Burrito West Blog

I started reading a fantastic set of books recently, just by happy accident. The first one was made into a mediocre movie a few years ago and I thought the book might be decently amusing so I started it. Then I turned into Gollum, over in the corner with my ereader, calling it "my precious" and refusing to engage in normal social activity until I was done the first book. I held out for a few hours before starting the second book, which I just finished.

It's not like these are literary masterpieces... it's just that something about the author's style clicks with me so perfectly that the books are like drugs. It's a bit of sci-fi, a bit of darkness, a bit of mystery and action, good characters.... just a good mix. There's something magical about discovering a new author that clicks with your brain so well! Fingers crossed that other stuff by him is just as good, because I'm going to be jonesing for a fix pretty soon.

[The books are 'Jumper' and 'Reflex' by Steven Gould]

Today I'm sharing with you a photo of my office building.

I work in a falling down industrial/office building that the City owns a block away from City Hall (right next to the shiny new Canada Line station). One day it will fall down or be torn down and the City will build an expanded City Hall campus (currently the City rents office space in several different buildings because staff long outgrew the original heritage building and 1960s bunker expansion. However, no politician yet wants to take on the task of saying "I'm going to build a new City Hall with taxpayer money" even though the city could build extra space to rent out and probably do quite well on the deal because they own the entire city block.

Anyway. Since there are no plans to do anything, this building (and several others) just sit there being maintained but certainly not improved. I used to be in the twin building next door - perhaps you recall my indoor fountain feature (also known as a recurring roof leak)? I try to look on the bright side. One being that when architects and others come to our offices they certainly lose any illusion that all city bureaucrats sit in plush, fancy offices. The other being that falling down office buildings usually have cheap rent - so our ugly buildings probably provide cheap office space to non-profits that are happy to be in a good location. Even if the tile on the floor is hilariously ugly (and probably asbestos-containing, which is okay as long as you don't chop them up and inhale them, which I'm careful not to do).

The funny part isn't really captured in this photo because this section of hallway appears to be a multi-coloured pattern made intentionally. Around the corner it gets all patchy - you'll find sections of green, some random beige, then a section of yellow. It's... surprising.

Sorry if the Best Friends posts were a little gushy, and heavy on the cat love. I usually try to hide my crazy cat lady side, but sometimes it can't be controlled.

Let's get back to fitness, shall we? Because I know the world is dying to know how it's going. Tuesday at lunch I had a session with a personal trainer (freebie at my gym), that was good, I picked up some new exercises. But I think I'll continue on my own for now. Wednesday I hit two dance classes (tango, merengue). Thursday we had 2 private lessons (salsa, ballroom) and I went to the gym at lunch. Tonight is a dance class and dance party. Saturday I will sleep and become familiar with my couch again before the 2 hour salsa class on Sunday. I'm glad for dance - it's a much more entertaining way to get some exercise in than going to the gym.

And yesterday, despite craving cupcakes terribly, I stuck to snacks like yogurt and carrots (which do not satisfy a cupcake craving, fyi). I think the eating healthier thing is harder than the exercise thing.

The 3rd and last part of my Best Friends trip story is long overdue!

Grab a coffee, this is a long one.

The third day of volunteering I returned to Cat World while Kim went off to meet some bunnies. This time around I went to Benton's House where special needs cats live. This building is where you really get to understand what kind of place Best Friends is. They don't just save cats, they save cats that other places think are unadoptable. Blind or incontinent or missing limbs - the Best Friends attitude is that these animals deserve love and a happy home just as much as other cats. They take these cats and give them incredible care and medical treatment and love - for life. They work to find homes for them, but if that doesn't happen, the cats get to live out their lives in comfort at Best Friends, doted on by staff and volunteers.

Walking into Benton's House in the morning was a change after the immaculate Casa de Calmar - because the incontinent cats at Benton's make a bit of a mess overnight. So, like Calmar, every day the entire place gets scrubbed down. I rolled up my sleeves and joined in scrubbing and mopping, but not until after I met some of the lobby cats and fell in love.

