I took the plunge

The neatly stapled hand out was passed around. The pressure was on. I gripped my seat, leaned over my keyboard, peered down at the alphabetical buttons glaring up at me. It was like I was deciding to jump off a cliff. Would I click enter and take the plunge?

I had to. And so I clicked.

It’s official –I am now a Tweeter. Shudder.

I don’t know why I’m so reluctant to join these sites, but for some reason they freak me out. I felt the same way about joining Facebook and (cringe) MySpace, although I no longer use the latter, and in fact I didn’t even sign up for either one of them myself. A friend did it for me, forcing me to submerge myself into our modern world where people are pressured to publicly open themselves up to a world of strangers.

I later felt the same way when I was instructed to start a blog…and now it’s Twitter.

But now that I have all of them, is it really so bad?

Not really. Just time consuming and problematic when you have a journalism assignment due the next day at 8:00 a.m. and all you can think about is a new blog idea or who may have just sent you a Facebook message and now I’ll be thinking what’s going down in the world of Tweets. They’re actually all exciting resources and fun ways to get to know others and shout out your own opinions. Not to mention they’re extremely critical resources for future communicators like myself because you get to show off what you can do.

So ultimately I am excited to have been instructed to join Twitter. Just like I was secretly excited a friend had created a Facebook page for me. And just like I was secretly excited I would have to create a blog.

So if I enjoy blogging and Facebook messaging and tweeting then why am I so reluctant to admit that I enjoy doing these things? Why is it that I sometimes hate our world of instant messaging? Why do I cringe at the very thought? I have nothing to lose, right?

Salt! Salt! Salt!

Recently I went to Boston Pizza for diner before attending the Manitoba Moose’s Skills Competition. It was tasty –your typical greasy-yet-so-delicious pizza accompanied with a crisp and refreshing glass of chardonnay. However, I noticed how salty the food was.

And yes you’re probably thinking: what’s with this crazy girl always harping on salt in restaurant food in her blogs. But, honestly, the weird obsession started after I read that Globe and Mail article this past summer on how Canadian’s (and American’s) consume far to much sodium.


(http://www.theglobeandmail.com/special-reports/hard-to-shake/)

So I decided to do my own investigation on how much sodium Canadians are consuming and on how much sodium is in Boston Pizza’s menu items. The results are shocking!

Persons aged 9-50 years-old are supposed to get 1,500 mg of sodium/day. However, a Statistics Canada study from 2004 reveals males consume more sodium than females and they get an average of 4,000 mg/day! (The study did not specify how much sodium females take in.)

That’s practically double the amount! (If I got the math wrong, bear with me I’m a CreComm student.)

According to Statistics Canada, too much sodium in a person’s diet leads to hypertension (also known as high blood pressure). Hypertension causes strokes, heart attacks, heart failure, arterial aneurysms, and chronic renal failure.

The problem I figure: eating out, especially if you’re eating at Boston Pizza.

After digging through Boston Pizza’s online nutritional guide (which is nice of them to have), I quickly discovered just how unhealthy its menu is. For example, a starter size Caesar salad has 370 mg of sodium (the regular size if 740 mg). A starter size of breaded chicken wings –1,510 mg, so considering just about everything contains sodium, I guess that’s your meal for the day. One slice of their famous spicy perogie pizza contains 360 mg of sodium. And if you want dessert too –that’ll cost you another 300 mg of sodium.

So let’s say you start with a Caesar salad, have three pieces of pizza and dessert. That amounts to 1,750 mg of sodium –in one meal!

The most shocking menu item in terms of the amount of sodium it has is the jambalaya fettuccini. Its ingredients include a pomodoro sauce, vegetables, chicken, shrimp, and Italian sausage and has 3,460 mg of sodium. Now that’s crazy. On average, however, the pasta’s contained roughly 2,000 mg of sodium/dish.

Now, I should clarify before things get too far, I’m not trying to fear monger, rather I want to raise awareness on the issue. I think many of us worry more about the amount of calories or sugar an item contains than the amount of salt. Why would we, it seems harmless. That’s what I thought too, until I read the Globe and Mail feature.

So I just want people to think about it. I think it’s fair to say that when eating at home salt intake isn’t a large issue because you’re conscious of how much you’re actually putting into your food (unless of course you eat a lot of pre-packaged foods or foods with preservatives). But when eating out we don’t really think about it. And many people dine out a lot. And yes, buying your lunch from the snack kiosk counts.

