Soccer Kids Can Save the Planet...

My wife Gina and I were out shuttling our son Lucas to soccer practice this weekend - tech training actually - and after that we were driving our eldest daughter Laurel to a friends house. None of this is remarkable, right? Most parents of teens or pre-teens are out driving their kids to soccer or other sporting events, music lessons, the mall (ugh, at Christmas time! I'd rather stick a fork in my eye than drive to a mall...different post). What made this particular drive a little different, was the conversation after we dropped Lucas off.

Our neighbour's son Patrick plays on the same indoor soccer team as Lucas. Lately we've been making a concerted effort to carpool the kids to their practices and games - one family drives both boys there and back, or splits the trip so one drops off and the other picks up. Given the time of year and that some work in offices (I don't, thank goodness), and how hard it is to make a 5pm practice time that happens to be across the city, well we all try to pitch in and help out.

 In any case, we had agreed that we would pick up both boys after tech training on Sunday. After we dropped our son off, we got on the topic of how it would be cool if we, or our neighbour, could claim a carbon credit for the fuel that he wouldn't have to burn by virtue of us picking up his son. In fact, wouldn't it be cool if WE could get paid for saving our neighbour some gas-burning - not by him, but by "someone". And wouldn't it be cool if there were an app (iPhone or Android) that would function like Airbnb or Uber so you could put your carbon credits/offsets or whatever they are, up for sale and get paid for carpooling? It was a funny conversation and Gina, Laurel and I laughed a fair bit, but we eventually went about our day and the thought passed. Sort of...

I'll admit that I'm not a rabid environmentalist (surprise for those of you that know me, right...). But in this post-Paris carbon accord world we live in, I think it's fair to say that an awareness has been raised and lurks in most people's minds, somewhere back there with the other "basic be good" thoughts like don't spit in public, don't litter and other obvious civil thoughts. I think it's fair that we should all try and do our part and be environmentally responsible in our choices. It's certainly easier these days with recycling and garbage bins provided by the city - all we have to do is separate the two. My wife and I used to pay a private recycling service ages ago, before it was de rigeur and provided by the city. It shouldn't be that hard to think of other ways to be "green", right? Carpooling has been around forever, so it's not a stretch.

Personal Carbon Credits - such a hard nut to crack?

After enjoying the rest of the day, a nice walk or two on a chilly Calgary day, a performance of The Nutcracker ballet and a relaxing evening (I've edited my schedule to leave out some annoyances that aren't germane to this thread), the thought came up again - soccer parents pooling resources to reduce carbon emissions and monetize those savings. There, I had the right lexicon now - monetize, the lingo of the app generation. Turning something hitherto unthought of into MONEY. Add in some 21st century green thought here and it becomes, using unconventional approaches to self-fund a personal carbon reduction programme. Great, what is it?

The thought boils down to ebay or kijiji for carbon. A place where you can offer up your carbon reduction to others to offset their carbon output. I had to look into the whole carbon offset thing, since it's not front of mind (still back there with no public spitting). Broadly speaking, carbon offsets are things you buy to compensate the planet for carbon output that you produce, or cause to be produced, by some activity you perform. Think airline carbon offsets - you're taking a trip by airplane, which will create some carbon output into the atmosphere. In order to atone for your environmental faux pas, you can purchase an offset - basically paying money to someone, somewhere who will produce an environmentally beneficial outcome that will absorb the corresponding carbon your share of the flight will release.

I'm not an expert in this stuff. In fact I'm not even fluent in this carbon stuff, so I went to the source of all information, Google, and looked up personal carbon offsets. I got a hit on a site that had a paper commissioned by the Clean Air, Cool Planet organization. The paper is from 2006 and is a review of "retail carbon offset providers", which is an early form of what I was thinking about. It's an interesting read on how people can leverage carbon offset programmes for personal or retail use. The authors devised a methodology to rate the providers and came up with a top 8 list internationally. Not many were in Canada, none of the top 8, but that was 9 years ago and things have likely changed. The best part of the paper is really how they frame the whole carbon offset issue, and bring some clarity to how offset programmes should be audited so people aren't overselling offsets, that the quality of the offsets is commensurate with the rate charged, and the whole issue of "additionality". Nerd out on that!!

