Good Article on Web Design

I know some of my site need better navigation path.  This is a great article on web site design and useability by Michael Bernard.

http://psychology.wichita.edu/optimal/default.htm

Shop at Trader Joe’s Instead of Whole Paycheck

If you aren’t a Trader Joe’s fan yet, consider giving them a try.  They carry organic produce and other organic foods, and many other natural foods without preservatives, added chemical or antibiotics.

And best of all, their prices are MUCH LESS expensive than Whole Foods.  Trader Joe’s prices are actually cheaper than the regular grocery store prices for many products, and they are usually healthier for you, too.

Other Alternatives to Whole Foods: 1. Amazon – I get organic coffee, sulfite free dried apricots, Izze “soda” made with mineral water and fruit juice, nuts and other natural foods from here at reasonable prices. 2.  Safeway – the ones near us carry organic produce, some organic meats and their own brand of organic products like ketchup, canned fruits, canned soup, mustard and more.  3. Costco – the one near our house has organic pasta, pasta sauce, chicken, greens, apples, and more. It isn’t a huge selection but the prices are great on what they do carry.  The organic chicken breats are around $6.00 a pound compared to $8 – 9.00 at the regular grocery stores.

One blog comment I read was that an anti-healthcare mom was going to START shopping at Whole Foods for her family of 8.  That will last about one shopping trip until she sees she just spent double of what she’d spend at Safeway for the same amount of food.   They don’t call the place Whole Paycheck for no reason.

So shop at Trader Joe’s for healthy food, low prices and a CEO who isn’t trying to prevent poor people from having access to health care.  Or making unethical fake blog posts.

Whole Foods Boycott Interest Grows

As I stated in my previous post, I stopped shopping at Whole Foods a long time ago because of too high of prices.  When they were the only game in town for organic food they charged unreasonably high prices.  Now all of the local grocery stores in my area have organic foods, including quite a bit at Costco.  So that is the main reason I won’t shop there any more. They simply are too expensive.

Now the New York Times is reporting a nationwide shopping rebellion at Whole Foods.  They report that the first rule of business is to know your customers.   Most of Whole Foods customers apparently are staunch liberals in favor of health care legislation.  Oops!

Whole Foods Boycott

John McKay, CEO of Whole Foods, wrote an anti-Obama health care opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal.  Many of their liberal leaning shoppers are so outraged and they are calling for a boycott.

I used to shop at Whole Foods when they were the only place in town to buy organic foods.  But now you can get organic foods even at places like Safeway and Costco, so why pay the outrageously high prices at Whole Foods anyway?  I stopped shopping there years ago just to save money.

Butchart Gardens Review: Tourist Trap – Red Alert

We went to Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia,  for a day trip on our last vacation.  I would say the only thing remarkable about these gardens is how well they are marketed for such ordinary gardens.  Most of the flowers are just the same kind you see at theme parks.  The price we paid for entry is even similar to many theme parks, only you don’t get to go on any rides.  You only get the same types of flower beds,  crowded walkways and overpriced cafeteria food.  You can walk around the whole gardens in less than an hour.

I feel compelled to write this review because there are so many reviews on the Internet talking about how breath taking the gardens were and how extraordinary they are.  Don’t believe them.  I suspect those reviews must either be from paid marketing shills or people who don’t get out much.  It took us hours of ferry and driving time each way to get there and back from our Seattle hotel and it sure wasn’t worth the hassle.

If you are in the area of Butchart Gardens, instead of spending your hard earned money on an over priced tourist trap, take a half hour on the ferry and see Olympic National Park.  The hike on Hurricane Ridge has one of the most spectacular views I’ve ever seen in my life.  And you can go there for about $5 per car instead of almost $30 a person.  There are deer strolling around everywhere and they seem to peacefully coexist with all of the hikers. A nature lover could easily spend a whole week at Olympic National Park and not be bored.

Here is a link to a web cam on Hurricane Ridge.

Another cool hike, and this one is totally free, is to Marymere Falls.  We have hiked this trail twice and each time had deer sauntering right along the path with us.

The popularity of Butchart Gardens versus Olympic National Park is a testament to the power of marketing.  If you want to get good value for your money and avoid another tourist trap, skip the gardens with their overhyped reviews, expensive entrance fees,  artificial fountains and boring flower beds and head on over for some amazing natural scenery at Olympic National Park.

Ab exercises – No Crunches!

Citracal has a list of abdominal strengthening exercises you can do that don’t include any crunches. I hate crunches but want flatter abs.  You can find the list here.

Pesticides in Produce Ranked

The Enviornmental Working Group has a list of the fruits and vegetabel with the most to least amounts of pesticides.  You can get a copy of the full list here.  The worst offenders are peaches, apples and sweet peppers.  The produce with the least amount of pesticide contamination include onions, avacado and frozen corn.  So if money is tight and you can’t afford to buy all organic fruits and vegetables, you may want to consider spending your organic budget on the the most pesticide laden produce.

I had made smoothies for my kids this last week with nonorganic peaches and after reading this list wished I had gotten only the organic freeezer fruits for them.

Food for Thought Quotes

The globe is warming……it is natural or is it manmade? ~ George W. Bush

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. ~ George Bernard Shaw

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. ~ Antoine de Saint Exupery

It is easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission. ~ Proverb

The most shocking fact about war is that its victims and its instruments are individual human beings and that these individuals are condemned by the monstrous conventions of politics to murder and be murdered in quarrels not their own ~ Aldous Huxley

Skillet Recipe for the Iron Deficient

I made this dish the other night from odds and ends and it tasted great. In an iron skillet spayed with canola oil, I stir fried yellow pepper, cherry tomatoes cut in half, yellow squash, garbanzo beans, pistachio nuts and ground beef.

I made it because I felt like I was low on iron, and cooking in the iron skillet helps with that.  Plus the pistachios, beans and beef all have iron.  It actually tasted pretty good.

James Bond Movie Review: A Quantum of Solace

Before I went to see this movie, one relative told me it wasn’t very good and another said it was pretty good. I really liked the last James Bond movie with Daniel Craig, so I’d been looking forward to this next one. I don’t know what all of the fuss was about over Daniel Craig not being Bond. I thought he was the best Bond ever. The person I never thought was a good Bond was Pierce Brosnan. He always kind of looked like a pretty boy to me – not someone he could be a real secret agent.

The comment that it wasn’t very good I guess set my expectation low, and I was pleasantly surprised. While not as good as the first movie, it was entertaining nonetheless, and well worth the price of admission ($7.50 with movie tickets bought in advance from Costco).

This movie, like the last one is set in exotic location around the Globe, and center around a conspiracy and possible coup in a South American country. As always the special effects are great and the action highly improbable, but heh, who wants to go see a dull, logic based movie. Craig shines again as Bond and the latest Bond girl, Olga Kurylenko, hold her own. All in all I’d rate it a B+. If someone you know is a Bond fan, there is a calendar out for 2009 with Daniel Craig in Casino Royale on the cover which might make a cool Christmas gift.