WorldWideWaterCooler

Well okay then.

It’s been a less than auspicious start to 2010 for the House of Watkii.

I spent the beginning of December nursing Neil with the flu, then spent the last 10 days of 2009 terribly ill myself (too ill to eat more than 1/2 plate of Christmas dinner – tragedy!), finally feeling better on the Jan 1st. And none too soon.

Neil managed to have a close, personal encounter with a tree trunk on his last day skiing, Jan 2nd, and because he was still hurting 5 days later, has gone to various doctors. The verdict so far? He’s knocked the cartilage off his ribs on his left side (nothing to do but take lots of painkillers).

In the same fall he smashed the fuck out of the right side of his face. Thankfully he looks mostly normal on the outside (a bit puffier on that side), but he’s waiting for the X-Rays to come in to find out if he’s broken his upper jaw. Bruised bone or hairline fracture means he just takes lots of ibuprofin and waits for the hurting to stop. Compound fracture means eventual reconstructive surgery to repair the break. In either case he’s probably got an ugly infection in there and killed a couple teeth. The dentist can’t go in to investigate further until the jaw thing is sorted out.

UPDATE: Hooray! Broken face is officially not broken! Lots of pain, lots of pus, no broken bones. *phew*

Oh, and time is of the essence in finding a solution/treatment path, since he leaves for a week in England on Saturday evening.

Among all that, we noticed the evening of the 4th the dog was generally out of sorts and licking herself a lot. We rolled her over to find her delicate ladyparts badly swollen and inflamed. Off to the emergency vet we went. $300 later, we had a cone of shame, a tube of lotion, and a diagnosis of “could be any number of things, see your regular vet ASAP.”

Another couple hundred dollars at the regular vet and we know that she’s got a nasty infection in her undercarriage, requiring twice-daily washing and lotion application, as well as 10 days of antibiotics. She’s mighty uncomfortable. Every time she gets up to walk, she realizes her bits hurt, panics and starts running around (which makes it even worse), then starts crashing into things because of the cone. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. Needless to say, the dog can’t be left alone.

Thankfully my Sister-in-Law has been around the past couple days sorting out her visa application to return to work in Korea and has been able to watch the dog the couple occasions we haven’t been able to stay home from work or other obligations.

Though her story isn’t exactly rosy either. After 2 weeks of being dismissed, degraded, deferred and dicked-around by the Korean consulate in Vancouver, her visa was denied.

No good reason for it (she’s been working in Korea on visas for the better part of the past 6 years), except a disgruntled consular employee who managed to build a case against her for being “rude and disorganized – and we don’t want rude, disorganized people in Korea.” She’s now gone back to my in-law’s place to sort things out and figure out a new plan.

And me? I’ve been burning it at both ends trying to hold things together for our little family unit. Shuttling Neil and Sasha to and from various medical appointments. Managing schedules so someone is always home with the dog. Hosting a houseguest in our small, messy apartment (we still haven’t had time to unpack or do the holiday laundry with everything else going on).

So while it might otherwise be nice to have the house to myself for a week, what it really means is I get to fly solo on monitoring and managing the dog’s infection, finally take care of the unpacking and wrestle the Christmas decorations and long-since-dead tree into storage/the chipping place. All in addition to the extra hours I was expecting to put in at work through January so things are ready for me to leave for 3 weeks in February.

As I said, not a particularly great start to 2010. And have I mentioned, in a desperate effort to fit into my vacation pants by the time we leave for Thailand, I have declared it to be “sober January”? Strict clean-eating diet, no alcohol. Goodbye usual coping mechanisms.

But that’s fine. It’s only 357 days until 2011. I can make it. I hope.

Recycling the post from last January, let’s see what answers 2009 provides.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Run 30 minutes in one stretch.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
From the blog last year:
To live more in the moment. At work I’m usually working on things that are happening 6-12 months out, and Neil and I are great at setting and making long-term goals and plans. But I think the aforementioned, combined with my natural impatience, leave me missing out on a lot of “today” as I rush headlong into “tomorrow.” For 2009 I’m going to try to remind myself to be a bit more present in the now.