I’m also not trying to detour you from going to Boston Pizza. I chose the place as a guinea pig for my blog simply because I was there the other day and I noticed the saltiness. I too love going out for some unhealthy grub every once in a while. And I certainly can’t resist a few slices of BP’s perogie pizza. But I’m also very conscious of the fact that I’m eating unhealthy food.

Do you think about it? If you don’t, try being more aware. Reflect on your recent food choices. Were they prepared at home? From scratch? Could you be making some changes to your diet? Should you be worried? How can you begin making those changes?

Now take action.

My advice: buy a cook book that focuses on low sodium intake. Eat fewer pre-packaged foods and foods without preservatives. And/or bring your own lunch to work or school. But at the same time, break the rules. Indulge every once in a while. Just be aware!

Just say hello!

(Photo found on winninglovehate.com by Bryan Scott)

I was sitting inside the Princess Street Grill observing my environment as I waited on a friend to meet me for lunch. The diner wasn't clean. It smelled like old grease. My table wobbled. The menu's were greasy and crinkled. And yet I was comfortable. I felt safe and welcomed.

Perhaps it was because everyone around me was happy. The restaurant was filled with young families and a few business crews who were out for lunch. Everyone was laughing.

As people walked into the restaurant the busy servers would turn around and cheerfully shout from whichever table they were taking an order from at the time: Hello! Now I know what you're thinking: Hello? Who cares.

It's a big deal.

How many upscale restaurants have you gone to where you are paying large sums of money for quality food and service and upon your entrance, you stand and wait at the door because the sign says 'Please Wait to be Seated' and there's not a host in sight? And in those moments I can always feel the hatred from the busy servers as they glare at me over their shoulder while running yet another tray of dishes to the kitchen. To me the glare always suggested a cold: "I know". Why not just say hello?

One word, that's all it takes and instantly the customer feels welcomed.

So as I sat there thinking and obersving, I realized how often the friendliest service at restaurants comes from the laid back ones, not the upscale. You know the ones who have servers that are being paid large amounts of tip money for their 'friendly service'.

Just breathe in and breathe out

I would just like to warn everyone that my blog may seem a little spastic over the next little while as I am on a mission to fix one problem: getting my blog to update when I make new posts. RSS feed, why won't you send?

Unfortunately I have been trying to fix this problem for a while and have not been remotely successful. My patience has run out.

If anyone knows a quick fix, I would love to hear it!

Until then, I think the photo below captures my mood well.

Photo: courtesy of Kenton Larsen

What's 10 cents?

Question: do you think that 10 cents is enough of an incentive to get you to bring a reusable mug when buying your morning coffee?

I know ten cents doesn’t make a difference to me, and after speaking to a few friends they agreed with me as well.

Coffee shops like Starbucks, Second Cup, and Tim Hortons offer their customers 10 cents off if they bring in a reusable mug. This is one of their ways of reducing environmental waste. Now don’t get me wrong, I think that it’s great that companies care about the environment so much that they want to reward customers for also being mindful.

However, think about how many people do go the extra mile to be environmentally conscious. Ok there are many, but it seems there are many more who aren’t acting on their environmental concerns.

Hands down I am one of those people who couldn’t be bothered in the morning to make my own coffee, I would much rather spend the few bucks and have someone do it for me. I would also rather someone hand me a clean cup with my beverage, one that I don’t have to wash later.

I know it’s pathetic, but I think it’s safe to say that I’m not alone. As a woman of convenience, whether I like to admit it or not, a 10 cent rebate is small potatoes. I am already paying for the convenience when brewing a pot of coffee takes just as long as standing in the morning line up at Tim Hortons, so I obviously don’t care about spending a few bucks everyday on a hot cup of java nor do I wish to lug around a coffee mug all day and have to wash it later –although I do.

I don’t carry around a reusable mug because I am getting a discount; I carry it around because I too care about reducing waste, which not everyone does.

So my question to coffee companies like Starbucks, Second Cup, and Tim Hortons is: if the incentive was greater do you think you could get more people on the reusable mug bandwagon? Ten cents seems like a penny when you are paying for a four dollar latte and it also seems like you guys wouldn’t be losing much money with this incentive, so would it be feasible to increase the discount?

Or am I just being a cheap and ungrateful customer?