Particularly with Tumbles (photo at left, which doesn't show how tiny he is) - because I'm a sucker for all black cats (which are usually the last to get adopted at shelters because of all the silly superstitions around them). Tumbles has cerebellar hypoplasia which is a neurological disorder that means he doesn't walk straight (like Roxy in Calmar) - except Tumbles has a pretty severe case and spends a lot of time in padded areas to keep him safe. He's ADORABLE. I put my hand out to let him sniff me and because his head kind of trembles he ended up nose-bopping me in an attempt to sniff me. *LOVE* I played with him for a bit and tried not to think about how easy it would be to sneak such a small little thing onto a plane. I will be extremely jealous of whomever gets to adopt this fellow.

In addition to Tumbles there's Brooke, a gorgeous kitten with paralyzed back legs. We played for a bit too and she didn't seem to care about her back legs - she got around when she needed to. It's hard not to feel sorry for these creatures at first - because you imagine all they're missing - but they don't know they're missing anything and usually they're just playful scamps like the other cats! The good news about Brooke, besides the fact that was just adopted(!), is that the vet team has been working with her and think she may regain some use of her legs!

While at Benton's House I saw the caregivers give meds, bathe cats, manually express bladders, and clean a lot. This extraordinary level of care is just an ordinary day for them. It's hard to find words to express what a wonderful place it is. Animals that so many other places would have discarded or put down as worthless are so loved and doted on at Best Friends it literally gives you hope for the future somehow. That maybe humans, as a species, are not as terrible as the nightly news can make us seem.





I did get some time to cuddle at Benton's House - including two cats at once because Jamie decided she could squeeze on my lap even though Bob, a sizeable boy, was already there. And she was right (photo to left).

Peepers came by for a visit and it actually took me forever to realize that Peepers is blind - she really moves around as though she can see, it's amazing. (Peepers has been adopted!)





Apparently I have a thing for blind cats, because I was also smitten with Miss Dot who is mostly blind - and has permanently dilated pupils so she looks at you with these HUGE wide eyes and your heart just melts (see photo at left).

Kim and I met up at the fantastic cafeteria for lunch to swap tales. A lovely older lady asked if she could join us and we welcomed her. She introduced herself as Charity, one of the founding members of Best Friends. We were later joined by Gregory, another founder and we had a fantastic lunch talking about Best Friends and what had brought us there and what our impressions were, etc. They told us about their vision for the place and a bit about how it started. It was a wonderful experience.

The next day, Kim and I both bought copies of the book "Best Friends, The True Story of the World's Most Beloved Animal Sanctuary" (I read most of it in one night), and reading the story, it somehow all made sense - both the experience we'd had at the sanctuary and the lunch with the founders. These are just good people. Good on a level that we don't experience in our day to day life. They set out to do good, to devote their lives to doing good, they found their outlet with saving animals and they approached it with honesty and hard work and continue to do so. It was inspiring to be in a place that was so infused with goodness, that's the only way I can explain it.



I returned to Benton's House for the afternoon shift and when the day was nearing its end, I asked the caregivers who most needed to go on a sleepover and they suggested Blackjack, who I hadn't met yet. But he's a black cat so I was guaranteed to love him; it didn't hurt that he was adorable.





We took him to our cottage for the night. Turns out he's quite the character - he desperately wants to be on your shoulders nuzzling your ear and kneading your neck. Seriously, it's his life goal to do that (see photo of him trying to get to Kim's neck and her preventing him. she's so mean). We had a good time with him, especially in the morning when I woke up to find a cat nuzzling my ear (for the record, that tickles) and massaging my head.

I fell in love with at least half of the cats at Benton's - they're so unique and special and.... lucky to have landed at Best Friends where they get such a standard of care - you just want to hug them all and tell them how very fortunate and loved they are. It really is a magical place, in a very down to earth kind of way.