Hmm, I think I have. Sadly for you, it’s resulted in fewer pictures and blog posts, but I’ve become very comfortable with just “doing” rather than documenting. I am still a crazy planning machine, but when I do something, I’m much more committed to just being there and tuning out distractions.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
New humans for 2009 include Jackson Closs and Adele Quinn. It’s a baby-palooza. We are still happy spectators.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nope. Hooray!

5. What countries did you visit?
Just the usual local BC trips and the US of A this year. But we’re off to Thailand in February 2010!

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
A million dollars?

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Er… Uh… The whole year’s been a bit of a blur really. Lots of little things stand out, but no biggies.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Paying off all our consumer debt! It wasn’t exactly a New Year’s resolution, but it was a big goal we had for the year, and we rocked the socks off that one.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Pastry. Again.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I spent most of the holiday season with a craptastic cold. Other than that, knock on wood, a healthy year.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A car!

12. Where did most of your money go?
Paying off debt.

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Paying off debt!

14. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier! It’s been a very mellow but great year.
b) thinner or fatter? Fatter. Most definitely. It’s one to work on in 2010.
c) richer or poorer? Richer, in life, happiness, and actual net worth, huzzah!

15. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Snowboarding, running.

16. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Eating.

17. How did you spend Christmas?
Relaxing at my inlaws’ lodge in the middle of nowhere. Bliss.

18. Did you fall in love in 2009?
I fall in love all over again all the time. I’ll get worried if/when that stops.

19. What was your favorite TV program?
Glee! Hands down. It’s embarrassing how much I love that show.

20. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Of course not. Hate is a waste of time.

21. What was the best book you read?
I actually didn’t read many books in 2009. Plenty of internet and magazines, but light on actual books. I’d like to change that. I did manage to get through “Fool” by Christopher Moore over the Christmas break. Another winner.

22. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Dan Mangan, Great Lake Swimmers

23. What did you want and get?
Got to Debt Free. Got a new job when I was laid off. Got a car when we needed one. This year was certainly a year of serendipity.

24. What did you want and not get?
A trip to Germany. That was one of the big sacrifices of getting to debt free. Same with a new TV. And a thousand other tiny things we put aside or postponed to get rid of that line of credit. But considering I don’t really remember them now, I’d say they’re worth it.

25. What was your favorite film of this year?
Slumdog Millionaire. Was that even released in 2009? Because that’s when I watched it.

26. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 29, played it low-key in the middle of a wicked heatwave and went for a giant Indian food dinner with friends.

27. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
You know, I can’t think of anything. It was a really good year. Perhaps not the terrible cold over the holidays would’ve been nice…

28. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic. The End. (It is sad, I still need help, and also that money fairy.)(This is the same answer from 2008 – clearly still an issue).

29. What kept you sane?
Wine.

A shorter list than last year, since I couldn’t think of good answers to the rest of the questions. Over all, 2009 has been a year of looking inward, solidifying some personal goals and putting plans in place to move forward.

This year we’re looking forward to a great vacation, some new adventures, and a few of the things we were denying ourselves over 2009 as we worked to get over that big financial goal. Now that we’re consumer debt-free, we’ll also be working on something that resembles a retirement plan and other such things that are only exciting to investment managers and accountants.

Onward and upward for 2010!

When I was invited to an event from the fine folks at Preventable (@preventable on twitter) last night on winter sport safety, I found the timing quite fortuitous. I’m heading to Sun Peaks over New Years for a ski vacation, and being the utter wuss that I am, I was definitely interested in knowing how to keep my self intact and injury free while I’m there.

The point behind the Preventable campaign (run by the Community Against Preventable Injuries) is to have us all thinking a bit more about how, when and where we place ourselves at risk. It’s all about what British Columbians can do to prevent injury, not what they shouldn’t do.

