Planned Obsolescence

From Wiki: "In industrial design is a policy of deliberately planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete or nonfunctional after a certain period of time."

And so, the Acu-Life Ear Wax Removal Syringe from Health Enterprises Inc., with its "patented doctor design", has been thoughtfully made fragile. Well, designing doctor, I say to you: "First, do no harm!" That is your Hippocratic oath. By designing such a piece of crap, you are doing harm to the environment.

And now, please don't ask me why I would need to buy an ear wax removal syringe when ear wax moves out of the ear canal naturally without external aids... Let's just say my kids complain and I thought it would be kind of cool to use a syringe like they have in a physician's office.)

Behold the broken product, which lasted a good 10 minutes before unceremoniously breaking in two.

I then researched why the plunger was designed this way, not a straight continuous piece, but two pieces tapering in the middle to a small point of contact. It seems that the plunger in some syringes is designed to be breakable, so that they are limited to one use only. There are multiple risks involved in re-using a needle:

The tip of a reused needle can be weakened to the point where it breaks off and gets stuck under your skin. From BD's site (which manufacturers needles, clearly they are not objective):

"A reused needle doesn't inject as easily or as cleanly as a new one and can cause pain, bleeding, and bruising.

Studies have shown that there's a link between needle reuse and the appearance of lumps of fatty tissue that can form at an injection site (lipodystrophy).

BD's thin, fine, high quality needles are designed to be used one time only. These are photographs showing the type of damage that can occur with needle reuse.*"

But in this case, there is NO problem with needle re-use. There is no needle on the ear wax removal syringe. The syringe is simply an ordinary syringe with a Luer Lock (screw on) tip, with a patented blue plastic attachment that directs the water spray.

I wrote to Health Enterprises and received an offer for a replacement the very next day. The replacement was also promptly mailed to me (but it still had the breakable plunger). Excellent customer service, and essentially, the company has made nothing on the sale. Which leads to my feeling guilty for posting this.

However, I have the best solution which still allows Health Enterprises to make a profit. You should still buy the product: it works very well, and it is safe enough for my kids to use it unsupervised. After some research of options for ear wax removal on the market, I chose this based on reviews. After purchasing, go to any pharmacy and purchase a 60 cc Luer Lock syringe for about $1.60 CAD to swap out with the original 20 cc syringe when the original breaks (as it will). Functionally, it is superior, as you find that you will quickly run out of water when you use the 10cc model. It is the special tip which is what you are paying your $5 toward, not the ordinary syringe. And, if you're fortunate or gentle enough that the syringe never breaks, then everyone is happy.

Below, a picture of the original packaging (top), the original syringe 20 cc (middle), and my souped up gigantic 60 cc syringe with the original tip attached (below).

Bike Helmet Colour

I'm tired of looking nerdy with my vented oversize helmet. I've decided to buy one of the new trendy yet retro helmets that are round without a zillion vents, more reminiscent of skater boy helmets. I can't stand looking like an alien insect with the futuristic honeycomb designs slanted up toward the back as if someone stepped on the front of the helmet and the back lifted up. Those souped up helmets just doesn't match with the dresses I sometimes wear while puttering around the city.

Also, my helmet dates to 2002, far past its expiry date of five years. I wear it almost every day, and I don't remember buying it. Have I come up with enough reasons to buy a helmet yet?



So I've settled on the Giro Reverb, not yet available in stores. As for the colour... If I was truthful, the real reason for the new helmet is because of vanity. I'm tired of the old helmet, and it just looks bad to me. And yet, when it comes time to choose a colour, I need to know what is most visible. For motorcyclists, a white helmet results in 24% lower risk of motorcycle related injuries than donning a black helmet.

A law firm website suggests yellow, orange, and green and preferably fluorescent. These are superior to black, grey, and white, which tend to blend into the background. The "Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute" suggests that neon colours are the best but have gone out of fashion, and that white is the next best colour. They also recommend festooning your helmet in reflective stickers, or better yet, mount lights on it.

Interestingly enough, according to Bicycling Info, a black shell helmet does not overheat your head any more than other colours!

Now, if only I could do something about drivers who don't see me when I'm lit up like a Christmas tree.

(Update, January 12, 2012: My special order helmet finally arrived at West Point Cycles. With the Entertainment coupon for 25% applied, the base cost is $60, which is quite reasonable and competitive with US prices.)

Teaching Older Kids to Ride a Bike

When the kids were 3 and 5, I signed them up for Pedalheads, an intensive one week half day camp to teach the kids how to ride bicycles. It seemed all my friends were doing it too. On some days after the drop off, I would observe the camp from a distance. I saw some kids crashing into others, which explains how my older kid's fender got dented. And during this 2.5 hour lesson, I'd see them spending time just hanging out at the playground.

The intention is to have all kids without training wheels at the end of the week. This worked for my eldest, but not for the youngest. But neither of them could ride. I was told that 90% of the kids learn to ride within the week. So, mine are the 10% that do not. What are the odds of two kids failing to learn? That is 0.10*0.10=0.01. 1/100. I spent $360, each kid at $180, to be the 1/100 parents with this outcome. The youngest was probably too young, but I knew plenty of friends' kids who learned at that age.

Over the next four years, I let my husband teach the kids. Both of us would run around holding on to the kids' handlebars and seats and get... bad backs. Of course, this is an exaggeration, as the actual number of attempts was something like once a year. Also, the kids would say they didn't want to try, that they were too afraid of falling. The eldest was almost there. If you pushed her for a start, she could continue pedalling and stop by herself. But she refused to try to start.

The kids did two triathlons with us holding on or using training wheels.

It had become embarrassing. My husband and I are avid cyclists, both of us cyclist commuters and he a competitive road cyclist and me a triathlete.

Pedalheads does not give discounts for second time repeaters. I was considering Pedalheads again and was right about to sign them up, to my husband's objections, when I did some basic research on how to teach kids to ride. I came up with Sheldon Brown's site. It's quite comprehensive.

