping down all the windows. After they checked out, we had our contractor take a look at the place.

Possible Solutions

He suggested maybe getting a humidistat that would force the bathroom fan to come on when the humidity reached a certain level. Or maybe installing an air exchange vent in one of the exterior walls - basically a hole in the wall near the ceiling with a vent to the outside.

Tinkering with the Bathroom Fan

One of the first things I did was to take the cover off of the bathroom fan and check to see if the innards needed cleaning. I had noticed that the bathroom fan sounded really loud, way louder than I remember it being. When you have a dirty bathroom fan, it reduces the efficiency of the air flow. The suite's bathroom fan could barely hold a flimsy 2-ply piece of toilet paper against the grill! The inside of the bathroom is the hamster wheel variety - with a horizontal plastic hamster wheel thingie that spins around and extracts the air. It was... **cough**... quite dirty. I couldn't clean it very well standing on a ladder staring up into the housing so I watched some YouTube videos and figured out how to take the whole blower assembly out. Easy peasy.

Unplug the thing... undo the little screw that holds it in place (very important, otherwise you mutter and curse when nothing budges), then pop the little tabs and... it's out. After shaving a bit of excess drywall away from the opening. Yay!

I gave the hamster wheel a good clean. We had bought the house 10 years ago and... the suite bathroom was installed in 2007-2009 so... the bathroom fan is probably 15 years old. Maybe it was time to replace it? Nah, let's give this one a shot.

I had a peek down the exhaust tube with my smartphone camera and it looked fine. It's one of those flexible plastic tubes, and although it seemed a bit dusty, it wasn't blocked. At least not as far as I could see. I popped the blower assembly back into the housing, plugged it back in and... very little difference. Still noisy as all heck. Still anemic air flow. What the heck?

Maybe the whole thing did need replacing. Given it was in a basement ceiling with drywall all around it... I looked online for a replacement blower assembly that would fit in the same housing. Took a while, but I found a supplier and ordered it.

When the box arrived, I waited until we had a gap between guest bookings and then went downstairs, took out the old one and popped in the new one. Turned it on and... guess what...

Yeah... noisy as heck and weak air flow. Maybe this was just the state of exhaust fans nowadays? Maybe they were supposed to sound like that?

What Goes in Must Come Out

The only other thing I could think of, at this point, was to look at the other end of the exhaust tubing, where it exited the house through a flapper vent. I had noticed that when the bathroom fan was running, the louvers didn't move at all.

Not like the dryer vent which blows it's single flapper wide open. Nope... the louvers on the bathroom vent didn't move at all. Which made sense to me if the bathroom fan was so anemic. Or maybe there was something clogging the louvers?

Weeks went by... **cough**... while I thought to myself... "I have to get the big ladder from the shed and find some wooden blocks to level it (the ground is slopey below the vent) and get an old towel (so it won't scratch the stucco)"... 

Weeks I tell you. And then one day, I decided... screw it!!! Let's just do it!!

Yes, that does rhyme... Screw it. Just Do it... I have improved on Nike's slogan!

Anyhow... I got the ladder out from the shed, found some wooden blocks and an old towel and propped it up against the house. And tried to lift the louvers to look inside. They wouldn't budge. What the heck?

The Light Bulb Moment

They. Were. Painted. Shut.

Yes.

When we had the house painted, the painters decided to paint the vents and they painted the flapper slats.

O.M.G.

I went into the suite and turned on the bathroom fan and went back outside. Guess what the slats were doing? Blowing in the breeze from the bathroom fan. Oh, they needed some trimming of old paint and the top one didn't flap closed when the fan stopped, so it could let bugs in but... it worked.

Oh, and the bathroom fan is much quieter and it can definitely hold a kleenex to the grill, no problemo.

And then I had another thought... the kitchen exhaust fan above the stove vents to the outside. What about that one? That vent is under the deck, between the joists, completely invisible to anyone walking by. Yet, it too had been painted shut. **Face Palm**

No wonder there were humidity issues in the suite. No wonder the bathroom van sounded like a jet taking off. No wonder the smoke alarms kept going off with heavy cooking. Neither the bathroom fan, nor the kitchen van were actually exhausting anything to the outside.

S.H.I.T.

And when did the painters do this? When did they paint the exterior of the house and paint those louverd vents shut? Ready...??

2017.

Yep, seven years ago. Sigh.

The Hurdle - More Mental than Physical

In an ideal world, the bathroom flapper vent would have been easy to reach. Without a ladder. But because it wasn't... I focused on the inside... where I STILL needed a step ladder. But that was easier to get, and easier to set up than the big ladder in the shed. I had a blind spot for the outside end of the bathroom exhaust system. I focused on the actual source of the exhaust - the blower assembly. But... ignored the other side of the equation... that the air had to go somewhere. Being blind to that side of things, was huge.

In chemistry, there is a concept called activation energy. The chemical reaction won't take place without something, usually a catalyst, providing enough energy to get over that initial hump. Oftentimes, that extra push of energy comes from heat.

It's the same in life, a combination of inertia and a lack of activation energy. I had been picking away at the bathroom fan issue for months, trying to figure it out. But the thought of getting out the big ladder and setting... it was just too much. Needed too much oomph. Too much energy. 

Until I lit a fire under my own butt and said "Screw it!!! Just do it!!" This happens to me fairly regularly and what I inevitably find is: 

1. It didn't need as much energy as I imagined. In fact, I probably expended WAY more energy thinking about the thing and not going the thing... or avoiding the thing.
2. It didn't need as much time as I thought. Funny how that works

Both of those live in my head... thoughts that act as brakes, or increase the activation energy required. They turn a mole hill into a mountain. Yes, it does take a bit of energy to get the ladder out and set it up... but not as much as I "imagined" or "thought".