While I digested that article, I was reminded that Gina and I subscribe to Bullfrog Power. Bullfrog Power is an organization that basically charges you a fee, monthly and they produce green power (electrical, natural gas, etc) to replace what you use monthly. At first I thought they were an offset provider, but they aren't.

Offsetting vs Neutrality

Bullfrog Power doesn't sell offsets, they provide a way for businesses and people at large to "neutralize" their carbon footprint. Think of it this way, offsetting is like penance - you've committed an act that requires you to be pardoned by paying someone to do something good in return. In this case, you've produced the carbon and you're paying someone else to underproduce their carbon relative to what they normally would, so your production of carbon can be offset (I think that's right). Neutralizing your carbon footprint is basically negating what you produce. We pay Bullfrog Power a monthly fee to produce green electricity from wind, solar, or hydro, that produces zero, or close to zero carbon. So we pay about $14 a month to neutralize our carbon footprint for electricity. According to our bill, that's $0.02/kWh on roughly 673kWh of electricity. Our last Enmax bill shows that we actually consumed 556kWh at a rate of $0.056/kWh, so we are, in fact, more than neutral in our carbon footprint, we are positive! A small moment to celebrate, but this only relates to our electricity, not our natural gas use (furnace is gas) or our carbon footprint relative to our vehicles. But it's a start.

One of the articles on bullfrogpower.com talks about how in Ontario the bullfrogpower rate is 3 cents per kWh, relative to a normal power rate of 10 cents per kWh, making Bullfrog Power's neutralizing rate a 30% increase in a regular Ontario power users bill. Well, at 2 cents on a 5 cent power rate in Alberta, we're paying a 40% premium. In fact, when you total our actual Energy Charge as per Enmax for November 2015, it's $30.70 and our Bullfrog bill is $14.15, so really, on the pure energy charge basis, we pay a 46.09% premium for our carbon neutrality (positivity?). The point isn't that the price of carbon correctness is high - it's going to be higher in environmental terms if we don't start doing something to fix the problem - it's that there are ways to take action today.

What Will The Future Hold?

Who knows? I don't know. You don't know. But I'm pretty sure we collectively know that moving to reduce our carbon output at a personal level is every bit as important as it is for corporations and governments to put into action carbon reduction programmes. And it looks like the provinces and the federal government are at least moving to do something. Hopefully something that will address the problem without crippling the economy. In the spirit of that ideal, here's a thought. Why not provide Canadian tax payers with a carbon tax credit for reduced CO2 emissions, much like the home renovation tax credit reimbursed home owners for improving their home's efficiency. But instead of making it a small one time credit, make it a recurring credit that varies based on a carbon baseline? Have home owners establish a CO2 profile for their homes or lifestyle, then they can take action by getting solar panels, solar water heaters, improved furnace efficiency, etc. Whatever they do, they can have the baseline re-evaluated (annually?) and depending on the level of reduction, the governments (federal, provincial and/or municipal) could provide tax credits against income tax or property tax. The governments can then claim the reductions at the national level for compliance with Paris accord commitments. If technology could be built (it can) to measure these baselines regularly, the precision would be better and the data could be used to further improve programmes and incentives.

Okay, I may have gone into tech-nerd overdrive on that last paragraph, but it had to come out. I only wanted to say that maybe there's a way to provide people with direct tax credits from the governments. Is that what the future holds? It's the past in BC, where that provincial government already provides low income residents with a tax credit for the carbon tax in that province. That's not what I meant in this case. I think low income people need to be considered in any policy decisions about carbon taxation, offsets, etc. But I think we need to get people moving to incent them to be carbon proactive.