Next I found the Holy Grail: a Youtube clip which shows a non-profit group in New York City, Bike New York which offers the course "Teach Your Child to Ride a Bike."

Rich Conroy of that group explains that the pedals are taken off and the seat is lowered so that the learner can rest their feet flat on the ground. The child then is told to walk the bike forward while looking ahead and try to make it go as fast as they can. When the bike is going, they can try to lift their feet off the ground and balance.

So on Sunday I told the kids, "Today you will both learn to ride a bike." At first we started them on a slightly sloping parking lot, starting them on the high part of it. I decided not to remove the pedals because I was convinced that we would be needing the pedals very soon and it would be too much trouble to remove then put them back on again.

After 20 minutes of practising with the youngest, my elder daughter who had been singing "Hey! Ho! Let's go!" and zooming all around the parking lot after getting a start from the slope, wiped out and hurt herself badly. She said her hand was broken, and she had scrapes on her knee. Inside I was thinking of quitting, but I just told her that when she falls off, she needs to start again or she would never learn.

I showed her how to put the right pedal at 2:00 o'clock and use the left leg for balance, and to push off with the right leg against the right pedal. She took off immediately. That was it. One down, one to go.

Meanwhile, my husband had reverted back to pushing the youngest around holding on to the bike and she crashed. She now refused to have her father teach her.

We started her on a very slightly sloping paved play area. She kept practising pushing off hard with both feet and trying to balance. (Unfortunately I had already forgotten the method espoused by Rich Conroy... about walking forward as quickly as they can). Despite my ineptitude, it was clear on each new launch that she glided just a little bit longer. Finally she made it all the way clear to the other side of the lot! It was a breakthrough.

It wasn't a steady line of progress upward, but the pattern of longer glides was there. Meanwhile I had to deal with a constant stream of pessimism from her. "I'm never going to be able to do that again." And then I would point out that she was able to do it again when she went further.

The next step was adding pedalling. I just told her that after she pushes off, that when she's gliding to put her feet on the pedals. The best thing about this method is that the child directs the rate of progress. I told her to try when she is ready. And no sore backs for the parents.

The final step was starting to pedal from a dead stop. I showed her the two o'clock position, but she ended up ignoring me and finding her own way of starting. She insisted she needed the left pedal in the right position.

Time from removing training wheels to riding fully by herself: One hour. It might have been faster without all the negative self talk, or if she wasn't so afraid from previous falls. She also said it was helpful to see her sister ride first, so she knew it was possible.

Now the kids want to go bike riding every day.

(Update August 2013:  I used my method to teach my brother's kids how to ride.  They had been using training wheels.  We spent around 1.5 hours teaching the 4 and 6 year old how to ride.  After about an hour, they learned how to balance.  Unfortunately, my brother kept going against my advice and sometimes held on to the kids' bikes with the kids in the saddle while he brought them back to the start of the hill to try again.  I wonder if that made them unlearn the balancing, because each time after he did that, they would do a lousy job balancing on the next attempt.

The other problem was that the saddle was causing discomfort because one of the bicycles was too high, leading to too much pressure on the contact area.  So this led to an early abandonment of the effort.  Given more time, they probably would have "got it" because they were SO CLOSE.  They were already on the putting the feet on the pedals stage, but we ran out of time on the last day as the sun went down and it was bed time.  I hope they can remember the feeling of balance the next time they learn.)

Prevent Diaper Rash

And now for something completely different...

This one doesn't even fit in with my blog. Well, sort of does. It helps people. It is a green idea. But I didn't do any research for this. My kids have long grown out of diapers, but I am writing this for you, if you're here from a Google search, because I don't think my method is common knowledge, and if I can save just one baby from getting diaper rash, then all the hours I've spent on this blog over the years are worth it.

Forget diaper rash creams, diaper wipes, vaseline, whatever. Here is how to prevent diaper rash.

1. If your baby has peed: Remove diaper. Put on new diaper. That's it. You're done. Put the baby down.
2. If your baby has pooed: Remove diaper. Rinse your baby's bum under the tap with warm water. DO NOT USE SOAP. Pat dry with clean cloth. I use small cloths I bought in bulk from Walmart (see the picture above). Put on new diaper.
3. When your baby has a bath, then you are free to use whatever baby soap you normally use.
4. Learn the signs of when they're having a poop: child concentrating or whatever your child does, so you can change their diaper right away after a poo.

How did I come up with this?

My eldest had diaper rash. Once. We were on vacation and my parents-in-law were watching her. They did not notice she had pooped. When I am taking care of her, I notice right away. In fact, I could always tell exactly when she was pooping. She would look like she was concentrating and pause whatever she was doing. And then the smell. But it seems grandparents have no sense of smell, nor do they notice anything.

So she must have been in her dirty diaper for some time when I discovered it. That was when she got her one and only case of diaper rash. What a nightmare it was... she would scream every time we tried to clean her behind. Can you imagine putting water on an open sore? I would cry every time I had to change her diaper when she had the rash. It didn't last long. I had her with no diaper on until it healed.

My second child never had diaper rash. Never.

What I did differently with the second is that I did not rinse her bum off when she peed, only when she pooed. And I also did not use soap, except when bathing her. I did not use diaper creams, Vaseline, or whatever. The idea behind this is to toughen up her skin naturally. It worked so well that she never once had diaper rash, saving me from buying expensive creams, diaper wipes, and tears.

Please don't use diaper wipes. Environmentally unfriendly, and not kind to baby's bottom. Use them only when you know you will not have access to a tap with warm water. Having two children, I bought a total of two boxes of wipes, and only finished one of them.

Does it matter what kind of diapers you use? I experimented with cloth diapers, but most of the time I used disposables. I used Huggies for daytime and Pampers for nighttime, since the Huggies caught poo better, and the Pampers absorbed better at night.

For that matter, we used the bare minimum for diapers too. I toilet trained them at the ages of 22 and 25 months. It only took 3 days for them to learn, using my method, modified from the extensive research I did. And they night trained themselves. But that'll be another blog post, depending on the response for this one.