And my "screw it" thought was me turning up the heat and blowing past that hurdle and just moving. Going to the shed, getting the ladder, getting some blocks, setting it up. It took maybe 5 minutes.

One of these days, I will learn this lesson for good. I hope. It's all about small steps.

From Pebbles to Mountains: How Small Actions Build Success

***This post has been in Drafts for three years... time to finish it off and publish!!***

A few weekends ago I decided it was time to mow the lawns. That's all. Just mow the front yard and the back yard.

Things turned out waaaayyyy differently than I planned... and it all started with one small step... and then another...

The front lawn was relatively easy and took less than an hour. But the back yard... sigh... not so much.

The Problem of the Kayak

You see, we had our deck replaced a few months ago, which meant the kayak, that normally hangs off the deck joists had to be moved out of the way. Since then, the kayak has been sitting along one side of the yard, with grass growing quite happily in its shelter.

In order to mow the back yard... I needed to move the kayak and hang it back up under the deck. Seemed easy enough... just get the big eye-bolts, screw them into the joists and hang the kayak up with bungy cords.

But wait... not so fast.

The Problem of the Soil

You see, when we had the perimeter drain done last year, they back-filled the soil a little too close to the stucco above the concrete foundation. The whole back yard slopes gently towards the house, but under the deck, it's a bit more noticeable.

Our deck contractor suggested installing a little retaining wall under the deck so that we could pull the soil back from the foundation and create a bit of a gap between the soil and the stucco.

The retaining wall would be going right below where the kayak normally hangs... which meant... that in order to hang the kayak, I really needed to put in the retaining wall first. Otherwise, I'd have no head room to dig...

Eyeing the rock-hard soil under the deck (we are endowed with a lot of clay and rocks in our subsoil)... I shuddered to think of how hard that would be to dig with a shovel... until, while lying in bed at night, fretting about this... I remembered a wondrous tool... the pick-ax!

I woke up Friday morning with visions of the pick-ax in my head, grabbed it out of the shed and scrambled under the deck. Let's see... retaining wall to be installed between the new concrete pillars supporting the back end of the deck... Alright, let's hack all this stuff on the house-ward side of that line. I started chipping away and... that pick-ax loosened up the rock-hard soil like nobody's business!

I hacked and shoveled and burrowed my way down so that we had about 6 inches of freeboard below the stucco. The pile of dirt generated by this mole-work was quite stunning and I was a bit concerned about where it would all go but... it all worked out. I gathered up the extra concrete blocks that we have been using and reusing around the yard and started building my little retaining wall. I've found that filling them with rocks makes them virtually immovable. Our property is blessed with lots and lots of rocks... big and small... so finding enough rocks was NOT a problem.

As the wall took shape, I back-filled some of the dug out soil until... voila... the soil pile was pretty much gone.

What had seemed like a huge, massive task took me less than a day... just one step at a time.

The sloping ground under the deck was now relatively flattish, with a nice little two-block high retaining wall near the house. It wasn't quite finished as I had run out of concrete blocks and needed a handful of the half-blocks to fill in some gaps but... heck, it looked good!

Now... I can hang up the kayak under the deck!

The Problem of the View

Nope... not so fast... you see there's a basement window that looks out under the deck... a bedroom window from our AirBnb. It's not a great view for guests, although it did look better with the new retaining wall and all the soil raked smooth... But my partner had this bright idea of buying a load of gravel and distributing it under the deck. Maybe with a dry river bed on top to add some visual interest.

Sooo... before I hung the kayak and obstructed the only full-height access... I considered the idea of this dry river bed. I was not keen on the idea of ordering a load of gravel for many reasons: cost, logistics, carting it to the back yard by the bucketful... etc. etc. Nope, I had a better idea... using our in-house rocks...

When the perimeter drain was redone last year, the diggers excavated all around the house and then backfilled the soil they had dug out. In that process... they turned everything upside down. Our garden beds along the front of the house and the driveway were no longer topsoil but a rock-strewn mess of subsoil. I spent much of last spring sifting through the beds and pulling out buckets of rocks... graded by size of course... big rocks in this milk crate, medium rocks in this bucket... little rocks in these buckets. At the time, I wondered if sorting the rocks might be overkill but... nope.

By the time all was said and done last spring, I had four milk crates of big rocks, massive black nursery tubs full of medium rocks and buckets and buckets of smaller rocks. Some stored in the what we call the Back 40... some stored under the laurel bush, some stored by the potting bench. And... this spring, I had started a new pile of random rocks along the back fence, having run out of room elsewhere. Rocks, rocks and more rocks... who needs a load of gravel when you have rocks??

The Solution is Rocks

And so began a massive haulage project. I mapped out the outline of the dry riverbed on the soil under the deck, using the larger rocks, and got the stamp of approval from my partner for its shape and flow. Then I began dumping rocks all around the outline of the river bed - first the bigger "feature" rocks and then the medium rocks, filling in the gaps... finishing off with the smaller pebbles.

Milk crates, tubs, buckets, wheelbarrows of rocks but... believe it or not... we had barely enough rocks to finish the project. There isn't a single bucket of rocks left in the yard and now we have a tonne of empty buckets back in circulation for the garden!

Oh wait... not quite finished with rocks... my partner wanted to use some blue-stone pebbles from a local beach to populate the river bed. So we drove to the beach park (shhh)... and surreptitiously filled two backpacks with pebbles and hauled them back to the truck (twice). Blue-stone pebbles poured into dry river bed and... we're done!