Best Friends just posted a video about Benton's House - which features Tumbles a few times - check it out:


Seriously - go donate a few dollars to your local animal shelter if you can, or to Best Friends (if you donate $25+ you get a subscription to their seriously awesome magazine) - these places deserve all the support they can get to do the incredible work they do.

I suspect that when the time comes to adopt another cat, I'll be looking for a senior black cat that is blind, has cerebellar hypoplasia and is FIV+, thanks to my days at Best Friends.


Special thanks to Kim for being so enthusiastic about the trip when I suggested it, making it a great time, and for being just as floored as I was about how magical a place it was!

I'll end with a few photos of the scenery - Kim and I visited Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park after our volunteering was done (and Vegas, but that's another story). There are more photos on my flickr account.

Photo at left - random photo from my trip that I feel sums up Vegas.

I think Mom has correctly diagnosed me with "exertion headaches" which are apparently common amongst migraine sufferers (uh, yay?). So the plan is to ease up even further on the cardio and gradually work my way up to my already not-strenuous half hour workout. I probably did shock my system by not working out for several months and then hitting it with a 30min cardio session twice a week. I also got some tablets that you add to your water bottle to turn your water into a sugar-free electrolyte replacement beverage, because I figure it's still good to replenish my electrolytes. So on Friday I spent more time on weights (my butt really really hurts today) and did 20min on the treadmill at the slowest pace I could that was above walking and replenished my electrolytes. And no headache (one was thinking about cropping up, but didn't). So fingers crossed for no more exertion headaches.

Adding to my list of physical activities - Peter and I will be starting a new dance class today, a 5 week long cuban salsa intensive. Two hours every Sunday we'll be learning cuban salsa moves. I expect there will be a lot of sweat. I feel like my salsa is very upright and ballroom-y right now so I'm hoping this instructor can make us more relaxed and club-style. Also, it will be interesting to see the difference between cuban salsa and LA salsa.

In crafty news - over the holidays I completed my weaving project... details are over on the craft blog.

I went to the gym today according to schedule (yesterday was yoga, I love my lunch hour yoga). So, I'm sticking to the exercise plan. And I'm eating far fewer cookies. There's one snag in this whole scheme however, which is the fact that I tend to get headaches after a cardio workout. I try not to go too hard, especially at lunchtime, and yet I have still ended up with a post workout headache half the time. Anyone got any ideas on how to prevent this? I'm only on the treadmill for 30min (~2.4miles), so I'm hardly 'overdoing' it, so why does my body turn on me? Is this a sign that I should resume couch-sitting and cookie-eating?

For me 2010 marked the year where I decided I needed to start being an agent for good in the world, outside my own life. I've got it pretty good, time to start using more of my energy and resources and skills to improve things for others.

Hence my charity:water campaign (I'm still taking donations!). I also filled out my application to volunteer at the BCSPCA (just before they stopped taking applications because they're flooded with them) because I've volunteered at animal shelters in the past and loved it. And the trip to Best Friends - which was totally selfish. I mean - we did volunteer, but it's such an incredible experience to be there that you can't really view it as work.

This year I'm continuing with charity:water by giving up my birthday for them. And I hope to get set up with the BCSPCA to help them out with something every week. And I've got a few more ideas up my sleeve - involving crafting even!

Imagine if everyone decided to make more of an effort to help others this year - how powerful would that be? That's my pollyanna thought for 2011.

To help you get on the band wagon with helping others - I'm listing some ideas below, some are super easy and I hope you'll do them, others are more of a commitment but are worth considering - since studies show that volunteering makes people happier!

Easy ways to make a difference in the world:

- donate blood. It's easy and really important.