Running with the Kids

Summertime... and the livin' is easy. The perfect opportunity to spring a running program on my kids! Bwahahaha!

Some of the more skeptical of you are thinking, running? My kids would hate that. But surprise surprise, my kids loved it, although I did hear some whining at the first session. Very quickly their fitness improved and these pseudo family walk/runs became fun. Or maybe that had to do with the fact that we follow up each session with a walk to the mall for dinner.

Last summer I did the same program with the kids, a Learn to Run 10K. Or at least, I tried to do it. We managed about 8 sessions before September rolled around, then by coincidence, there was a 5K Run for the Cure and the kids were more than ready for it. They ran almost the whole way.

The kids did well at the 5K run. Well, at least my 5 year old did well. The 7 year old ran out of steam at the 3K mark when she realized her little sister was a better runner, and did an "I refuse to look like I'm trying" move. She had be coaxed to continue, and it was not a matter of being tired, but a matter of feeling like she was in control. This is how I read it, anyway. The end of the run was in a drizzle of rain.

This time around, both kids are loving the sessions, especially the youngest. I am not planning to have them eventually run 10K, which I think is too far for little kids. More like 5K at the most. Today I had a race with my youngest uphill. She weighs 38 pounds and I weigh 123. Despite my triathlon training, she had me working at 90% and redlining it at the end of the sprint. But I didn't give up, nope. I waited for her to tire out. She would easily outrun most of the adults in my triathlon clinic.

I highly recommend the training program. You start with 1 minute "runs" which are really just a very slow jog at talking pace, followed by a 2 minute walk. You repeat this 8 times. Easy peasy. In no time at all, y'all will be real runners.

SFG: Mistakes, I've Made a Few

Okay, I've made more than a "few" mistakes. I admit it.

Reader iEye commented: "...I actually live in the same area and I'm about to start square foot gardening myself... Considering we are practically neighbors; do you have any concerns, problems, or advice that are more specific to this city and environment?"

Not sure how many of my problems are specific to this local environment. This is more a listing of my regrets. Here is my wisdom, for what it's worth, as a veteran of 2.2 years of SFG in Vancouver. It may be a case of the blind leading the not so blind, but here goes.

Location

If I had to do it all over again, I would definitely choose a better location for the garden. When I moved the garden, I found that the soil was overgrown with a strange root system, very strong and fine roots, that managed to grow up through the landscaping cloth.

I figured out later that it was the tree roots from the neighbour's forest. Somehow the trees managed to find my trove of fertile soil and shot out roots 5m away into my yard and up into my raised bed. The solution is either to get better landscape cloth--mine was quite weak after only two years--and to locate it further away from any nearby trees than you might think necessary. There were no visible above ground roots anywhere near my garden in its first location. I bought the cheapest landscape cloth. This time out I bought professional grade landscape cloth.

Planting Too Late

I tried to follow the advice this year of not planting until after a certain nighttime temperature was held. That was a mistake. Every year I don't plant early enough. This year I planted in mid-May. One of my expert gardening friends planted theirs a good 3-4 weeks before me. Do you think *they* waited for the right nighttime temperatures? NOPE. Their garden is doing much much better as their plants were already very far along before I even planted a single seed. Already my spinach is bolting and looking gangly. I should have planted it much sooner, and planted new plants every two weeks after. Next year I'm planting in April.

Patience: Compost Not Ready

Second point. This year's garden is doing fairly well, but the percentage germination seems to be lower than I remember with my older seeds. The carrots are maybe at 50%. Neither of my kabocha (squash) came up at all. Either the seeds are too old, or maybe the compost was not quite ready yet when I used it. If I did it over again, I would wait at least a few days before planting the seeds, and wet the soil thoroughly. At least that would eliminate the soil as being the problem.

The Grid Material

I originally used thin wood dowels from Kerrisdale lumber for the grid system. It fell apart two years later. I'm now using wild bamboo harvested from my neighbour's invasive bamboo which is growing in my backyard. It's free and it's not likely to fall apart. The wet weather in Vancouver was just too much for the thin wood dowels.

Sharing Seeds

I now have about 10 envelopes of seeds. I bought too many seeds for such a small garden. I should really split the seeds with a fellow vegetable gardener, because even the smallest quantities I bought from Westcoast Seeds are too much. Seeds have a shelf life of a few years at most (some longer) and as they age, fewer will germinate.

Strawberries

This is my third year and finally I was able to harvest a few berries without the animals getting to them first... Containers off the ground are better for strawberries in my "wild" urban backyard in the middle of the city. I'm not sure what is eating my berries, but my guesses are: rats or birds. When I transferred the garden over, I potted some of my strawberry plants and put them in a raised area under netting. So for the first time, some berries coloured and were eaten by me. Unfortunately, the berries are sour and not sweet like store bought, so it is the first instance where what I have grown is not as good as the store. I bought the strawberries from David Hunter Garden Centre, and they are just not doing all that well under my novice care.

Zucchini
This is my first year growing zucchini. The plant is already taking over a substantial amount of real estate and no zucchini yet. I should have planted it in another location, because those big leaves shade so much of my other plants and make those squares useless.

Planning

Okay, well this is not a mistake I made. It's just a great place to share this fantastic planning tool I found at Gardener's Supply Company. This tool allows you to map out what you're planting. Very cool.

Compost: Soil Amendments for the Square Foot Garden

Time to Move the Garden

It was an unusually cold spring, but all the while I was thinking about the work involved in moving my garden.

That's right. Moving my garden. I had located it about 6m from a neighbour's prolific pine needle dropping tree. I suppose the needles ruined the ph of the soil, because I have to blame someone or something for my garden's failure last year! I moved the raised bed garden walls, which didn't fit together well anymore once I rotated and mixed them up (foolish!), and the Frame-It-All planks didn't sit well because the ground wasn't exactly level. But somehow I managed to get it in place again after two hours of fiddling with the &*^% planks.

Moral of the story: when choosing a location for the garden, look up.

I really digress. This post is meant to be about compost. Focus... focus...