Not quite... we still want to add even more visual interest to the dry river bed and rock expanse... like little painted rock houses and fairy garden tchotchkes... but that can come at a later date. For now... it's good enough... not bad for a few days worth of hard slogging... Partner's happy with the dry river bed and I'm happy to have emptied my massive stockpile of rocks. Knew they would come in handy for something someday!

And all it took was a number of small steps... just hack up the soil, just lay the concrete blocks, just move the soil, just move a bucket of rocks. Every move was a small step, but together they add up to an impressive accomplishment. Something for me to remember.

Can I hang up the kayak now? And mow the hay field that is our back lawn?

Putting a Price on Pollution: Could a Deposit on Cigarette Filters Help Solve Health and Environmental Issues?

True or False?

Cigarette filters significantly reduce the health risks associated with smoking?

The Shocking Truth

If you're like me, you probably answered "True". Of course cigarette filters significantly reduce health risks! That's why there are filters on cigarettes in the first place, right? And we've all seen the brown stains no the filter end after someone has smoked, right? So the filters must be filtering out some gunk. Right?

Not so much.

Filters do trap the bigger particles of tar but... they also make the smoke "milder". Smokers tend to take bigger puffs on filtered cigarettes, which means that the smoke travels deeper into the lungs. And guess what... the smaller particles of tar are NOT trapped in filters and... they just travel deeper into the lungs. Think about it... if filters were stopping the toxins... wouldn't the end of the filter remain white? The bit that goes in the mouth? Just sayin...

So, the answer is... False... cigarette filters do not signficantly reduce the health risks associated with smoking. In the meantime... the environmental impacts of cigarette filters are HUGE.

Eco-Impacts

Cigarette filter fibres are made of cellulose acetate, a type of plastic that takes years to decompose. In the meantime, toxic substances absorbed from cigarette smoke leach into the environment. Not to mention the ones ingested by wildlife. We all know the impacts are bad... and if you don't, then read this link from the World Health Organization.

Cigarette butts are THE most littered man-made item in the world. Of the 5.6 trillion cigarettes smoked every year (ballpark estimate)... about 80% end up as litter... that is 4.5 trillion cigarette butts.

Oh, and let's not even mention the wildfire risks associated with discarded cigarette butts.

Alternatives

There are different options to today's cigarette filters...

1. No Filters

One option is to produce cigarettes without any filters. Today's cigarette filters are not a necessary component of cigarettes and their removal would eliminate the health and environmental issues associated with them. People could use cigarette holders or simply smoke unfiltered cigarettes. Of course, there would still be health risks associated with smoking.

2. Biodegradable Filters

Developing filters made from biodegradable materials, such as plant-based fibers or paper, could help reduce the environmental impact. These filters would break down more quickly in the environment and reduce plastic pollution.

3. Cigarette Holders

Cigarette holders are reusable devices that can be used to hold a cigarette while smoking. They were widely used in the early 1900s and were stylish fashion accessories. While cigarette holders don't filter the smoke, they do reduce direct contact between the lips and the cigarette, which may help reduce staining of teeth and fingers. Some cigarette holders are even being marketed as having built-in filters.

4. Reduced-Harm Products

Another approach is to promote reduced-harm products like electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) or heat-not-burn devices. While these are not without their own health concerns, they are generally considered less harmful than traditional cigarettes and do not use the same types of filters.

5. Filter Disposal Solutions

If traditional filters continue to be used, providing better disposal solutions for filters could help mitigate environmental issues. Encouraging proper disposal and recycling of filters can reduce litter and pollution. If all of the cigarette filters actually ended up in a appropriate disposal stream, the world would be a better place.

But... given that the city of Vancouver has an estimated 450,000 cigarette butts being littered on city streets EVERY DAY... the issue comes back to human actions. And we all know how well humans change their habits.

6. Fines

Some jurisdictions (e.g. the US state of Washington) have significant fines for littering cigarette butts ($1000). But you actually have to catch the offender in the act, and the odds of that are low, unless you had an army of bylaw officers standing around.

7. Deposit System

There is one group in Europe that is suggesting the introduction of a filter deposit system, similar to what some jurisdictions do with drink containers.

They suggest introducing a 20 cent deposit on each cigarette filter (so 4 Euros/package). A pocket ashtray would be issued with every pack of cigarettes. Customers who returned the full pocket ashtray along with the empty cigarette package would get their deposit money back.

The group suggests that all of this could be funded by the tobacco industry and overseen by the state.

It's an intriguing option that might encourage habit change in smokers. There would also be an incentive for people to pick up the butts and cigarette packages that litter city streets, similar to bottles and cans that end up on the street.

Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada suggested a filter deposit system back in 2014... but it would appear that nothing has moved on that.

8. Recycle by Mail

And then we have a final option... where you can recycle your cigarette butts by mail. Yep, you read that right. Unsmoke has partnered with TerraCycle in Canada to sponsor a FREE program whereby you put all of your butts into a container, print out a mail label and ship it off to TerraCycle.

I suppose this might be good for... businesses? Who have a smoking area for staff? Or maybe a really, really conscientious smoker will save all of their butts at home, pack them up and send them off. Maybe. They also take tobacco pouches, rolling papers, the foil thing from inside the cigarette package, and the exterior plastic wrap.

Businesses can also register to become a Drop off Point, where people can bring their smoking materials. I had a look and there aren't a heck of a lot of them in BC yet. Although Tofino and Ucluelet have gone to town with this and have dozens of places that accept these used smoking materials. 

Although... as an Airbnb host, who often hosts guests who smoke outside... we could collect their butts and mail them off to TerraCycle. We already have to pick the butts out of the can-of-wet-sand ashtray soooo... why not just stockpile those and send it off. Might just do that.