- give up your birthday/anniversary and ask for donations to your favorite charity instead. The charity probably needs the money more than you need more stuff, and I'm betting the charity will do more impressive things with it. For example - $20 to charity:water provides clean water to a person for 20 years, whereas it only buys me a couple balls of fancy yarn. :)

- consider rescuing a pet from an animal shelter. Got room for one more cat? Sure you do! All you people with houses (rather than apts) - you have to carry an extra burden since so many apartment dwellers are prohibited from sharing their home with pets. You get to save an animal's life and have it love you and cover you in fur. Win-win. If you can't adopt - try to talk your friends into it. Whatever you do - don't let anyone you know buy an animal or they'll be supporting the terrible conditions in puppy mills (unless they buy from a reputable breeder that they've visited personally to see how the animals are treated - and even still, they should adopt not buy).

- donate pet food to your local animal shelter or food bank. Part of helping shelters means keeping animals in the homes they've got already and during tough economic times that can be as easy as helping provide pet food to get someone through a rough patch.

- most shelters have wish lists of other items they need - see if there's anything you can help with (sometimes it's as simple as dropping off old towels you've been meaning to get rid of for ages). Here's the Vancouver Shelter wish list, as an example.

- register as a bone marrow/stem cell donor. It's unlikely that you'll be called on to donate but if you are - you'll really be making a difference!

- check to make sure you and your family members are registered as organ donors.

- become and advocate for something - find your cause and find a way to contribute. Write letters to your city council/provincial govt/federal govt about something that matters to you.

- donate items to a charity thrift shop (include some good stuff), also: shop in the charity thrift shops!

- offer to shovel the walk of an elderly neighbour whenever it snows. (My jr. high school organized this once, they got a list of seniors in need and recruited nearby students to go shovel their walks for them for free whenever it snowed - brilliant idea. I shoveled the walk of a lovely older lady and she gave me cookies = awesome.)

- got special skills? Consider offering them to a charity. i.e. a professional photographer could take fabulous photos of animals in shelters - better photos online might lead to adoptions, or will give the agency great photos to use in their promo materials. Are you a handyman? Charities always have little (or big) jobs that need to be done that get overlooked. Give them a call and offer your services. Or look online - one example is Craft Hope - a website that organizes crafting for charities.

Today I went to the gym for the 2nd time in a week. I know, right? This sudden burst of gym going during my lunch hour has put me in league with all the new years resolution peoples but I'm doing it anyway. And the gym isn't actually mobbed like I thought it would be. In fact, I've been able to snag one of the 30min treadmills both times (the other treadmills are limited to 18min which seems useless for anything other than a warm up).

In any case, my goal is to hit the gym twice a week, plus yoga on mondays, plus dance twice a week until march - then I'm allowed to re-evaluate.

For those interested in crafty content - you should swing over to my craft blog where I wrote all about my first project on my screenprinting machine!

Happy New Year!

Our new year's eve was interesting in that we stayed home and made nachos and watched the original Tron (which neither of us had ever seen). The reason we stayed home was because the lovely house party we were to go to got cancelled because the hosts got THE call about adopting a baby!! They have only been waiting a few months but got a call on Dec 30th about a baby that had been born on Christmas day. They spent new years eve in the hospital with him and took him home on Jan 1st! Best reason to cancel a party ever! Also - can you imagine becoming parents with only 2 days notice?

I'm super excited for them, and can't help but think that there are some interesting benefits to adopting that I hadn't thought of before - like the fact that both of the new parents are equal partners in this - compared to a birth situation where the mom goes through nine months and intense labour and the guy just supports/observes. In adoption, both of them are in the same situation, no one has any bonding advantage. And, since the mom isn't breastfeeding - they can equally split the burden of feeding through night/day. It just generally seems more balanced and fair.

Here's a photo of me and the little guy - I think this is the newest person I've ever held, he was conveniently small and sleepy.

Fingers crossed for them that the 30 day period the birth mom has to change her mind passes quickly and in 6 months their application to adopt is approved!