One of my favorite topics with Gina is rooftop solar. She has been a long time advocate of solar panels. When we discussed it for our house a few years back, the program that Enmax had was simply unfriendly. The homeowner footed the bill for the install, the payback, at least in our case was 20+ years for the install costs. And to top it off, if the owner sold the house, he/she was responsible to remove the system at their cost if the new owner didn't want it (who wouldn't want it... think maintenance costs). Some incentive.

Solar roofing shingles from Solar Shingle Canada (pvtech.ca)

Our thinking has to change, and I think it has. Solar panels on a house... really? My question was, why not solar roofing shingles! Just slather the whole roof with them and use the whole surface area as a power generator. Okay, apparently certain roofs aren't good for solar. Roof pitches between 15 and 40 degrees are optimal, but only if they're aligned to the sun's path throughout the day. So a north facing, 45 degree roof wouldn't be good (think a 12/12 pitch roof, say in Canal Flats...).

Well, lo and behold, there are such things. Don't ask me if they're economical, I don't know, but look at the image. A roof - darn nice one too - with partial regular shingles and partial solar shingles. Looking at the website, these folks have managed to build a hybrid roofing system so entire roof faces are solar generating (there is a calculator on the website that calculates the cost of the roof and the Ontario government's ANNUAL payment/credit to the home owner). Where's the future...there's part of it. Get local city planning departments to mandate solar roofs, or that building code state that roofs with solar generating capacity of "X" must use solar roofing materials and that those systems are an integral part of the house. Give those home owners tax credits that are meaningful. Lets see what that would do to our power generation issues, CO2 reduction goals.

Did I lose it again and nerd out? Maybe I did, but I think that the future isn't bleak. It's full of promise and amazing potential for us to tackle this CO2 thing. We just need to personalize it - maybe move to Hawaii, put solar on our roof and buy an electric car. Ya, you know who you are - own it.

Seriously, Soccer Kids Can Save the Planet

I started this blog post with the fun conversation I had this weekend with Gina and Laurel over carbon credits for soccer parents that car pool their kids. I still think some P2P (parent to parent) carbon market app that can monetize a simple CO2 carbon reduction action like carpooling soccer kids will eventually come out. Heck, the people at TeamSnap should consider it as a feature add-on. TeamSnap is probably the best kids team sport organizing app I've ever seen. First time one of our kids coaching/managers put us on it I thought "here we go..." and now when our kids team management doesn't use it I go "oh crap, now I have to manage this all myself...". It's a cool tool and it's geared for sports teams to make it easy to manage a schedule of games, practices, emails for parents/coaches, refreshments... basically a well thought out app.

Since carpooling is a natural by product of all parents involved in their kids sporting activities, it would be a feature to add on - carpooling. Parents can sign up, offer their open seats in their cars. TeamSnap would provide mapping services to the parents who are drivers so they know where to pickup kids whose parents sign them onto an open seat. The system would know where the event is so drivers could use this as navigation to the event/location and know when they have to leave to get the kids and make it on time. Put aside the minutiae of liability for the parents who drive other's kids, the potential for TeamSnap liability (Uber isn't liable, they're a coordinating service, not a taxi service...), and you have a viable feature in TeamSnap. Now all they have to do is figure out the carbon savings for drivers and ... what have we got? A retail carbon offset provider?

What if TeamSnap became a retail carbon offset provider (RCOP)? What if they could monetize the carbon reductions on behalf of parents/teams? TeamSnap could charge a small fee from these carbon credits to help fund their service and development costs. The balance would be passed to the team account on TeamSnap and the team could fund their tournament costs, new jerseys, additional technical training, whatever. The potential market is huge - soccer is the worlds most popular sport.

"Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 150 countries, making it the world's most popular sport." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football

Ok, not all of those countries have car driving, shuttle parents for soccer kids. But some do, and something like this with such a broad appeal could be a great co-marketing opportunity. After all, 196 parties attended the Paris Climate Conference, 150 countries have football/soccer team sports at some level.