Conclusion

The thing with many of these "solutions" is that they rest on the consumer or the smoker. It's up to us to recycle plastic packaging that seems to have proliferated everywhere... even though many admit that the recycling system is broken. It's up to us to figure out what to do with cigarette butts. It's up to the smoker to decide whether or not to toss that butt or save it and then mail a collection back to TerraCycle. Or... in an age where Decision Fatigue is rampant... just toss the thing out the car window and be done with it. Or drop it on the sidewalk and let it be someone else's problem.

Surely some responsibility rests on the corporations that take the easy route, or the profitable route, to deal with the problems that THEY have created. Us collecting cigarette butts from our Airbnb guests might not save the world... but it is a small step.

Further Reading

Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada - A Provincial Deposit – Return Program for Cigarettes

Initiative for the Establishment of a Universal Deposit System for Filter Cigarettes and their Packaging

NIH - The ‘filter fraud’ persists: the tobacco industry is still using filters to suggest lower health risks while destroying the environment

WHO raises alarm on tobacco industry environmental impact

Health without filters: the health and environmental impacts of cigarette filters - PubMed (nih.gov)

The ‘filter fraud’ persists: the tobacco industry is still using filters to suggest lower health risks while destroying the environment - PMC (nih.gov)

The dirty truth about cigarette filters | CNN

Cigarette butts are toxic plastic pollution. Should they be banned? (nationalgeographic.com)

Consumers' knowledge and beliefs about the safety of cigarette filters | Tobacco Control (bmj.com)

Plastic straw ban? Cigarette butts are the single greatest source of ocean trash (nbcnews.com)

Cigarette Butts: Toxic Plastic Pollution | OceanCare

Homemade Broth: Is the Flavour worth the Effort?

I made vegetable broth/stock the other day. Was it a waste of time and energy and money? Wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy a carton (or two) of vegetable broth? I can't decide...

Frozen Leek Scraps

It all started with trying to make some space in the fridge freezer. I have two ziploc bags of frozen leek scraps - you know the dark green parts that are tough and yucky. I had saved them last year because I thought I could use them to make stock/broth. But they take up space.

On top of that, I had several plastic containers in the freezer with spinach juice in one and rehydrated tomato water in two other ones. You know... when you take dried tomatoes and rehydrate them in water and then use them but what do you do with the red water now? Well, you put it in a plastic container and save it for broth.

But they take up space.

And freezer space is at a premium in our household soooo... I decided to make a pot of veggie broth/stock. We use veggie broth in various recipes. But what we often do is just use a Knorr bouillion cube or a concoction made out of nutritional yeast and various herbs and spices.

I had made chicken stock last year, and salmon stock, with the pressure canner, and they are handy jars to have in the pantry. So why not some veggie stock!

Making Veggie Stock

I rummaged around in the freezer and dug out the following:

• 1 bag of frozen leek tops
• 2 containers rehydrated tomato water (about 1.5 cups)
• 1 container spinach water (about a cup)
• 3 cubes of pureed garlic scapes
• small packet of frozen cauliflower mushrooms
• some frozen shredded parsnip

I dug around in the pantry and came up with:

• some dried tomatoes
• a dried red chili
• some dried cauliflower mushrooms
• some dried chanterelle mushrooms

On top of that I had the usual culprits of onions, celery & carrots as well as a couple of yellow peppers and some parsley and chopped chives that needed to go. Picked some thyme out of the garden, tossed in some bay leaves, salt and pepper.

I put it all into the big stock pot and topped it up with water. Let it burble away for 5 hours and then strained it and canned it with the pressure canner. We came out with 3 x 1000 ml jars and 6 x 500 ml jars. That's 6 litres of veggie broth.

Was it worth it??

There's a part of me that thinks it takes a lot of time and energy to make veggie broth. The stove energy... cooking the broth and then doing the pressure canning. Not to mention my time in gathering vegetables, watching the broth simmer (occasionally) and then the pressure canner (about an hour).

Surely it would be cheaper to just get a few cartons of veggie broth? 

Maybe not.

Store-bought Vegetable Broth/Stock/Bouillon

I had a look at Superstore's online shopping site and searched for veggie broth. I use Superstore because by-and-large, it is the cheapest. Shop at Save-on-Foods, Safeway or Thrifty's and you're likely to pay a LOT more for the same brand.

Let's look at some options.

No-Name Vegetable Broth

This would seem to be a no-brainer. Although I did notice that the 1000 ml container has now shrinkflationed down to 900 ml. Sneaky. Anyhow... Price is $1.90 for one litre. So for $11.40, I could get my 6 litres of veggie broth. It's certainly convenient.

But goes into this veggie broth?? Let's check it out.

Ingredients: Water, Salt, Concentrated Tomato Paste, Concentrated Carrot juice, Concentrated Onion Juice, Yeast Extract, Concentrated Celery juice.

Ewwww. That's not very good. Highly processed and concentrated stuff. Plus that's a heck of a lot of salt if it's the SECOND ingredient! Not sure what yeast extract is doing in there either.

Soooo... health-wise, I would say this is probably not the best.

Taste-wise... you might as well use salty water instead of this veggie broth.

Campbell's No-Salt Added

Well, how about Campbell's Soup then? With "No Salt Added". That's gotta be better, right? It does cost more - $15 for 6 litres but... no salt! Let's take a look at their ingredients...

Ingredients: Water, Sugars (brown Sugar, Pear Purée, Apple Juice Concentrate, Dextrose), Vegetable Juice Concentrate (sweet Potato, Carrot, Red Pepper, Citric Acid), Tomato Paste, Onion And Celery Extract (soy Lecithin), Natural Flavour.