I’ll admit, I’ve been participating in snow sports in one form or another for the better part of the last two decades, and I’ve never ever worn a helmet. Biking, sure. Rollerblading, yep. Snowboarding? No.

It’s not for any good reason – I’ve just never thought I needed one. I don’t ride aggressively, I don’t go out in terrible conditions, I don’t bother going through the trees and I’ve never even sniffed at the back country.

Turns out, none of that actually matters.

You probably remember actress Natasha Richardson’s fatal ski accident from last spring, caused by a seemingly innocuous fall on the bunny hill. It’s estimated by the Brain Injury Association of Canada that nearly 50% of all skiing and snowboarding head injuries could be prevented by simply wearing a helmet.

Of course there are plenty of other injuries one could sustain through an accident on the slopes – but why make brain injury one of them?

In the meantime, I’m now going to try and right this wrong (because I’m awfully fond of my brain, addled as it may be) and get a helmet to see me through this season’s round of adventures on the slopes.

Anyone have any recommendations for favourite helmet models (ASTM or Snell certified, natch) or local vendors?

It seems like no time at all has passed since I wrote my last entry about the Couch to 5K running program – but indeed it has. I’m in week 9 of the program – the final week. And yesterday’s run had us out for 30 full minutes of running.

And other than the hill at the end (living on a hill = nice view, shit for running), it wasn’t actually that difficult. Colour me shocked.

For the past few weeks we’ve been done with the intervals of walking/running, and just gradually increasing the length of the runs. This final week, we’re out for the full 30 minutes. Hooray!

I tracked our route with the excellent Gmap Pedometer web page, and despite being out for 30 minutes, we’re not yet at 5 kms. Generally we’re at about 4k, so once this week is over we’ll start adding a couple blocks every week until we can make 5k in 30 minutes. I’m not sure where we’ll go from there.

As for the health benefits – honestly running hasn’t done anything particularly stunning. It’s added the level of activity I need to not gain weight without being on a strict diet. I’m also sleeping a bit better, though don’t have any more energy through the day than while I wasn’t running. I don’t get any sort of runner’s high, and my sense of accomplishment at having made it through yet another week far outweighs any physical benefit I feel.

Still, I tell myself that it’s a good thing. Hopefully “Sober January” as it’s been dubbed in the House of Watkii, a focus on clean eating for the month and the addition of a day or two of weight training on top of the running will have us in Beach-worthy shape to spend a large chunk of February here:

photo from geekgirly

My procrastination (like that of many of my brethren task-putter-offers) stems from a serious fear of failure.

If I don’t actually start this thing, I can’t fail at doing it, right? Flawless logic.

Except there’s this thing* that I’ve been wanting to do for quite some time. I made the mistake about six weeks ago of looking into it enough to see if it’s even a possibility (it is) and took the first tentative steps to see if I could make it happen. I probably could.

And that “probably” is killing me.

I have had exactly two tasks to do, to start along the road of trying not to fail. I have been putting them off for at least three weeks.

I need to get over the fear and stop procrastinating and buck up and put my nose to the grindstone and stop using terrible cliches and just do it (oops) already.

And here, internets, is where I ask for your gentle assistance.

Comment, and tell me to do it. Comment again on Monday to see if I did. Shame me into getting over myself and just getting to it. Because I am not having much luck convincing myself that without a little risk there is no opportunity for great reward.

Thank you.

*You may ask what the thing is, and I might tell you. Then again I might not. But I certainly won’t blog about it.

I’ve told many people about one of my favourite Christmas Decorations: Satanic Fiber-Optic Santa, and now that we’ve hauled out most of the decorations for another year, I shot a quick video of him last night, so you may also share in the horror glory!

The jingling/clicking noises in the background are the dog – but the grainy sound quality and ill-timed looping are 100% authentic Creepy Santa.

Happy Holidays, and please Ho Ho Hope he doesn’t kill me in my sleep!