Who knows, this app thing might fly or it might not. But with all those kids playing soccer worldwide, I bet that some soccer kid or kids will save the planet. I'm betting it's my kids. Go MSB!!

Trump Chooses Ford as Running Mate - What If??

Well, it's official. the US Presidential race is turning out to be weirder than anyone could have imagined. The fact that Donald Trump is still a viable contender for the Republican Party is, well, beyond comprehension really. I thought his idea of sending back all the illegal immigrants and building a wall to keep the Mexicans out of the US was bizarre beyond all reason. That was a few months ago...we're closer to Christmas now, and the wackiness is winding up, not down. Mr. Trump just called "for the United States to bar all Muslims from entering the country until the nation’s leaders can “figure out what is going on,” an extraordinary escalation of his harsh rhetoric aimed at members of the Islamic faith in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif." according to the New York Times. No, really.

I keep thinking that only the Marvel and DC Comics movies at theatres and TV shows have the whacked out world-dominating, isolationist, pseudo-fascist characters. But, no. Unfortunately, The Donald is really running for the highest office in his land. Maybe of all lands. And with his arch nemesis "to-be" being Vladimir Putin, well, I feel ever so comforted that they'd get along. It is, however, the reality that we're living with for now, so we might as well embrace it and imagine how it might evolve. 

So, what if... 

... Donald Trump could choose anyone he wanted to be his vice presidential running mate? What if he could choose anyone from anywhere? I mean, honestly, if The Donald ever succeeds in becoming The President of the United States he will need a Vice President worthy of himself. And who could be more worthy of the title Vice President than the the former Mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, literally the King of Vice in politics! If US electoral laws were to allow it, the team of Trump and Ford would be, well, legendary. The sheer level of bombasticity would be unimaginable.

First, (really I don't know where to start with this, but...) you would have to wake up everyday just yearning for the news to report who broke "political wind" with their comments that day. Would it be Trump declaring that Canadians would now have to pay a royalty to the US for appropriating the use of their currency name (and would "the buck" now become known as The Donald Bill?)? Or would it be VP Ford caught on a cellphone video in a substance induced tirade about how his new boss won't let him use the VP's official jet to haul his football buddies to the economic conference in Davos. To be fair, VP Ford probably thought it was a party at Dave-o's.

Secondly, Rob Ford could be Mr. Trump's muscle in the house. Recall that Rob was quick(ish) to run across the floor in a city of council meeting and trample a fellow councillor when he was upset. I think the US house of representatives is a slightly bigger venue, so Rob might get a bit more exercise.  And let's face it, wherever Rob goes, brother Doug is nearby, so as Rob's chief of staff, Mr. Trump gets two Fords in his house.

Lastly (maybe), Rob Ford was the Mayor for the working class. Donald may be loved by many working class americans, but he's hardly working class. Rob could firm up support for President Trump with the real US blue collar working class. In fact, Rob could be the single most important factor in getting the less politically engaged elements of the US electorate to support the Republican party. VP Ford could simultaneously host Narc-anon political rallies, while hosting backroom smoke-ins to gather support and discuss whatever alienates those americans. Obamacare might have to give way to a new A-Ford-able Drug plan.

I could go on and on, and trust me I did so as I sat here writing this blog entry. I glazed over and lost myself in thought as I contemplated the sheer absurdity of a Trump/Ford ticket/presidency. I couldn't stop coming up with endless scenarios where Trump or Ford, or both would stun the world with their new policies that would make any sane person lose it. After all that time, I came to realize that we are living in that world today.

When I was a kid and we learned about WWII and the atrocities that Hitler had carried out; that Stalin had carried out, I couldn't believe it. It simply didn't register, not even as I grew up into an adult, and now as a "mature adult" those events seem tragically real and surreal. That any government leader could possess a mental dysfunction and a personal and political charisma so great as to perpetrate those atrocities stuns me. Yet, Tiananmen Square happened. North Korea still exists as an isolated and insular population in a time of unprecedented openness and access to information, but not there. Putin somehow managed to rise to power, consolidate power and is starting to expand his ambitions beyond his home turf (we can't forget the Ukraine...and what will Syria or the middle east bring now that Putin is ensconced there?).