Oh, you have got to be kidding me???!!!! So they take out the salt and add sugar??? WTF? WTH? And that would be a LOT of sugars given that it is the second ingredient in the list.

I am shocked. Call me naive but... seriously... sugars???

And the rest of the ingredients are, again, highly processed concentrates and extracts. With "natural flavour"... uh-huh... not sure what that means.

Pacific Foods Organic Vegetable Broth

Alright, let's skip right to the most expensive one because... seriously... these lower cost ones are comical. Ouch... $6.80/litre = $40.80 for 6 litres of vegetable broth. Well, that makes me feel better with my time and energy.

This company's write-up of this broth says "We keep our recipes simple, use ingredients with integrity, and honour what nature gives us by minimizing our impact on the earth." Excellent...

So what ingredients do we have?

Ingredients: Water, Carrot Juice Concentrate*, Sea Salt, Celery Juice Concentrate*, Sugars (dextrose*), Garlic*, Leek Juice Concentrate*, Onion Juice Concentrate*, Tomato Paste*, Mushrooms Juice Concentrate*, Spices*, Apple Cider Vinegar*.

Sigh. Salt is ingredient #3 which means that will be a lot. And there are sugars. And most of the stuff is from juice or concentrate. What the heck??? I am not sure what the * means as the Superstore site didn't give a key for that. Will have to look on a box.

This does not impress me at all. You think "Organic" and most expensive would translate into "best one" but... no.

Let's try some bouillon cubes...

Go Bio Organic Bouillon Cubes (No Salt Added)

Organic bouillon cubes gotta be good, right? Mind you, this has only 6 cubes which makes 6 cups of broth, or 1.5 litres. Sooo... $31.76 to make 6 litres of broth.

But what ingredients do we have?

Ingredients: Non-gmo Corn Starch,* Non-hydrogenated Palm Oil,* Onion,* Carrot,* Yeast Extract, Leek,* Parsnip,* Parsley,* Lovage,* Thyme,* Rosemary,* Oregano,* Turmeric,* Mace,* Garlic,* Natural Flavouring.

Oh wow. Starch and oil are the primary ingredients. With a lot of herbs and spices. And no celery. Interesting. Topped off with "Natural Flavouring". At least it has no salt.

The Go Bio team has one with No Yeast and that one has Mineral Salt as the primary ingredient. Great.

Knorr Bouillon Cubes

Knorr. A name that stands for quality. Yes? The box says "Our Promise: Made with High Quality Ingredients". OK... so price wise... we have 6 cubes which makes 6 cups or 1.5 litres... or $13.16 for 6 litres of broth. Not a bad price. Let's look at these high quality ingredients:

Ingredients: Salt, Modified Palm Oil, Monosodium Glutamate, Corn Starch (sulphites), Hydrogenated Palm Oil, Sugars (sugar, Maltodextrin), Onion Extract, Xanthan Gum, Water, Tomato Powder, Dried Savoy Cabbage, Spices, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Dried Parsley, Caramel, Garlic Extract, Dried Oregano, Silicon Dioxide, TBHQ. Contains: Sulphites.

Salt is the first ingredient. Of course. Then Palm Oil. Sigh. MSG. Starch... more Palm Oil. Sugars!!!! Then extras and powders and Disodium this and Disodium that. With some dried spices... and TBHQ and sulphies...

What the heck is TBHQ??? "Tertiary butylhydroquinone, or TBHQ, is an additive to preserve processed foods. It acts as an antioxidant, but unlike the healthy antioxidants you find in fruits and vegetables, it has a controversial reputation." Errr... that doesn't sound good!! It is made from petroleum and is essentially butane. Charming.

Right. Scratch Knorr off the list. Worst of the bunch. Should we try a concentrated bouillion broth?? Why not...

Knorr Concentrated Vegetable Bouillon

Knorr... we've met them before. Their Promise of Quality. Uh-huh... Apparently you just use a drop or two of this to add extra flavour to sauces and broths, etc. Is this like Maggi?? No, but... not much different. Not going to factor in the cost because this is just silly...

Ingredients: Sugars (maltodextrin, Sugar), Water, Concentrated Vegetable Juice (carrot, Celery, Onion, Cabbage, Tomato, Mushroom), Salt, Yeast Extract, Garlic Powder, Spice, Spice Extract, Natural Flavour.

Sugars are the primary ingredient... and then the usual concentrates, juices and extracts.

Meh. Gonna pass on this one as well.

Knorr had an Instant Stock Mix as well... primary ingredients are salt, sugars and MSG.

Wow. I had no idea.

Is Home-Made Veggie Broth Worth it?

Whaddya think? Is my home-made stock/broth worth it? I don't think I put nearly enough salt in... to be honest. But, you know what, salt can be added later.

Health-wise - I would have to say ABSOLUTELY my veggie broth is worth it. The ingredients in all of these store-bought versions were just... wrong.

Cost-wise - It's only my time, really. And whatever electricity is used for the stove. And a few onions, carrots and celery. And the jars and lids. But we do reuse our canning jars so it's the snap-lids that are the physical cost... And they run $0.50/snap lid. Sooo... not bad for the 1 litre jars but the 500 ml jars... it takes two snap lids to make a litre. 

Still... cost and convenience isn't everything. And for an outlay of 1 hour of my time per litre of broth... we're doing not bad. I guess.

Do you make home-made broth - veggie, chicken, bone, fish? Is it worth it? Or am I just fooling myself?

I had fun doing it... so that must count for something?!