Why I Needed Compost

Each year, and indeed each time after you finish using a square in your raised bed in the Square Foot Gardening method, you are supposed to add a little trowel full of compost and work it into the soil. Two years after putting the garden in, my soil volume had markedly decreased and was looking sort of dry.

The compost that Mel recommends is a mix of 5 different kinds. I only managed three the first time.

Here are some sources of compost I dug up.


1. City of Vancouver: $250 delivered for 6 cubic m (minimum purchase)


I spent many hours researching where to get compost. First, the City of Vancouver is giving away 1 m3 of free compost in the month of May per resident. According to posters at the UBC Botanical Gardens forum, the compost there is what some organic farmers use, but is "rough and full of cedar and bark." I'm not crazy about driving down to the landfill location in Delta to pick up the compost, even if it's free. The cost of delivery, amount being a minimum of 6 m3, is $190. Since I only need 1 m3, delivery is out of the question.


2. Craigslist: Free but you shovel and deliver yourself


Also, I tried Craigslist. Someone in Richmond was giving away their compost, which they had delivered from the City of Vancouver. Even though I emailed the same day the listing came out, it was all gone by the time the poster got back to me. Craigslist has multiple listings for compost delivery, but all were too expensive for my small amount as they all charged a flat fee.


3. MyGardenBag: $170 delivery included.


Another possibility, if you're flush with cash and lazy (I am the latter, not the former), you can try mygardenbag.com. The price for 1 cubic yard of soil amendment is $170, delivery included.


4. Lawnboy Enterprises: $63 delivery included.


Finally, my research turned up Lawnboy Enterprises, just a short distance from my home! Located around the north end of the Canada Line bridge at the foot of Cambie Street, is a little place that reputedly caters to commercial landscapers. You'll see big piles of earth as you bicycle by (as I do on a regular basis!). I'd read a range of reviews of this place on Googlemaps, mostly drumming them for being rude, or not knowledgeable, and giving smaller quantities than promised ("a cubic yard is more like a jacuzzi full, not a bathtub" as they tell you). Since this place seems to have a target customer base of professional landscapers, and not single homeowners, the critics seem like a bunch of whiners to me. What you are getting from them is low cost bulk product, not service and knowledge. That's not their game.


When I called them, they were definitely not knowledgeable about their product or the use of the product. I asked her what was in the compost. She had no idea, but she referred me to the company that produces the compost, giving me their phone number. She asked me whether I could call her back to tell her the answer once I had it. (The answer from the company was: brush, vegetable trimmings, yard trimmings, no manure). Later I asked her why the product was steaming and whether it would burn my plants. Again, she didn't know, and so I called the compost supply company. They assured me that the compost would be all right if I wetted it down and mixed it with the other soil. I called Lawnboy back with all this information as requested because, hey, I'm a nice person and it only took a few minutes out of my day.


How low cost was low cost? Only $29 for the cubic yard of compost, and $34 for delivery. Yeah, you heard right: $34 for delivery! That is less than half of the cheapest quote I received or saw for any compost delivery company. Total cost: $63 plus tax, much lower than any other alternative (except the free compost on Craigslist, but then I would have had to shovel the stuff myself--)

When the truck arrived, the delivery guys were really helpful and patient with me. They let me set up some boxes underneath to catch the falling compost, and one of them even stood under the flowing compost to put my wheeled yard trimmings container to catch the compost so I would have less shovelling to do--his suggestion, and a smart one. This method ended up catching only a small amount, though, while my containers on the ground were perfectly filled. A tarp would have been a good idea as well.

I was quite concerned because the compost was literally steaming as it poured and as I shovelled it. In fact, the next day it was still warm in the containers as I added it to the bare garden bed for mixing. Also, it smelled like poo. Not a good smell. But two days later, it just had a nice earthy smell, a bit woody. The compost quality seemed good: dark, mostly fine, with some wood chips (2 cm x 4 cm) and short sections of branches. Some disturbing contents: 4 small bits of plastic (garden trimmings are in bags and as they are "de-bagged" by machine, sometimes it's not perfect), and a piece of metal the size of half a cigar! Weird. But that may have been in the truck bed, because the rest of the pile was fine.

Pier Fishing with Kids in the Lower Mainland

It is a Pro-D day for the kids. I asked them what they would like to do. They requested:

1. Snowshoeing; and
2. Fishing.

Why can't they ask for something easy, like bowling or watching a movie?

I put on my research hat and set about fulfilling their requests. After looking into snowshoe rentals (Grouse Mountain, MEC), I decided that I don't have enough energy to do rentals and then drive up into the mountains.

So I went to #2: Fishing. We already have fishing rods, so this was a possibility. First, I bought a fishing licence from the Department of Fisheries. Children require a licence, but they are free (unless you want a salmon stamp for $6) and you can buy the licence online and print it at home. Now, how easy is that?

An excellent source of information is "Fishing with Rod." He lists the most popular fishing piers and does a write up on each one. He also provides information on how to do pier fishing. We chose the Number 3 Road pier in Richmond simply because it is close to where I need to pick up my licence... My printer is out of ink, so I have to get a friend to print them up for me!

If you would like to go freshwater fishing, you will need a different licence from the salt water one, but it is still free for kids. Here is a great website for figuring out where to fish. You will need to check the regulations for the area where you fish. I looked up the regulations to find out that we need to release anything good that we catch, like rockfish or lingcod, not that we would be able to catch them... There is a table of limits on the number of fish you can catch. I tried to memorize what they look like, but basically it will be catch and release for us.

You also need to figure out when to go. Mornings and evenings are the best time, but you also need to check the tide tables. High tide is a better time to fish. The best months are between May and October... oh well. Even if we don't catch a thing, the kids will have fun letting the line out.

Wish us luck...

Chlorine Removal from Bathing Suits: Swimsuit Longevity

You know when your bathing suits start getting old. They become see through and you can see little white bits (disintegrated lycra) in the fabric, and when you come out of the water, the bathing suit droops, and the elasticity disappears. Ugh. What an environmental disaster, constantly buying new bathing suits before one season is over.