I got some email today from YouTube, stating that a couple old videos of mine (Eating Live Octopus in Korea) are popular enough qualify for their affiliate program (they put ads on my video, I collect a few pennies a year).

Comments on the videos (mostly “ewww!”) come through every now and again, but I hadn’t thought much about them. Until the emails. So I checked them out. Apparently eating strange things is intensely popular on YouTube, since my videos are at a little over 33,000 views each! Certainly not because of anything I did (other than eating the octopus & posting video).

Clearly we should’ve taken video of eating a smoked sheep’s head and snails right out of their shells in Morocco.

And I’ll be sure to take a camera that shoots video to Thailand in February, in case there are any delicacies that make the average North American go “Hmmm” (or “ewww!”) that we stumble across.

In the meantime, some video from the watercooler archives:

Hello Blog Friends!

As I’m sure some of you know, I’ve got season’s tickets to the Vancouver Canucks. Going to 45 games a season is a bit daunting, so I share the tickets with family and friends. It’s an excellent way to see some games at a big discount from the one-off purchase price.

With the schedule this year, we’ve got a few games left that we can’t make it to that are still available:

Thurs. Dec. 10th vs. Atlanta sale pending!
Sat. Dec. 26 vs. Edmonton (makes an excellent Christmas Gift!) gone!

Tues. March 30 vs. Phoenix

Seats are in Section 122, row 15 – an excellent view up-ice in the Canucks defending end.

My cost for these are $220/pair (cost through Ticketmaster is about $280/pair) – but because the December games are coming up so soon, I’ll let those two go for $200!

Drop a comment or email me if you’re interested: jen at worldwidewatercooler dot com.

And Go Canucks Go!

If you’ve been following along on Twitter or Facebook, you know that I’ve actually, stunningly, been keeping up with the Couch to 5k program. Halfway through yesterday’s run put me at the halfway mark of the 9-week program. Since I didn’t stop at halfway and finished the run, I am officially closer to the end of the program than the beginning.

There are a few things I’ve learned since my earlier post about running:

I highly prefer running first thing in the morning, while it’s dark. If the sun hasn’t even started the day yet, I feel like I’m running during some sort of magical extra time and don’t have to acknowledge that it’s actually taking up time in my day (and in some small way, perhaps not actually happening). It’s also more practical in terms of avoiding traffic, which is nice. Fewer people out and about in general to see me heaving up my lungs is a good thing.

It’s still all about the music, and I love having the ability to change up the songs I’m listening to on a run-by-run basis. Another motivating selection in the playlist includes Fat Bottom Girls by Queen. It cracks me up and keeps me running through some more challenging pieces.

Having an immediate indoor option has removed yet another barrier to excuses: the weather. We’ve had a doozie of a November in Vancouver, with uncharacteristically intense wind and rain. More than once the idea of running outside in the weather was more than I could handle. But now I live in a building with a gym. Instead of making yet another excuse, I go downstairs and run indoors. Interestingly, when running indoors, I prefer listening to podcasts, rather than a musical playlist.

Neil, like the champ (and weather disregarder) he is, still goes for a light jog outside when I run indoors so the dog gets walked.

Speaking of Neil the champ, I finally understand what a good workout buddy can do. Another of my favourite “I don’t want to do this” avoidance mechanisms is to pick a fight with him instead of going out. Spoiled brat? Check. But he’s learned that if he refuses to engage, and just keeps getting dressed to go for the run. Eventually, I will get over myself and just go along. I’m getting better at not being an asshole, and having his gentle persistent insistence is one of the key things that have kept me going.

I still manage to psych myself out about just about every run. Week four was hard, really hard. And for the first couple runs of week five, even though the running has been physically easier, I keep panicking about “oh my god, I’ve gone so far, been running so long, I’m going to crash into a blubbering blob of fail any second!”

I don’t, but I’m still kindof convinced I will. Which does not bode well for tomorrow morning.