Pet Peeve: Unnecessary Plastic Windows in Pasta Boxes

Today's Pet Peeve is Brought to you by Catelli Pasta!! (And Barilla)

I was consolidating some whole grain wheat pasta to bring to my sister. I can't eat wheat stuff anymore and holding onto wheat pasta is just wishful thinking.

But as I consolidated two boxes of Rotini noodles into one box, I was left with an empty box.

No biggie. Just recycle it. Right? Easy peasy.

Not so much.

You see... I am a conscientious recycler. I am the person who sticks their hand into the opening of an empty tissue box and pulls out the plastic window in the top of the tissue box. They actually come fairly easily. And they do serve a useful purpose, ensuring that only one tissue (usually) comes out of the box at a time.

Because recycling a tissue box with the plastic window just contaminates the recycling stream. Which is not good. And as a conscientious recycler... I just... can't... do... it.

Which brings me to pasta boxes. You see... Catelli has a little clear plastic window in the middle of their pasta box.

For those of us who can't read and who can't determine the type of pasta based on the picture of rotini noodles on the cover. It looks like a pretty small piece of plastic. But in order to get it out of there... you have to tear the box apart and then try to pull the plastic off of the cardboard. But they use a much sturdier glue than the tissue box folks. And for such a small window... Catelli uses a HUGE piece of plastic!

So you grab a corner and you pull and... it tears. leaving you with shreds of plastic to peel off. I'm sorry, but I don't have time to stand in the kitchen muttering swear words as I peel off shards of plastic window material.

So that whole piece of cardboard with over-sized piece of window material goes straight into the garbage. Is this not a waste of cardboard? Waste of energy? Waste of plastic? Waste of time and energy and decision-making power? Why is it on ME to have to tear out this piece of cardboard in order to allow Catelli to have that itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny window in their pasta box???

So, while I was at Superstore the other day, I did an informal survey of pasta boxes... because I had come across a UK article that said Barilla pasta had gotten rid of their pasta box windows!!!

Let's see what we can find on our shelves...

Catelli. Yes, well we know what they do. But my box of whole wheat pasta was several years old so I thought... maybe they have changed? Nope.

President's Choice? Nope... little plastic window.

Catelli again... with a miniscule window into the heart of spaghettini... why?? What purpose does this serve???

And Barilla... from Superstore's online shopping... because the UK version has NO window... but our Canadian version... it has a plastic window. Ugh! 

I am so miffed with Barilla for being so two-faced that I went to their Canadian site's Contact Us Form and sent this message...

Can you explain why Barilla in the UK has gotten rid of the plastic windows in the pasta boxes but Barilla in Canada still has them?

Do you know what is involved in me recycling the empty pasta box?? With a plastic window? Why??? We can read. We can see your very clear pictures of the pasta. Take the eco-lead and get rid of these windows. They serve zero useful purpose. You don't see cereal boxes with plastic windows. Why do pasta companies do this? Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply that won't be a standard "thank you for your comment and we have sent this to our product team." 

Hmph. Back to Superstore... and look what I find. An actual box of spaghetti with NO window!  Amazing. Although this one was down the organic food aisle.

You would think that making boxes without windows would be easier and cheaper for pasta companies. You would think... But I guess they really like having people SEE what's in the box. Strange.

Post Script

I wrote to our city's recycling department to see what they have to say and after 10 days, received a reply. For us... we can leave the plastic windows in the pasta boxes! Yay! Win for us. Not so much a win for some other places. I do wonder though... in the pulping process of pasta boxes... when they fish out the plastic windows as contaminants... where do they go? Landfill?? Sigh.

That ends today's Pet Peeve Rant. Carry on with your normal daily activities.

Trying a Local Coffee Shop

A Serious Coffee just opened in our neighbourhood!! It's a 3 minute walk from our house. Soooo close! Sooo convenient. More or less. So I am going to try them this week (May 27-May 31) and see how it goes. I already miss my Starbucks but... change can be hard and painful and... I am going to give it my best shot!

Serious Coffee is a local roastery based out of Duncan. Each location is a franchise so is independently owned and operated. Support Local! Buy Local!

They had their Grand Opening on Thursday last week and I walked in and had a look around and promised I would be back. So here I am.

The Good

Local - yep, definitely local. So I am supporting a local business. Theoretically. I am not sure who actually owns this franchise. It would be some rich tycoon who lives in Vancouver.

Walkable - I've never lived so close to a coffee shop. So being able to walk here in the mornings is a definite bonus.

Wifi - they are piggy-backing on the next-door restaurant's wifi. Which, according to my phone is 200 Mbps. So that is good wifi.

Seating - lots and lots of seating, with a couple of booths and a long banquette... with cushioning!

Electrical Outlets - They have at least 2 outlets so I can sit here and plug in my aging, tottering laptop (8 years old) with it's failing (failed) battery).

The Bad

Working out the Kinks - the credit card terminal was hiccuping this morning and the server didn't know how to fix it.

New Staff - the server couldn't find "tea" on the terminal and was going to charge me $4.50 for a small tea, even though the wall menu says "Loose Tea" is $3.39. I ended up paying cash so she calculated the advertised price. But still... that price is MORE expensive than a small Starbucks tea. But... I am supporting local. Yay.

Chai Tea Syrup - even though the wall menu says "loose tea", which to my mind means loose leaf tea, what I received in my cup was sweetened which makes me think the server made my tea out of the chai tea latte syrup. I've had this happen in another coffee shop. And I could see the server mixing up something with water in a little container. I will have to double-check what is going on tomorrow when I come again.