Solution? Buy a polyester-based fabric, such as Speedo Endurance, Tyr Durafast, Speedo Aquion, Arena Fabric Stretch 150, or H20Wear ChloroGuard. There are probably other proprietary names for fabrics that resist chlorine degradation--just check the material composition tag. The higher the percentage of polyester, the longer the suit will last. Unfortunately, polyester is just not as comfortable or stretchy as other fabrics so you have to be careful with sizing.  A polyester suit will feel tighter than a regular suit, so you might have problems with bulging flesh...

The great thing is that polyester (chlorine resistant) swimsuits will last you... I've had a $20 factory outlet polyester swimsuit from Sugoi last a year, swimming in it two hours a week.  Rinse your suit out right away in cold water and remove the chlorine as soon as possible.  Regular washing doesn't seem to take the chlorine out, as the suit still stinks of chlorine after a handwash in Zero.  I use anti-chlorine shampoo and wipe my shampoo hands on my bathing suit before rinsing, hoping that it will take some chlorine out.  My "fashion" $100 swimsuits from Swimco don't even last a season of casual use (once every few weeks) without losing structural integrity, getting the droops.  I guess they're good for nothing but tanning by the pool with some oversized sunglasses and a floppy hat!

The second thing you might want to consider is limiting the chlorine in the suit. You may want to shower and wet your suit before swimming to help prevent chlorine uptake... not sure if this really works, as suggested by another writer, but shame on you if you don't shower before you use a public pool! Ew! That is how harmful chloramines get formed, from unwashed bodies' sweat and urine mixing with the pool's chlorine. Chloramines create that "pool smell" and are also responsible for a possible link to asthma in children. Enough about that!

Some ways to remove chlorine after you have rinsed your suit in cold water after your swim:

1. Swimsuit Cleansers: Expensive, ranging from $6 to $18, and sold in small quantities of 4 oz or 8 oz. that last about 30 washes. You add a few capfuls of these to your washing water. There are many brands, including Speedo, Aqua Mate, Summer Solutions, Malibu Swim Wear Care Crystals. These work but the main complaint with these is their expense. Individual bottles are not expensive, but the quantities are so small. The main ingredient is usually sodium thiosulfate. You can buy these at any shop selling swimwear, as well as on online retailers like Team Aquatics or Swim Outlet.

2. Chlorine Remover: Heloise suggests adding to your wash water a few drops of chlorine remover available in pet shop stores. Now, I called a few local aquarium supply stores to find out what is available, and most have water conditioners, which have more than chlorine removing properties.

(Update July 2012:  The local Petsmart carries a substance for $9.49 that is added to ponds to remove chlorine.  The name sort of just rolls off your tongue:  "Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Chlorine & Heavy Metal Neutralizer".  I did not try this, but the price seems reasonable, given that it neutralizes 9,600 gallons of pond water!  I would be very careful using the product for a use not anticipated by its manufacturer: if you look at the technical information sheet, it causes skin irritation, serious eye damage, etc.  As I was warned by the pool chemical supplier, it is a hazardous product.  You need to store this locked up and covered.  This product is in concentrated form and contains 30.2% sodium thiosulfate and 9.8% EDTA tetrasodium salt.  I might gather up some courage and try some next time, taking caution to first mix a couple drops with water before I plunge my hands and bathing suit into it).

Walmart in the US sells Wardley's Chlor Out, which is used for aquariums. I could not find this product in Canada. I did find Haviland Chlor Out sold in 2 pound jars of crystals for $10 online. So I called some Vancouver pool suppliers, and they will not sell to anyone for any purpose other than as pool chemicals. Sodium thiosulfate is considered a hazardous product in its pure form. Another source of sodium thiosulfate is from photographic supply shops, as it is used in developing photos. I found a Canadian hand dye supplier for "Bleach Stop" (sodium thiosulfate) Harmony Hand Dyes, at a cost of $11 plus shipping of about the same for a total of $22 (includes shipping) for 500g.

There is some great stuff written at a hand dyeing site here, which was my source for the information below.

In addition to sodium thiosulfate, you can also use bisulfite and metabisulfite, called "Anti-Chlor" by dye suppliers. A good local source would be your local home wine brewing supply store, as sodium bisulfite is widely used for sanitizing the fruit juices to be used in wine, to stop yeast growth, and as a preservative. Locally, you can buy sodium metabisulfite at Wine Kitz, $12 for 1 kg.

You can also use hydrogen peroxide, which you can buy at pharmacies in a 3% solution. It is more expensive than the other options. I have tried using a small amount of Oxiclean, and it seems to work in removing most of the chlorine odour, but I am not a chemistry expert and I cannot attest to whether this actually works on paper, but I know that Oxiclean produces hydrogen peroxide when mixed with water.

Vitamin C

UPDATE January 2014:  There is a product called Swimspray which is used to neutralize chlorine in your hair and skin.  It is Vitamin C diluted with water.  After rinsing, you spray it on your skin and hair, then shampoo.  The cost runs you around $3.37 per ounce if you buy 12 ounces at a time, and at 0.3 ounces per use, that works out to $1 per use.

Naturopath Dr. Deborah McKay suggests making your own Vitamin C spray by dissolving 5 g or 1 teaspoon of crystals in 1 pint or about 500 mL of water.  Note that Vitamin C degrades upon exposure to UV light, so if you need to make the spray and store it, choose the right container.  Perhaps this solution could be used to soak swimsuits after rinsing in cold water first.  I could not find Vitamin C crystals in Canada for any less than $44 per kg, but Dr. McKay writes that Trader Joe's offers the crystals for less than half the cost at $10 per pound.

As a final note, do not add vinegar to neutralize the chlorine... it will may destroy the chlorine but it may also create more dangerous chemicals.