I’m supposed to run for twenty. minutes. straight.

So far the longest continuous stretch of running I’ve done is 8 minutes. I have no idea how the hell I’m going to manage to run for 20. I am officially panicking.

If you don’t see the twitter or facebook notifications that I finished the run tomorrow morning, it means I fell down dead. But if you do see the notifications, it would mean a whole lot if you piped up and said “hey, way to go” – because those occasional bursts of encouragement have been a huge motivator so far. And although I’m more than halfway, I still have a long way to go.

**Update** Made it

Other potential titles: Concert Curator, Music Maven, Showtime Superstar. Whatever floats your boat.

Duties:

Requirements:

Bonus Qualifications:

Remuneration:

Those who would suggest big-name concerts in large venues and country music fans need not apply.

(inspired by Darren’s ticket-stub photo set of all the show’s he’s seen this decade)

It’s coming up to the time now when charitable campaigns are making their big annual pledge drives. I’m starting to get solicitations in my mail, email, and seeing banners around town announcing that the season for giving is imminent.

Hessie also had a post recently about how she’s changing how she gives this year, and it got me thinking about the United Way. This entry really started as a comment on her blog, but was getting a bit lengthy.

I never thought much about the United Way until I read yet another pop-economics book (More Sex is Safer Sex by Steven E. Landsburg), which contains a chapter on the economics of giving to charities.

The basic premise of this chapter is that, economically speaking, every cause is a worthy cause, and no cause will ever have enough. So following the path that makes the most economic sense means you will give as much as you can to the one cause you feel strongest about, because that is the way you will make the most difference.

The simple fact is that sprinkling money around various charities is the least effective thing you can do. Unless you have solved the problem of the first charity with your donation, why would you suddenly switch horses and go on to solving other charities’ problems? Is the first cause no longer as worthy as when you decided to donate the first time?

And it’s exactly what the United Way does. Their entire reason for being is to collect donations and sprinkle them amongst charities. A charity-based middleman if you will. Which means not only are your dollars spent in the least effective way (economically speaking), but the United Way is taking a bunch right off the top for the privilege of ineffectively distributing other people’s charitable donations.

The United Way is an easy “charity” for people to donate to, since they don’t actually stand for anything anyone might find controversial, but following the logic of doing the most good with your dollars, why on earth would anyone donate to an organization who’s going to skim some of that donation off the top, simply for the (likely unnecessary) act of managing that donation?

Neil and I generally contribute to three charities. He does the Movember thing every year (oh, hey, donate here if you’re so inclined) – mostly because it’s an excuse to grow a ridiculous moustache. I blogathon’d earlier in the year for the SPCA, and we also give to the Union Gospel Mission.

I believe all of these to be worthy causes, and like the book mentioned, I do feel good about giving to each of them. But Landsburg also makes the point that charity is not about making ourselves feel good, it’s about doing the best we can for others. And that means choosing who I feel can best use my dollars, and trust that someone, somewhere is taking care of the rest.

Best part of getting frozen goods with our grocery delivery? They’re packed with dry ice

This really isn’t indicative of me as a person – generally I’m pretty upbeat and cheery. However, I often have these fleeting dark and twisted thoughts. Mostly ideas that occur to me, that the little voice inside says “people will think you are awfully troubled if you share that.”

I had another one while driving to work this morning. And I thought it would be a good opportunity to test the little voice’s theory.

First, an observation: The number of stuffed animals, statuettes and doo-dads glued to a person’s dashboard seems to be inversely proportionate to their skill as a driver.

Now, the dark thought.

After being nearly run-into by someone with their entire dashboard plastered with trinkets, I began composing a piece of artwork in my head: A dashboard (view from inside the car) covered in smiling, happy trinkets, which are dripping in blood and joined by the decapitated head of the idiot who, moments before, was driving the car.

It would be a watercolour.

What say ye: lock me up and throw away the key? Or are some of you out there at least a little bit twisted in the same strange way?

