CoffeeGeek

The other day on my sorta-non coffee Twitter account (@CoffeeGeekist), I posted about hanging out on my deck with nice 9C conditions, puffing on a pipe of some great Black and Tan (or another tobacco) and enjoying a beverage, and how life was good.

This eve, I got an email from an old friend who isn’t finding life so good these days - she lost her job, is struggling to even make her rent, and well, things are tough. And it got me thinking that my post, even on a private twitter account, would not settle well with some folks, because you see, I’m very aware a lot of people I know, especially in the US, are struggling. They’ve lost their jobs. They’ve lost their houses (or are in danger of doing so). They’re selling things near and dear to them just to make rent, just to pay off the minimum on their credit card bills.

I’m not terribly spiritual or superstitious or such. I don’t generally believe in fairy tales, wishing fountains, good luck charms, or the like. But weirdly enough, I do believe in birthday candle wishes. You know, the kind you get when you blow out your candles. I believe in them because a lot of mine have come true in the past. (maybe it’s because I make fairly realistic wishes lol!)

Well today’s my birthday, and my blow-out-the-candles wish this year is that anyone reading this who is going through tough times will have a brighter, more secure, and less worrisome future, very soon. My wish will be, if you lost your job, you’ll get a new and better one. If you are struggling to make ends meet, something will happen soon to reduce your burden, in a good way. If times are tough right now, they won’t be as much, very soon.

I’ll be blowing out those candles in about 15 hours. 

It’ll be coming up on a year since Beata and I decided to no longer regularly dine at restaurants that have foie gras on the menu.

We took the decision not lightly, but with a lot of thought. Last year, both Beata and I made a new year’s resolution to only eat foods we’re willing to kill ourselves, if it came to it. Because Beata doesn’t really think she could kill most mammals and many fowl, she moved to a fish-heavy and vegetarian diet. Me, well I’ve hunted and fished myself in the past, and would have no real problems killing many mammals and fowl we westerners typically eat (including deer, duck, chicken, cow, bison, your name it - though pigs would be tough, cuz pigs are friggin smart and that freaks me out a bit)… because of that, I maintained my sorta usual diet.

But over the past few years, both Beata and I have tried (not always with success) to shop for our food more ethically as well. Because of this, we expect a bit of transparency and sourcing information on the food we buy - especially carnivorous food.  This means paying more for ethically treated (and slaughtered) animal meat and fowl.

All this food discussion a year ago lead towards more discussion on ethics in food. I have long since given up eating (often delicious!) foie gras because I disagree with the method for obtaining it. No argument of ethics, no video by Anthony Bourdain has swayed me - constantly force feeding animals, to me at least, is not natural. I want my foods more natural. For the same reason I buy ethically raised and slaughtered meat and fowl, and I avoid prepackaged, processed foods when I can, I won’t buy or eat foie gras no matter how “ethical” the farmers may be.

I should note I also don’t eat real veal either for the same reasons. And there’s a short list of other foods I won’t eat.

Beata and I discussed it for some time a year ago, and we both decided our feelings on foie gras (and other issues) were so strong, perhaps we should stop frequenting restaurants that have it on the menu.

This was a particularly agonizing thing for me. Some of my favourite Vancouver restaurants, including Lumiere, Pied a Terre, and Fuel (ReFuel) to mention a few regularly feature foie gras and/or have it as a regular menu item.

But with time and more thought, I felt perhaps sticking with my meagre ethics, but also perhaps letting the restaurateurs know about the decision and why (in a respectful way via dialogue) might be best. So we made the decision - no more regular frequenting of restaurants with foie on their regular menus.

I had conversations with several restaurateurs about this, including the three mentioned above. Reactions were mixed. One was particularly hurt by the decision, several were understanding of the decision (while not agreeing with it), and one, not mentioned above, was quite rude about it all.

And we stuck to it. Sure, we’ve dined in restaurants that have foie gras since then - if you like French cooking it’s nearly impossible to avoid - but those were special occasions - someone’s birthday (we couldn’t pick the place), traveling and not knowing a restaurant’s menu well, and the like. But we have stopped regularly dining at restaurants we know that have foie on the menu.

I miss some of these restaurants. But in one particular case, I’m sad about something else. I was on very friendly terms with one of the restaurateurs, and still frequented one of his other places (which didn’t have foie on the menu). But over the course of the past year, I’ve noticed a lot of distance and cold feelings from him (and some, not all of his business partners), to the point where I didn’t even feel comfortable going to his other restaurant any longer.

In some ways, I can understand this; but in other ways I can’t. We had a bit of a friendship that went beyond the restaurant, but that no longer exists. And that makes me sad.

That said, I feel very good about our stance on foie gras, and I still believe to this day that there’s enough delicious, intriguing, awesome food and food preparation methods in the world that we can do without this one. And veal too. And sharkfin.

All of a sudden, I really don’t like Whirlpool. Here’s why:

Dear Valued Customer:

You are receiving this e-mail because you have purchased or expressed an interest in a Whirlpool Corporation product or service or have otherwise interacted with Whirlpool Corporation in a manner where you provided your contact information, and have not provided an opt-in or opt-out preference for e-mail communications.

Please note that, effective November 30, 2010, Whirlpool Corporation made changes to its U.S. privacy policy.  These changes may impact the way in which we interact online with you. Specifically, the policy has changed from opt-in to opt-out for e-mail communications. To view the new privacy policy, please visit www.whirlpoolcorp.com/privacy/united_states.aspx.

This policy change impacts the following brands: Whirlpool®, Maytag®, KitchenAid®, Jenn-Air®, Amana®, Gladiator®, Roper®, Estate®, Magic Chef®, Admiral®, Inglis™ by Whirlpool Corporation

If we do not hear from you within 10 days of receipt of this e-mail, we may include you in future e-mail marketing communications. If you do not wish to receive e-mail marketing communications from Whirlpool Corporation, please click here to unsubscribe.

Sincerely,

Chief Privacy Officer
Whirlpool Corporation
2000 N M-63 Benton Harbor, MI
49022

So, when you agreed to give Whirlpool some of your private information (ie, email address, phone number, address, etc) after carefully reading their ToS they showed you upon asking for said information, and that ToS said “we will not use this informaiton for marketing or other purposes” of course, they only meant at that moment. The future’s open, and we’ll just opt you in, because well, wel have the info, and we don’t really give a shit about your privacy.

Grr. BTW, notice their “Chief Privacy Officer” doesn’t even list his or her name?

On some things I have a very long memory:

• tastes
• photos I’ve taken
• special memories with friends, loved ones
• my dogs
• events shared with my closest friends
• the worst things some people have done to me (I know, I know)

But for very many things in my life, my memory often fails me. I often wondered why, and in the back of my mind thought it was related to mild OCD. Then this eve, winding down, I read something in the epilogue of The Hound of the Baskervilles, the most famous story about Sherlock Holmes.

Holmes says this to Watson who had just asked the great detective to recall the events of the Baskerville case: “Intense mental concentration has a curious way of blotting out what has passed. The barrister who has his case at his fingers’ ends and is able to argue with an expert upon his own subject finds that a week or two of the courts will drive it all out of his head once more. So each of my cases displaces the last, and Mlle. Carere has blurred my recollection of Baskerville Hall.”

The same is true in a lot of things I do. When I attend a trade show, I remember the most minute of details… for all of a week or so. But as soon as other things crop up, memory fades, and sometimes within hours. When I am testing a product, I’m so intent on it that my brain catalogs five dozen facts or results; but if I delay too long (say a few days) in organizing those thoughts, I’m screwed.

And I am screwed a lot because my procrastinating ways lead me to delay things often.