Renting a Condo vs. Staying in a Hotel on Oahu

Last weekend we returned on the red-eye from Honolulu. We had spent the first four days in a condo-hotel on Waikiki Beach, then the last five days on the North Shore in a little town a few miles west of Haleiwa called Waialua. I knew I wanted to split my time between Waikiki and the North Shore. We had never taken the kids to the Polynesian Cultural Centre because it was simply too much a drive, and had never explored the North Shore for more than a few hours.

There are very few hotels on the North Shore. Accommodation is your choice of beach bungalows, a few B&Bs, and the Turtle Bay Resort at nearly $200 a night, and... privately owned condos. The price for privately owned condos started at a low of around $100 a night and ranged up into luxury beachfront five bedroom estates for nearly $1000 per night. I scanned VRBO and Home Away. Some of the search engines were really annoying--the engine would not remember your previous search parameters and you would need to keep repeating your requests to narrow down the listings by availability dates. For March Break, I started searching and booking for a place two months in advance which was, I found out, not nearly soon enough. Many places were already booked. Still, I had a choice of a few condos for around $105/night.

Here are general things that I found were different about renting condos, versus hotels:

1. Payment: I was asked for 50% at the time of booking and 50% on the first day of my rental. So little flexibility if you need to cancel or get cold feet. I paid with my credit card, which made me uneasy, giving my credit card information including security code to a stranger over the telephone. The bad thing about paying half so far in advance, is that if you arrive and find out that the condo is a dump, you may already have run out of time to dispute the charge for the initial deposit if you change your mind. For a hotel, you could upgrade or change to another suite, and you could also receive a full refund with at least two days' advance notice.

2. Cleaning Fee: In addition to hotel taxes, you need to pay a one time cleaning charge, ranging from $70-150. I paid $90 for mine. Unfortunately, when I arrived, my condo was not cleaned. Apparently the cleaning crew claimed that they were not expecting us until the next day. So, while we ate our dinner, they cleaned around us. For the record, $90 pays for less than an hour of cleaning. They changed the sheets, vacuumed, and wiped down the bathroom and kitchen, but it seemed to be an excessive amount for the work done.

3. No Maid. We are responsible for cleaning, doing dishes, and taking out the garbage. We were given a supply of sheets and towels. We ran out of toilet tissue and since it was our last night, we didn't bother asking for more. We ended up using a kleenex box instead.

4. Neighbours. Our first night sleeping in the condo, we heard a loud rapping on our ceiling at 1:11 am that woke us all up. It went on for a few minutes, then stopped. The next evening at 9:40 pm, the neighbour living upstairs knocked very loudly at our door and told us that our air conditioning was so loud that it kept her up at night. The loud rapping was her attempt to communicate this fact to us. Strangely enough, she had never heard the air conditioner before with other renters in before us, so she claimed that the air conditioner must be broken. My husband and I did not find the air conditioner to be excessively noisy and we easily slept through its sound even though we were sleeping right beside it! I am a light sleeper, which made the complaint even more strange. The next four nights we slept without air conditioning, which made it a little uncomfortable for us. I emailed the owner, who replied that we should refuse to turn off our air conditioner. I can tell you that I was in no hurry to fight the neighbour on my vacation. I go on vacation to relax, not to get into confrontations with the locals.

Also, after we had rented out the place, the owner told us that his condo rules did not allow a rental, so we were to claim that we were his friends, staying for free. There were also extensive rules sent to us stressing the need for quiet hours, and to avoid running up the stairs and on the roof. In these types of conditions, we could not relax and *not* think about the neighbours. In a hotel, we would not have to deal directly with neighbours. The front desk would deal with complaints like loud air conditioners.

5. Flexible Rates. As with hotels, there is sometimes room for negotiation. I contacted two condo owners, who both agreed to lower the cost to what I considered reasonable, getting a discount of 17% on one and 20% on another.

6. Parking. By staying on the North Shore, we saved on parking fees. Waikiki parking fees for our condo-hotel were $22 a night. All condos have free parking.

7. Shampoos and Soaps. You need to supply your own, although previous renters had left behind an interesting selection of Pert (an extremely drying shampoo that is usually the cheapest name brand shampoo) and Head & Shoulders! What was nice is that someone had left behind Calamine lotion, Isopropyl Alcohol, and Hydrogen Peroxide.

8. Fridge Leftovers. This was the weird part of the experience. The previous renters had left behind an assortment of open sauces, a margarine tub (I've never bought margarine in my whole life!), an open milk carton, and an open orange juice carton. Not knowing whose these mysterious previous renters were, we did not dare using their food. What if they were direct spout carton drinkers? Ewwwwww! So we ended up throwing out their extras so that they would not get mixed up with ours.

9. Dishes. To re-wash or not to re-wash. We ended up re-washing most of the dishes in the cupboards that we wanted to use. What if the previous renters did not do a good job washing? I suppose I should have this same concern if I went to another person's house for dinner. What if they didn't do a good job washing their dishes before serving us on those plates? Hmmm. Also, let me say that the next time I rent a condo, I *must* have a dishwasher.

10. Breaking stuff. One of my biggest fears is that I will be charged for damage that I did not cause. What if I did not notice something that the previous renter broke? Would I be held responsible for it? In this case, the top shelf of the refrigerator was missing (!), as was the fridge handle, the TV remote control was not working properly, and there were not full sets of dishes (4 of each thing, for example). So it would be hard to know what was missing. Well, so far, we haven't been charged for those things, but I haven't seen my latest credit card bill yet... I made a point of emailing the owner to report the problems.

There you have it. We *might* stay in a privately owned condo again, but I will have to let the trauma from this last experience mellow over time. I read the reviews for the condo and they were all positive. I would like to write a review outlining the problems I experienced (uncleaned room, complaining neighbour) but I can't decide whether I should. I suspect that people write reviews when they are very happy or very unhappy. I'm in between. So take reviews with a grain of salt.

Radioactive Fallout from Japan and the West Coast

Watching the horrifying news, I would like to think that the nuclear reactors in Japan are *not* headed for meltdown. What are the chances that the jet stream would bring radioactive fallout into my backyard and into the thyroid glands of my young children?