What about Africa and all the dictators and human tragedies that have taken place over the many decades since WWII? Where has our enlightenment brought us? Did the light grow stronger and brighter, but we simply moved away?

I didn't start out this blog to get morbid and depressing. I'm not that guy generally. It's simply, when you think of all the lunacy that we see, is Trump for President, Ford as VP that much more absurd? Let's be thankful that Ford is Canadian (you know what I mean) and legislatively that pairing is practically impossible. Let's be a little more concerned that you could get a pairing of Trump and Ted Cruz (ironically another Canadian, "technically"?). WOW. Suddenly, Hillary ain't lookin' so bad is she?

A Perspective on Innovation - Jurassic Style

I'm a self-confessed news junkie - reading the Globe and Mail cover to cover (online) each morning. I was, in the past, a subscriber to The New York Times as well, their electronic version at least. I eventually let that subscription lapse, but I've always kept my complimentary subscription to their newsletters - Finance, DealBook, etc. I find their coverage of things excellent and getting an "outside Canada" view is always a good thing.

On Monday, I succumbed to the NYT relentless pleading to get me back as a subscriber to their electronic editions. Given that it was Cyber Monday, and the deal was really good - 60% off for one year - I signed up again, at least for a year. I came across the article below, which you might not be able to see. Basically it's about how one perceives certain things as either expenses (a cost) or an investment (an opportunity to realize a benefit or gain of some sort).

http://nyti.ms/1IjFvHH

The author, Carl Richards, asked the president and founder of a leading research and consulting firm on global political risk at a global conference how they invested. He was expecting some kind of answer about a mix of stocks, bonds, ETFs, etc. Instead the person answered that he'd just hired another Ph.D at his business. Not exactly the answer Mr. Richards was expecting. But it showed that this person considered the Ph.D an investment in human capital. Now that's interesting. Some might consider staff to be a necessary part of any business, and they're certainly a cost input into any business plan, but change your perspective a bit and you can see that they're an investment too, and many might argue staff are the most important investment you make in your business.

The article is interesting in and of itself, but what captured my attention more so is that of perspective. How we look at things is determined by a multitude of factors - situational, learned, hereditary - but we can (and should) change our perspective in order to appreciate things we might otherwise overlook. It's not always easy to change perspectives, and when you do, it's not always successful in helping you appreciate the other point of view. Nevertheless, the perspective notion of the article got me thinking about how to view things going on in the world. Not all things, but something that's been gnawing at the back of my mind for a while - Innovation.

I'll fess up right now. I'm not a huge fan of "innovation", at least not the word. It's overused to the point of numbness. It's like that fad word from a decade ago, synergy. According to Wikipedia, synergy is

the creation of a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts.

Gaudi's La Pedrera is considered structurally innovative for its time, as is

it's underground parkade and undulating balconies. It is innovative

even today; at the time it was considered "controversial". 

In short order we were synergizing and synergistic to the point of ad nauseum! I feel that same way about innovation. It's not enough that people be creative and work well together to be successful. Today, innovation is the new metric of success, however, I don't think it's one that's useful in the abstract sense. What I will say is that there is a vast array of new things and ideas out there in the world and the new and wonderful things seem to be multiplying daily.

Take for example the financial industry, long associated with banks and insurance companies mainly. Today we hear about "fintechs" that are changing the landscape of banking. Some say they're in competition with banks.  According to consulting company McKinsey & Co fintechs may be responsible for reducing bank profits by 60%. Other opinions say that fintechs can be complementary to banks.

But what are fintechs? They're typically startup companies that provide a service in the finance sector in either banking or insurance or...  One such fintech is Koho.ca which aims to provide banking services online through an app. It may be targeted at Millenials given that it's geared to those comfortable with apps and online transactions. This isn't a review of koho but they are a good example of the kind of creativity that is out there. There are companies that are changing logistics and supply chains, car insurance, consumer products and many other areas by bringing technology and a fresh perspective (there it is!) to businesses that have been around for a long time.