The Meh

Opening Hours - their opening hours are... meh. 7 am to 7 pm is not bad. I really like the earlier hours that Starbucks has - 5:30 or 6:00 am. But I am trying to make the 7 am work for me. Get up, have breakfast, then head out to do my thing at the coffee shop. We'll see... If I get up super early, I could also go for an early walk, have breakfast and then come here! We'll see...

Growing Pains

It is a new location, with new staff. They are still getting the kinks worked out and I understand that. We'll see how the rest of the week goes.

On the plus side... I am trying a local coffee shop! And not going to Starbucks and supporting a global mega-corporation. Small steps... I am committing to this week and we'll see how it goes.

Eco-Friendly Sipping: The Rise of Cardboard Can Holders over Plastic Rings

Remember the plastic rings of death? Those plastic rings that hold cans of beer or pop? And that never ever decompose? And that are a danger to wildlife? Yes, those...

Well... my favourite local beer has switched to a cardboard carrier! How cool is that?

Call me weird, but I think it's pretty cool. When I got home, I took pics because these are the first ones I've gotten my hands on.

They are certainly better than the plastic rings... at least for wildlife and the environment. Now, this particular beer company wasn't actually using plastic rings to start with. Or maybe they were, years ago, but by the time I found them last year, they were packaging their 6 packs in little cardboard boxes.

Which is pretty good but... uses way more cardboard than the 6-pack ring replacement cardboard holder. 

Now if we could only get the BIG producers to follow suit. Looking at you Labatt's... and Coke... and Pepsi.

Still see tonnes of plastic ring holders in the grocery store aisles. But maybe... just maybe... the smaller producers can lead the way and show the big guys how it's done.

Small steps... they do make a difference.

The Art of Prioritization: Differentiating 'Nice to' from 'Need to'

We have a very large rhubarb plant that has a LOT of juicy, red stalks that are just begging to be harvested. But as the days go by... "make rhubarb relish" keeps getting bumped to the end of the line. There's too much other stuff going on.

But as the days go by, I start to get a bit panicky... "need to" get the rhubarb picked and chopped and make rhubarb relish! But then... I had a bit of an epiphany...

Why do I "need to" make rhubarb relish?

Who says I "need to"???

That made me pause for quite a while. And think. And mull things over. Because, really, making rhubarb relish is not a "need to". It is a "nice to". It would be "nice to" make rhubarb relish. It's not like we are selling it and our lives depended on it. There is no one standing over me demanding that I make rhubarb relish, "or else".

So where does it go from being a "nice to" thing... into a "need to" thing? Here are some of the factors at play.

1. Time Limited

Rhubarb season is limited. Pick it early and it is sweeter and not as tough. I always thought you had to pick it before it flowered but... that's an old wives' tale. You can just cut the flower stalk off. So there is a tiny bit of a time constraint. If I want to make rhubarb relish, then it has to be done soonish. But do I want to make rhubarb relish?

2. Friends Love it

Friends of ours LOVE the rhubarb relish that we make. We give them little jars of it every time they visit. And our supply is running low. So it is time to make more. But again, they are not standing over us demanding rhubarb relish. It is "nice to" give them rhubarb relish but if we are out... then we are out.

3. It's a Waste

Leaving the rhubarb relish stalks on the plant seems like... a waste. We are letting food go to waste. And somewhere along the way I learned that letting food go to waste is "bad". It's a sin. Although I don't remember seeing "food" in the list of deadly sins. Although it could probably be shoe-horned into gluttony or greed.

4. I had Plans

I was going to use the rhubarb-making pics for our Airbnb's social media campaign. No pics... no post. But it's only 1 post. Not the end of the world, right? But I had plans!!! And I hate it when plans change.

5. It's a Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda

As in... "It would be nice to make it..." morphs into... "I could make it..." so that translates into... "I should make it"... which leads to... "I need to make it"...

It's Bigger than Rhubarb

While this might seem like a pretty piddly thing... it's rhubarb for pete's sake...

But it's not just about the rhubarb. Because this happens in other areas of my life as well. Where I decided that something would be "nice to" do... Somewhere along the way, these "nice to" things get pressurized. I only have so much time. I only have so much energy. I can't do it all. But as time and energy fritter away... the pressure to get these things done increases. Or... I could just let them go. I don't need to make rhubarb relish. I could just let it go. I could say. "I really wanted to make it. But things change. And, right now, I don't want to make it anymore."

Because there are a LOT of things in life that are "nice to's". So many, many things. And some of them become "need to's"... but they can't ALL become "need to's". There is a finite limit to how much time and energy I have to devote to things. Saying "yes" to this thing means I have to say "no" to these other things.

So, rather than making rhubarb relish this year... I need to procrastinate on it (good procrastination) and bump it into next year. I made different choices this year as to what to do with my time. I didn't pick rhubarb. I was away part of the time. I did broombusting for another part of the time. Those choices are not wrong or bad. And I need to keep reminding myself... I can't do it all. I can't visit my Mom, do broombusting AND handle rhubarb. And I don't have to. Don't need to.

Sometimes I just have to say "no".

The Time Trap: Unraveling Parkinson's Law for Better Time Management

I'd never heard of Parkinson's Law before, but it is soooo apt! It was coined by a C. Northcote Parkinson, a naval historian who, in 1955, wrote this little bit of satirical wisdom:

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion

Oh yeah, that is a truism if there ever was one! I bump up against this all the time. Here's an example of how this works in my life...

Blogging Time Evaporates

I go to Starbucks at 5:30. I know that I have 2.5 hours at Starbucks, plenty of time to write at least 1, and more likely, 2 blogs! Plenty of time. Oodles of time!