You can find the path of the jet stream here: http://squall.sfsu.edu/crws/jetstream.html

The likelihood of harmful levels of radiation from damaged nuclear reactors in Japan reaching Hawaii or the U.S. West Coast is low, the chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday.

If you'd like to see a virtually real time reading of radiation across the US, look here http://www.blackcatsystems.com/RadMap/map.html. Canada is just across the border, so it's a good indicator of Canadian conditions as well.

Check for the latest updates here to see if the risk has changed.

As of the writing of this posting, if there is a radiation leak, it will be at ground level, not shot high up into the atmosphere and subsequently carried by the jet stream. So, it will likely be absorbed by the ocean before reaching the West Coast of Canada and the U.S.

Despite all of this, if you do want to protect your children, you can have them take 65 mg of Potassium Iodide (KI) once every 24 hours. You start taking KI at least one hour before you expect to be exposed. Children are most at risk, and if you are over 40, you have the lowest chance of developing thyroid cancer or thyroid injury after contamination with radioactive iodine and a greater chance of having allergic reactions to KI. Adults should take 130 mg.

Mind you, I'm not a doctor, so I'm just regurgitating all the information I've absorbed today regarding the current situation and the remedies.

There has been a massive run on KI throughout the US and locally on the West Coast of Canada. In Canada, you can buy Potassium Iodide at some drug stores or at a local vitamin supplement store. You can pre-order 60 capsules of 65 mg each for $12, or buy 20 tables for $23 online.

The KI only protects again the uptake of radioactive iodine by the thyroid. Thyroid cancer, which is usually quite rare, can be treated quite successfully. The risk of inhaling radioactive iodine is low. The biggest risk is from drinking contaminated milk.

Are Hunter Wellies Worth the Money?

Most of my readers are sent here through the powers of Google, usually sent looking for information in cleaning their Hunter Wellies. And so I bring another post on the iconic boots.

Watching my kids splash through puddles in their gumboots was the inspiration for my purchasing a pair of Hunters. My kids' gumboots never seem to last more than a season, and sometimes not even one season. When I chose Hunter, I thought I was choosing quality, a rubber boot that would last for years and years. Although I would be paying more ($140!!!), I figured that it would be good for the environment not having to keep buying and throwing away boots. Besides, Angelina Jolie wore a red pair in Mr. and Mrs. Smith with nothing but a white shirt, so I figured they would make me look hot too. Ha.

Fast forward to 1.5 years later. My Hunter Wellies are officially dead.

Yesterday I was walking in the usual slush and puddles with my kids when I felt cold wetness on my right forefoot. I couldn't believe it. Could it be? Yes, a leak. Still incredulous, I had to wait until I got home to inspect the boots.

It seems the sole has cracked along the forefoot. You can only see it if you bend the boot as if you are toeing off the pavement. But it is definitely there.

The sad thing is, only two weeks ago I finally got around to buying McNett UV Tech to remove the whitish cast off the black surface. See my story about cleaning the white off my boots here. So, at least the boots were pretty when they died.

Also, only a week before the death of the boots, the right buckle simply broke off. I had not been pulling on them. One day I simply noticed that the buckle was flopping around more than normal. Now, I have always hated those buckles, which are really there so you can tell Hunters apart from fishing gumboots, putting the word "fashion" into the unfashionable concept of what are basically boots designed for mucking around in the mud. Those buckles smash against each other if you cross your legs. Did you know that people cross their legs a lot when they sit? Apparently, the designers at Hunter did not know that. Or maybe you really aren't meant to sit when you're mucking around in the mud. The buckles, when tightened, don't stay tightened. They are forever flopping around as you walk.

So. Was it worth the $140 to look as fashionable as Angelina for two years? I'd say no. But on the other hand, I don't drive a fancy car or paint my fingernails. You might. The primary reason for buying Hunters was to have a pair that lasts. It didn't, so I would be more inclined to buy the ever increasing field of lookalikes that ring in at half the price or less.

Here's a little review by "Mr. A.D. Ashley" on amazon's UK site:

I have been wearing Hunter wellingtons for 40 years and they have been up and down in quality several times. Some years ago they got very thin and weak. Then they started making them in Scotland by a dipping process and these were very strong. These are characterised by rather wavy lines at the back, white plastic labels on the soles and especially by no seam in the cloth inside. If you can find a pair, they should last. A couple of years ago Hunters nearly went broke and now the boots are being made in the far east and not by the dipping process, despite what some suppliers tell you. Some of them were never told about the change and some have even rejected them when they found out. There were containers of them sitting at the docks in Britain for months having been rejected. The foreign ones are very neat at the back and have seams in the cloth inside. As a director of Hunters admitted to me, the new ones are not nearly as strong as the Scottish dipped ones. I think it is an outrage that people are still charging about £60 for these boots. They will begin to crack after literally just a few days use. There is no hope now that they will ever be making them properly again. If you want a pair for one year at Glastonbury, OK, but for serious use they are a complete waste of money.

Repairs

Update July 19, 2011: My husband fixed the crack by applying Shoe Goo, an adhesive originally designed in 1972 for fixing tennis shoes. You can buy some at Canadian Tire in Canada, and Walmart in the US. So far, it seems to have held. Thank you, honey! Now about that broken buckle... Oh, wait. You can't fix it because I didn't notice when it fell off and became irretrievably lost forever.



Update October 27, 2011: Sitting on the couch waiting for my kids to finish music lessons, I noticed BOTH of my boots are cracking in the front. You can see the thin white cloth liner through the crack in the rubber. Is this finally the end of the boots? And why would it occur simultaneously in both right and left boots?

Do What I Say and Not What I Do

Update November 24, 2011: Full disclosure. Despite saying that the boots aren't worth it, I bought another pair, this time in Pillar Box Red. I decided that if it was a splurge, that I was worth a splurge because I bought zero pairs of shoes this year (other than athletic shoe replacements). So much for buying these boots because they are going to last long.