When I think of all the STUFF that is going on out there, it's bewildering. Not that it's incomprehensible - it isn't, you just have to read a lot ;-) - but just the vastness of the changes that are taking place, and the possibilities of what the future might look like. I read an article about Adele's new album "25" and how it was like Jurassic World in terms of her monster sales of the new album. When I read that article, the comparison to Jurassic World led me to a different perspective about the Jurassic period in earth's history. I thought about the vast diversity of life, or at least reptiles, at that time. You know, dinosaurs with horns on their heads or tails, or both. Flying reptiles, long necked herbivores as big as buildings, tiny vicious carnivores that would hunt in groups and overcome larger prey. You get the picture (or just watch any of the Jurassic movies), the variations on dinosaur themes seems huge and the little guys could be just as deadly as the big guys - even more deadly in many cases.

So what's my point? Well, in broad strokes, I'm justifying my recent resubscription to the New York Times as a way of increasing my exposure to what's going on in the world. But really, its that I'm changing my perspective on the "innovation" that I see in the world in general today, and there's a huge amount of creativity that is producing tremendous opportunities for change in the world. Will it all be good change? Don't know. Is it all bad, I seriously doubt it. Is it all innovative, not really. But change is coming and it'll be interesting to see which ones win. Will the little guys eat the big guys, or get crushed by the big guys or is there some little "proto-human" that we haven't seen or paid attention to yet that ends up dominating the landscape. In any case, my perspective is open to change.

short-term pessimist, long-term optimist 

Bad news, good news, any news?

Last night as my wife and I were preparing to watch the late night news, our oldest daughter was with us. The news was showing the downing of the Russian jet by the Turkish air force. The news anchor went on to outline the upcoming segments, most of which were about the recent Paris attacks, terrorists in Belgium and the war in Syria.

Our daughter said "why do they always show such bad news? Why can't they show news that's happy or about 'good things'?". Her words were familiar to me, basically the same thoughts I have about how depressing the news is. Being a self-confessed news junkie, I've had the same thoughts many times. Why not give us news that's uplifting and inspirational instead of depressing and negative?

During my university studies I read and studied psychology and sociology. The gist (albeit some 30 years ago), was that news agencies focus on negative news because it's sensational - gets a rise out of people and focusses their attention on the news. More recently I think things have changed, not the least of which is an explosion of the amount and kinds of news that we can procure for ourselves. The internet with its vast amounts of blogs where people can freely voice their opinions, new news delivery like the Huffington Post, online news from major news providers and so on. Today, people can find whatever news they want, in whatever tone they want (some even more unpleasant than mainstream news). I commented to my daughter that I thought her Millennial generation (she's 17) would have an impact on how the news business would look, and the tone it would take, in the future.

She and her generation are constantly on their iDevices - smartphones, tablets, laptops - and she at least reads and watches many different sources of "news" everyday. She keeps up with politics, entertainment, and other everyday issues, most of which are not sensational in the traditional sense. They're more topical, critiques of personalities like movie stars, reality personas, and other things like how cows emit large amounts of CO2. It's rare that she sits and watches mainstream baby-boomer news, and last night was a clear indication that she doesn't like to hear the barrage of negativity in the news.

This morning I went online searching for answers to the question "why is the news so negative?" I came upon an article posted by the BBC about a study performed by psychologists at the McGill University in Canada. The study found that people have a "negativity bias" and that "we've evolved to react quickly to potential threats. Bad news could be a signal that we need to change what we're doing to avoid danger."  The study goes on to show that even thought people react more quickly to negative stories or words, and that it is likely a biological response, when asked what kind of news they prefer, they say positive stories; that the news is too focussed on the negative - just what my daughter said.