So, what do I do? Do I start writing a blog as soon as I land at Starbucks? No, I do not. I do some journaling. I then take a look at my To-Do list which as blog ideas. But I can't decide on a blog topic so I decide to think about it for a bit. I mean, I have oodles of time, right?

In the meantime, I organize my To-Do list and rearrange a few things, add a few things, postpone a few things. I handle some small tasks that have been niggling at me and that keep falling through the cracks. I reconsult my to-do list and rearrange my blog topic ideas. I handle a few more tiny tasks.

Until, I look at the clock and... shoot... it's already 6:45 am! I've only got 1.25 hours left! Now I'll be lucky if I get 1 blog done! What the heck? Where'd the time go?

The thing is... writing blogs requires way more effort than fiddling with my to-do list or handling small tasks. Fiddling with my To-Do list is "fun" and doesn't require a lot of effort. If I know that I have 2.5 hours... and I really, really want to get two blogs written... then I'd have to actually focus and get to work!

Adding Bells & Whistles

This is what Parkinson's Law can also look like... we know that we have a report that is due in 2 weeks. Do we work on it immediately? No, we do not. At least I don't. There's plenty of time. Oodles of time. We might chip away at the report with lackluster enthusiasm, until the final day when we shift into Super Gear and blast through it to the exclusion of everything else.

Or... we might decide, with 10 days to go, that we need to do a bunch of research on the topic. Maybe create pretty PowerPoints and colourful spreadsheets. We might delve deeper than we need to into the finer details of the data that we are presenting. Do we need colourful spreadsheets and pretty PowerPoints? No, we do not. Do we need the extra research? No we do not. But we have 2 weeks, don't we! Let's spruce it up. And those things are "fun"! When really... that report, plain and simple, could take 4 hours. Maybe it won't be perfect, but it will be done.

Drifting with no Deadlines

Where I also bump up against Parkinson's Law is when there is NO deadline. OMG... things just languish on my To-Do list and keep getting pushed down the list, down, down, down. But in the meantime, they take up mental energy... gotta work on that, gotta think about that, gotta research that, gotta, gotta, gotta... until all of a sudden, it becomes critical and then I shift into Super Gear and get it done.

For example, we are thinking about getting a new TV for the Airbnb because the current one is 30" which is tiny. There is no set deadline for this, so I can spend a lot of time researching TVs and comparing features and checking out stores. What's in Costco? What's in BestBuy? I don't know which is better... Samsung? LG? Panasonic? Dither, dither. Months get spent on this "project".

But imagine... the TV in the suite breaks! How fast do you think I can decide on a TV if that were to happen? Super fast! Because the deadline is "NOW"!

Or... how about this one... something that is a simple, small, neat, compact task... gets postponed and postponed until... it blows up in your face and all of a sudden, a 30 minute task has turned into a 4 hour damage control project. Think... taking the car in for an oil change... or not.

But there is hope... there are ways to get around Parkinson's Law and it's aftereffects.

Identify the Value

How important is this project or task? Why is it even on my list? Surely, it has some value. A TV for the suite definitely has value but while we have a functioning one, the value of buying a new one is pretty low. No one has complained about the size of it. If the functioning one were to go on the fritz, then the value of getting a new one skyrockets.

Identify the Scope

If we give ourselves too much time, there is a tendency to add bells and whistles to a project. We have the time so why not add colourful spreadsheets and other frills to a task. But we really don't need to do that.

We want to replace the sink in the suite... but if we're doing that, then maybe it's time to replace the counter. And if we're doing that, we might as well add a backsplash. And heck... it's probably a good idea to paint the cabinets.

All of a sudden, a 30 minute sink replacement has ballooned into a full kitchen remodel. Stick with the original scope and resist the urge to expand things.

Identify Tradeoffs

There's a tradeoff between scope, time and cost. A give and take. If the TV goes on the fritz NOW... I can't wait for a Boxing Day sale. I need to forgo waiting for a cheaper price and just buy the TV now!

Break Things Up

Obviously, this is a huge one. I have had "write book" on my to-do list for a long time. It's a specific book, I've done a lot of research but... "write book" is just too big and unwieldy. The deadline for "write book" is also nebulous. And with no deadline and no plan... it'll be on my list forever.

The trick is to break up the project "write book" into a multitude of smaller projects and tasks, each with their own realistic deadline. Small and short will get things done. Big and long will be on my To-Do list forever.

Set the Timeline

Yes, this is important. I can't tell you how many projects on my list have no deadlines. They languish there for months. I'll do it "someday" and someday never comes because there is no timeline. So it's to set up a timeline, but a realistic one.

I know that I can generally get a blog written in 45-60 minutes. So on a Starbucks morning, it's to work backwards from my departure time of 8 am. I need to start writing the second blog by 7 am and so the first one needs to be started at 6 am. That gives me 30 minutes at the start for journaling and smaller tasks. And if the blogging goes quicker than planned... well, then there's always time at the end for smaller tasks as well!

Working with Parkinson's Law instead of Against It

It's helpful to me to know that this is what happens, all too frequently. I can then begin to work with it instead of bumping up against it all the time. I have a tendency to add buffer time to things because well... I like buffer time. I don't want to be bumping up against frantic deadlines all the time. So I tend to schedule deadlines farther into the future than is required.

A flip side to Parkinson's is this... I saw I need 60 minutes to write a blog. But I could actually write a blog in 30 minutes. It won't be perfect, it might not have a great image to go with it. I might not have time for a lot of background research. But I could do it. In a pinch. It would take more effort, more focus, more intensity, more energy. But it could be done. Maybe not today though... I only have 21 minutes before I have to leave and this blog has taken exactly 60 minutes!