After doing some research, I purchased some for $110 CAD (69 UK, no delivery charge, no duties) from Country Attire. So you have to ignore everything else I said. Today my friend told me that they're selling them at Costco (!) for $90! What a shock! That will definitely take away from the snob cachet which has been carefully cultured over the years, with the boots selling at about $135-140 CAD. I wonder if Hunter has made a mistake by making them available to the masses for under $100. Well at least I didn't overpay by much since I'd have to pay HST on the boots.  Also, I was lucky not having to pay duties.  If I lost duty roulette, that would have negated my savings over buying locally.

Here are some pictures of my red Hunters after a year of use:

Update: December 4, 2012:  While walking on my way home after dropping off my kids, another mom admired my Pillar Box Red boots.  She loves the look and wants to buy a pair.  I gave her the lowdown, told her it would only last her a year and a half maybe, and would eventually crack on the bottom and at the front where it bends.  I forgot to mention the broken buckle, though.  After I spoke to her, I applied more McNett UV Protectant liquid to the flex point at the ankle/foot area on the front of the boot, because it has become brittle and rough.  The above photos show the boot *after* McNett treatment--notice the white rough areas.  The next time I saw her, she told me that's she's going to buy a pair.  I guess we're all a little irrational when it comes to fashion, which is what the boots are to me now.

At this point, I'm going to say that this is my last pair.  Well, never say never, right?  I am thinking about buying Canadian brand Kamik Olivia for $50 next (pictured below), which look like Hunters, except there is no hideous black and white logo in the front.  There is the Kamik Jennifer, which looks to be taller, but once again, I hate the logo embossed on the side of the boot.  The Kamik Olivia is available through Amazon in the US as well, for around $37-55.

UPDATE January 8, 2014: My husband noticed that my red Hunters have cracked where the forefoot flexes on the top of the boot.  The crack is located between my thumb and forefinger, 1 cm to the right of my fingertips.  Once again, the cracks are on right and left boots at the same location!

About a year ago, he bought me grey Hunters for Christmas (he meant well!), so the red Hunters have not seen a full two years' use.  I kept the red Hunters indoors, limiting their exposure to UV light, and I have sprayed them with the UV Tech as a prophylactic measure, and still it seems that they have lasted about the same amount of time as my black Hunters: two years.  So it is not the amount of use that breaks them down.  It is the passage of time that degrades the material.  Also, the lining in the bottom of the boot has somehow torn and peeled, creating a hard lump under my heel that actually creates a blister if I walk for too long.  This is the final straw.  I will not buy Hunters again, once the grey pair is worn out.

Healthier Brownie Recipe

As part of the conversion of my researching blog into a more conventional format like everyone else's, I now bring to you a recipe!

Had a craving for junk but since I am trying to lose eight pounds by March to be down to my racing weight, I decided to bake something less frighteningly bad.

This recipe comes out, well, just okay. I prefer fudgy crispy on the outside brownies, and this just ain't it. It's more like a dense vegan cake, but perfectly acceptable, given that it's not loaded with butter, but it still has full sugar.

Compromise Brownie

1/2 cup coconut oil, liquefied
1/2 cup applesauce
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat bran
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper sprayed with oil.

Combine the melted coconut oil, applesauce, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each, until thoroughly blended.

Sift together the whole wheat flour, oat bran, cocoa powder, and salt. Gradually stir the flour/oat mixture into the chocolate mixture until blended. Stir in the chocolate morsels. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish. The batter will not be very thick, but will be more like cake batter.

Bake in preheated oven until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, 50-60 minutes. Remove, and cool pan on wire rack before cutting.

Evil eBay

This has now become a complaint blog, much like all other blogs, instead of the "research" sharing blog I first envisioned. Instead of whining anonymously on another site, like "I HATE EBAY", I'll whine here, because I have a huge readership of two people reading for an average of one minute 29 seconds EVERY SINGLE DAY, according to sitemeter. Those two people can enjoy my rant.

Finally I caved and signed up for eBay. Then I received a piece of junk mail from them, a "promotion": "New Year! New You!" basically enticing me to buy more on eBay with pictures of the wonderful things on offer, every little material thing my heart desires.

I hate junk mail.

It outrageously claimed that I agreed to receive promotional emails from eBay. Hmmm. Don't remember that. When I sign up for anything, I always uncheck the box for "promotional offers". So I scrolled down to the bottom to look for the ubiquitous "unsubscribe" button, and I found this instead:



Sorry it's so tiny... Let me explain what it says, so you don't have to click on it. To unsubscribe, it says: "To change your communication preferences, log in to My eBay and click on eBay Preferences." That's it.

When I followed this directive, I found out there was no "Preferences" tab under My eBay. You need to click on "My eBay", then click on the tab "MY ACCOUNT" *then* you use the pull down menu to pick "Communication Preferences." From there, you scroll down the screen to the bottom and click on the button underlined "Show" under the last heading of "Promotions and Surveys." There you uncheck all of your "Subscriptions" which I still insist I did not subscribe to. Finally, you hit the "Save" button at the bottom right.

Now, this sounds simple because I've explained to you how to do it. Without these instructions, you would be left flailing around on the site looking for the "My Preferences" tab. Exasperation over my wasted time prompted me to waste more time by writing and complaining to eBay (difficult to get past automatic response system there too), then writing on this blog.

Wow. No wonder why they didn't use an "unsubscribe" button. That would have been too easy, compared to the obscure route I had to hunt for.

eBay, I already hate you, and we've only just met.

Can't help imagining a committee of eBay peeps having a meeting discussing how to sneak in an automatic subscription then make it as difficult as possible to unsubscribe from those annoying promotional emails. I don't think CAN-SPAM protects me from these shenanigans... Apparently, they are under no obligation to make it EASY to unsubscribe, only that:

"A visible and operable unsubscribe mechanism is present in all emails" and "Consumer opt-out requests are honored within 10 days." eBay brazenly states that "it may take up to 14 days to process your request." Ha. Ha ha.

The law? It doesn't apply to eBay.

If you enjoyed this, and you probably didn't, why don't you continue torturing yourself by reading Random Rants on the Evil eBay Empire.