When you go looking for the impact Millennials are having on news consumption and news generation, you find a bunch of interesting research. It's not just the impact they're having on the news - what we watch and how we watch it - Millennials have impacted many other things. A piece of research by Pew Research Center outlines many ways Millennials are impacting society, and compares this cohort with GenX, Boomers and Silents. A post on Conscious Life News shows that Millennials are impacting how Americans drive, not so much "how", rather how little. They are driving less, which is driving down the use of fuels, and it is such a staggering effect that car "retirements" are now exceeding car purchases!

So clearly Millennials are having an impact on society in general, but what about the news? Well, it turns out that people are less trusting of the mainstream news these days, in general across most generations. In a more recent study found on Pew Research Center in the Journalism and News section, Millennials are more likely to get their news from Facebook than local TV, and vice versa for the Boomer generation. But that doesn't mean that Millennials agree with what they see on FB, as the article points out.

"Viewed in the context of the ongoing debate over political polarization in social media, for example, it is the Facebook users in the oldest of the three generations studied here who are most likely to see political content on the site that supports their own views: 31% of Baby Boomers on Facebook who pay attention to political posts say the posts they see are mostly or always in line with their own views, higher than both Generation Xers (21%) and Millennials (18%). At the same time, though, Baby Boomers are the least reliant on this platform as a source for their news – meaning that at least at the moment, this affects a smaller share of them. And, across all three generations, most Facebook users who pay attention to political content do, in fact, see views on the site that aren’t in line with their own."

What seems fairly clear is that my daughter is right, news, at least mainstream news is fairly negative and depressing, I can't disagree with that. It's also seemingly clear that news sources are increasing and changing, not just because of Millennials, but because people have more choice and can seek out news that agrees with their views, or differs from the staid old offerings we've had for decades. I also believe that while the Millennial generation has been criticized for being overindulged and self-absorbed, research is showing that they may just be better for the planet and for society in general than we give them credit for. I like saying that I'm a short-term pessimist and long-term optimist. In this case, I think the long-term with the Millennials coming into their own might just be a really good thing. Besides, it's not like we have a choice, right? ;-)

Never say never...

Just when you think you’re getting to old for things, you find that you have ambitions you never thought you’d have. Not grandiose ambitions on my part, just a glint of a desire to share some things with the bigger world. Things that Facebook isn’t suitable for…things of a more creative nature. While FB is great for disgorging wanton bit of random life, I wanted something that I could control more, be more creative with, and maybe “upgrade” as my experience improved and matured. I found I wanted a BLOG to start with. Not sure it’ll stay a blog, but lets go with that for now.

Cesar…

Day 18: on our way home...

So here we are boarding our flight to Frankfurt back to Canada - by way of Toronto. Sadly time to go. Gladly back to be with the girls, who we've missed. 

On the way home we found interesting things too. For one, neither of us wanted to be the first to breakdown and have "fast food" but we had to in Frankfurt so we both had a McDonald's sandwich - longing for bocadillo at that point. 

Long familiar tunnel from Frankfurt gate A area to gate B area. 

Okay, look closely under the wing. Not cool to have another airplane so close to mine, that's all I'm saying. 

Cool shot of Greenland mountains. 

Day 17: last full day in Spain :-(

Today is our last day in Spain. Lucas and I went to el Oceanigrafic y la ciudad de artes y ciencias (The Oceanogràfic of the City of Arts and Science; largest aquarium in Europe). We grabbed the bus and headed out early. Spent 3 hours at the aquarium then two hours at the science centre. It's my third time there and I never tire of it. We caught the dolphin show this time and it was great. 

We decided to walk back to the apartment, unwittingly without knowing it was 27 degrees C and no breeze - ouch. 

By the time we reached Los toneles, a nice tapas bar, we stopped for a bocadillo and drinks. Mmm good! Lucas had un bocadillo de puntillas- breaded deep fried squid in a bun. Didn't give me a bite!!

Sadly, we leave tomorrow but it's been a fantastic trip; one that Lucas will always remember, as I will. Just as I fondly remember the last trip with Laurel. 