Every fall I get the urge to start running. I don’t say “start running again” because I never make it far enough that I’d ever consider myself a “runner” once, nevermind subsequent times, but I do enjoy the crisp fall air when the cooler temperatures are a perfect compliment to a body in motion, generating heat as it burns energy.

Considering my limited success with making it more than a few weeks into any sort of running habit, the odds are certainly against me. But this year I have two new weapons in my motivation arsenal:

1. My parents have been putting some serious work into getting healthier this past year. It’s awesome to see. Healthy eating and exercise. Who knew? My mom specifically has gone from a size 14/16 last Christmas to a size 4/6 now. And when I was there for thanksgiving, she gave me a pair of her “fat jeans” from about halfway through the journey. I can not feel okay fitting into my mom’s fat pants mom jeans. I love her, but no.

2. The Couch to 5k iPhone app.*

I’ve tried running with interval programs before, as well as with the excellent Couch to 5k podcasts. Except it never fails that I end up becoming bored or frustrated before the end of the program.

I am not good at thinking while exercising. My brain is too busy keeping me from falling down dead from exertion/exhaustion to also remember how long the intervals are supposed to be and which one I’m on. The podcasts are great for that, but they were always lacking…. something.

Turns out it was the music.

I am far from an audiophile, but I’m as susceptible as anyone to the effects music has on moods and what I’m doing. A road trip just isn’t a road trip without the original Don Henly version of “Boys of Summer” blasting as I head off at sunrise. And Neil and I will always stop whatever we’re saying or doing, smile, and start singing along to the Beach Boys, since we’ve got the happy, poppy harmonies nailed.

But I never knew what kind of music I enjoyed while running.

Turns out, it’s hard, industrial-style rock. I don’t get much into a heavy bass grove, or even the high bpm repetitive beats of techno (which are generally popular for any sort of cardio activity), but give me some hard, crashing toms and assorted chest-thumping cacophony and I’m in heaven.

My revelation came when, using a random playlist with the c25k app, my iPhone delivered up Lounge Fly by the Stone Temple Pilots. And suddenly I’m no longer on the hamster wheel in the gym (it was raining, normally I’d be outside), I’m a crazy free-runner, literally pounding the pavement in time to the smash and crash of assorted metal and drums, leaping on, over and off of tall buildings.

I was actually a bit sad when the running interval ended, because for the first time ever (running-wise anyhow) I was in the zone.

So now, of course, I’m scouring my fluff-heavy music collection for some other tunes to run to. I’ve got the entirety of the Nine Inch Nails catalog, and a bit of Kraftwerk and Joy Division, and I want to add your suggestions.

Drop a comment with your favourite industrial or post-industrial songs. Or any other music you find it inspiring to run to. Or anything else that helps you get in the groove that I can use to make it to actually running 5k by the end of the year!

*Fun disclosure thing: I bought the app and happen to like it. So I’m sharing that with you. The end.

… I do not think it means what you think it means!

I’m talking about Sustainability. The latest in a long series of buzzwords that’s been appropriated to make people feel better about their choices – not the first, and certainly not the last. But definitely the one I find most annoying right now.

sus·tain·a·ble (s?-st?’n?-b?l)
adj.
1. Capable of being sustained.
2. Capable of being continued with minimal long-term effect on the environment: sustainable agriculture.
3. To keep up or keep going, as an action or process: to sustain a conversation.

There are dozens of programs out there that claim to operate under the banner of sustainability. The problem comes when you actually look at these programs, and realize their “sustainability” only exists in a vacuum. And the world just doesn’t operate that way.

Two conversations about sustainability I’ve had lately revolve around agriculture and real-estate. One promoting sustainability, one illustrating unsustainability. Both, after scratching the surface, dead wrong.