Day 16: trip to Cheste to visit some family

We went out in the morning to Plaza Redonda so Sonia could get some last minute gifts for her family, then went for a small walk to El Corte Ingles. Stopped along the way for a quick "pincho" and then to the supermercado to get some pastry and wine for our visit.

After that we went back to the apartment to get ready for Emilio to come get us. 

We picked up Pilar (Emilio's wife) and then arrived at Mari Angeles' house where Miguel (husband) was waiting and Sonia (Mari Angeles' daughter with her daughter Nora) quickly arrived. Enrique (my cousin) and his wife Louisita arrived first with their sons Ignacio and Juan Carlos. Then Armonia (my cousin) and her daughter Rosamari showed up, but Sergio couldn't make it because of work.

My cousin Adelita and her sons Cesar and Xavier didn't make it either. I think that covers everyone. 

Lively conversation, lots of shouting (as it should be), some intransigence on the part if one JC with respect to the morality and threat to the human condition of homosexual relationships - apparently female partners are ok but not make partnerships (hmm, a little psycho-erotic thinking here.?)

Anyhow, a nice time. We went to Emilio's house afterwards to see his daughters that had just gotten off work - Ma. Pilar and Ma. Jose with their daughters Martina, Carolina (Pilar) and ?.?

After a short visit with Emilio's family, and a tour of his house, which still has his father's, my uncle Emilio's, carpentry shop with all the original tools and walls. I remember going there for lunch when I was seven - memory lane. 

Then back to Valencia where he dropped us off and we went for a nice dinner to celebrate Sonia's birthday - finally found time and a day where we weren't stuffed from lunch! Lunch had dorado asado (grilled giltfish), I had solomio con foie  (beef with chicken liver) and Sonia had some of the appetizers and un bocadillo de solomio. 

It was a nice dinner, quiet after all the hubub of midday, and a nice way to end the day. 

Day 15: Bye bye Barcelona, vamos a Valencia

Well as fun as Barcelona was, it's time to head back to Valencia as we wind down our visit to Spain. I have to say I didn't feel dirty as I walked around Barcelona with my Valencia CF manbag (don't laugh, it's amazing what you need to carry and how handy they are; like saddlebags in the old west). It wasn't like cheating on VCF, more like visiting a family member.

We rode the Renfe Euromed train back to Valencia and left the rain behind in Barcelona. We arrived to blue sky in Valencia, where apparently is had rained the whole time we were away. We had a visit with cousin Paco and his wife Adelina and afterwards we did more walking. We ended the day with a little bit of Sepia a la Plancha and bocerones fritos (small fried fish)

Day 14: Barcelona Day 2.5, more hop on/hop off

So, we woke up to rain. Just enough to make riding the hop on/off bus a bit wet and uncomfortable. But we went anyhow. Saw the west side of Barcelona (need more time, or another trip (jeje) to see all the sites). We did go to an awesome cathedral. Huge, cathedral that holds 98,787 believers, open to the air, partly sheltered, and arranged as an amphitheater of sorts. It lacks the ornamentation of more traditional places of worship, but it does have a multimedia pantheon that rivals any other. I'm speaking of the mecca of futbol, Camp Nou - home of the FC Barcelona. Okay, I'm not kidding when I say it's a religious experience going in there. But it's also like DisneyLand as they make you feel great as they take your money and you smile all the way out the gates back to the tour bus. :-) Barça. Més que un club!!

Day 13: Barcelona by Hop On/Hop Off

Had a wonderful day on/off the hop on/hop off tour bus in Barcelona. Saw the Pedrera (house by Gaudi) and then went to his basilica, La Sagrada Familia (whoa!!) amazing architecture. I will say it's impressive but lacks the history of the churches and cathedrals we saw in Toledo and Valencia. All the same, it's an amazing structure. Went up the Passion Tower and walked down - not sure how fitbit would count it - but it was worth the walk down the narrow nautilus shell-like stairs.

Other sites that day...