Sustainable Food Program

I recently heard of an initiative up at my Alma Mater, SFU, as they’re trying to bring “sustainable food” to the hill. In partnership with the Fraser Valley Food Network’s South Fraser Harvest Box program, SFU Local Food is bringing Harvest Boxes up the mountain once a month for students to purchase. Local food, from local farms, for locals to eat. Hooray for supporting sustainable agriculture!

Except, this program is subsidized by the United Way and the Fraser Health Authority.

Suddenly, it doesn’t look so sustainable.

If this program requires funding from the aforementioned organizations to survive, then what’s sustainable about it? The program promises to give farmers a fair wage while bringing affordable food to residents at SFU. If there needs to be fund raising intervention in the middle of the process, it means either the farmers can’t afford to farm & distribute on what people are able to pay, or people are unwilling to pay for the true cost of their food.

The program touts a discount of 2-3x what one would pay in a grocery store for similar products – why does it need to be so staggeringly inexpensive? And this is not just for students, as advertised on the website. Anyone living at SFU (including those in the half-million dollar condos) may participate.

A truly sustainable system would be able to support access to fresh, local food, while paying farmers and distributors a fair wage, and ensuring those who really can’t afford it are still able to participate.

Hiding the true cost of food under the umbrella of “charitable subsidy” is certainly not doing sustainability any favours.

What happens when the funding disappears because of cuts, or just someone’s “better idea” for allocating dollars? Or when someone moves away from SFU, having no idea what the true cost of sustainable food is? My guess is they go back to purchasing unsustainable food.

All this program has done is given some farmers and eaters the proverbial fish, rather than teaching them how to operate in a sustainable system.

That Crash, it’s coming, any day now…

On the flip side, I’ve seen a couple graphs floating around about the “unsustainability” of Vancouver’s real estate prices, based on whether the average Vancouver resident can afford to own a home. The lament is loud… “real-estate is unsustainable, since locals can’t afford to live here!”

Wrong.

About one-million Vancouverites (the population within the city limits) beg to differ. They can certainly afford to live here – they already do. What they can’t afford to do is buy real estate here.

Anyone who’s done the most cursory of learning about financial planning should know that owning real estate is not necessary to be fiscally secure today and into the future. What is necessary is paying no more for housing (including rent/mortgage, heating, insurance and taxes if applicable) than 35% of one’s household net income and saving another 10% for retirement. I know plenty of people who are able to do that on one income, never mind the “three incomes” the Canadian Housing Price Chart states are necessary to afford a mortgage in Vancouver.

As for the housing market, if you believe that Vancouver residents purchasing homes are both necessary and sufficient to sustain the market, you’re trapped in that vacuum again.

A huge proportion Over half of residences in downtown Vancouver are owned by foreign investors. Property values skyrocketed in the mid 1990’s as wealthy Asian investors moved their money into foreign assets in anticipation of Hong Kong going back to China. And since then, as Vancouver’s appeal has grown as an international destination, and as the city consistently ranks in just about any top 10 list of “best places to live in the world” it’s not surprising that our fair area has the wealthiest postal code in the country and our premium properties are in high demand.

The only way a crash is going to come is if renters are so unable to afford their homes that investors are forced to sell at a loss, because they’re no longer able to carry the property with the income it’s generating. Considering vacancy rates here have been hovering around 2% for as long as I can remember, that seems unlikely. Even with the recent economic crash, there was only a slight correction in late 2008/early 2009, and values are quickly climbing again.

Is anything sustainable?

Really, I have no idea. Everything comes at a cost – whether it’s the environmental impact of making batteries in China (one of the most toxic manufacturing processes in existence) for your electric car to “save the planet,” or subsidizing food cost and distribution to bribe people into thinking they’re making sustainable food choices, to confusing an idea of resource allocation “fairness” with actual market sustainability in terms of who we think should own things.

I think we have to make the best choices we can, based on what we know. But before you blindly follow something because someone has tagged it “(un)sustainable,” perhaps step out of the vacuum and look at the whole picture. You may be surprised at what true sustainability really looks like.