Trev

It's all over. I think I'm more excited about UFC 67 than I ever was about 66. It wasn't bad tho. The streaming UFC On Demand thing works really well, once I'd gotten the update for a browser I never use - IE7. I missed the Bisping fight due to said update. I really enjoyed seeing Jason MacDonald submit Chris Leben, not just because MacD is a fellow Canuck, but because I just can't stand Leben. The Griffin-Jardine fight was surprising and great, until Forrest proved that he's a good winner, but a sore loser. I think him running off right after the bout was a career blunder. I hope it doesn't hurt his chances of getting good fights, I like him as a fighter. I have new respect for Keith Jardine tho - good fight. Chuck, Tito. I don't know. I expected Chuck to win pretty much as he did. Maybe Rampage will stop him again. Somebody's got to! It was a fun fight to watch tho. I can't believe CHuck let Tito up in the first round, he might've finished it there. He'd have felt pretty stupid if he lost after that. Arlovski looks like he's on the comeback, but the Heavyweight div is heating up - I don't know how far he'll get. Like I said, 66 was like an ad for UFC 67 and I'm more stoked to see the next one. Either way, 2007 is going to be a good year for UFC.

My sensei told us today, in class, to watch UFC 66 and study Chuck Liddell's use of distance - so cool! Sparring today was all about using distance. And leg kicks. I'm bruised and stoked now. Tito has got to get inside Chuck's firing range or he's just gonna get a swollen face. 3 more hours...

Willkommen, Kim! Damn, how did that happen, I don't even speak German! I'm sure you'll find all you seek here and more.

Welcome! What kind of martial arts have you done? I've had the urge to give boxing a try lately, but I don't know if I could stop myself from kneeing my opponent while in a clinch or kicking his legs. I lost about 10 pounds in the first few months of being vegan, but I've gained about 6 back (I guess that's 5 kg and 3 kgs). And that's without really trying to gain - I do almost nothing but cardio and body weight training. Cheers!

I'm kind of a city guy, I mean, I love the woods and the mountains, but where I live, they're right behind my house in the city. Costa Rica just doesn't make sense for me at this point in my life, I still have a lot of things I want to accomplish and I just don't think they could be done from there. It rains there a lot. There's lots of bugs. I've heard some nasty things about the crime (particularily in San Jose), and I think the political ineptitude there would drive me into the jungle never to return. The environment there is under serious attack and they don't have the means to fight it. I'm trying to do my part here in Canada, where we give the environment a good thrashing as well, but I gotta pick my battles. For my parents, it makes a bit more sense - they've lived and travelled all over the world, from the middle east to Mexico, and they just want to look at birds and eat fruit. Altho, I have expressed my concerns for CR as a place for the aged (healthcare and support etc) but my parents are stubborn and they'll do what they want to do. I'll go visit and see what it's all about first hand, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't move there.

Haven't read Thrive but I see it between the Vega tubs at the healthfood store - I should buy a copy next time. The new book sounds exciting - will definitely check that one out.

Just gave up on "The End of Food" by Thomas Pawlick. A few good ideas, but overall poorly written, too many copied passages. Not vegan, but does have some interesting things to say about nutrient decline in fruits and veggies. Recently finished "Go Further" by Woody Harrelson - good inspiration to uh, go further with everything and not be discouraged. Haven't seen the film. Right now reading, "We Tell Ourselves Stories So That We May Live" by Joan Didion. It's an anthology of all her non-fiction works since the early 60s, not vegan, health or AR, but sort of political, social commentary. She's quickly becoming one of my favourite writers - it only takes a few lines from anywhere in the book to hook you.

just ordered UFC On demand live streaming for Saturday... anyone ever done this? I killed my television months ago, so I can't get ppv, none of my friends who do have cable wanna sit thru UFC and I don't wanna sit in a pub nursing the same beer for 3 hours (training hard right now, so no alcohol!).

I find cold climates keep me indoors and make me just wanna hibernate. This is what brought me out west from Toronto, Ontario 8 years ago. I can be more active all year round in Vancouver. As for healthy, vegan-friendly places in the states... A few hours in Portland, OR has got me itching to go back there and really see what's there... And a recent trip to San Francisco also proved quite healthy - vegan food was everywhere and the climate is pretty good. I think climate's important, but then, I don't like the cold. Hotter the better. I'm sure some of the forum members in the above mentioned cities could tell you more! If I was a US citizen, I'd live in the Bay area, CA! Of course, I do have relatives in L.A.... Hmmm, how to get green card... And if I got offered a job in Barcelona, I'd be on the next flight there! Don't be afraid of travel! Do some googling about living/working in Spain - might be worth a try!

For me, somewhere a lot warmer than even West Coast Canada! My parents, both vegans, recently bought a chunk of land in Costa Rica to retire on. They've got a small orchard on it, and they said it was easy to get more fresh, organic tropical fruit than you could ever eat. They're even growing cashew trees. CR isn't for me, I don't think, but it's an idea. Australia might be another country to think about - I know I have (wife's an aussie by nationality).

Welcome! You should be able to find some inspiration on this forum to help your family drop the meat from their meat-and-potatoes!

Banana-Mango-Kale smoothies, sometimes with Vega or peanut butter on quartered apples. mmmmmm.

hello and welcome aboard!

yule blog ___ That’s an appropriately ugly name for what is, for vegans, a potentially ugly holiday. Yule blog. Sounds like something from the Kingdom of Gozer, Zuul’s sinister little brother. Enter the Tofurky. The Key Master and Gate Keeper to a merry christmas, with or without the cheer. While preparing the Tofurky, which resembles a bomb more than a fake bird, I had visions of Rick Moranis hosting a vegan christmas party... LOUIS (played by Moranis) That's Tofurky. The real thing. It costs $24.95 but really $12.48, just not at Whole Foods. I'm writing this whole party off as a promotional expense for vegan_accounting.com. That's why I invited clients instead of friends. Try the yam fries, they’re dynamite at room temperature. Maybe I should turn the heat up a bit ... A VEGAN WOMAN wearing a “do it raw” button moves up to Louis. WOMAN #2 C'mon Louis, maybe if we eat some of the fruit other people will start. They start to devour melon balls. The doorbell rings. Louis bolts for the door hoping it's John Robbins. It's another couple. Louis escorts them in and takes their coats. LOUIS Everybody, this is Ted and Annette Fleming. Ted has a dairy allergy, and Annette is writing a hemp cookbook using a deferred bonus from two years ago and the house has $15,000 left at eight percent. He goes to the bedroom door with their coats and opens it. INT. BEDROOM -- NIGHT On the bed, standing up on all four legs, is a bristling, panting, live meat-eater. Too preoccupied to notice it, Louis reflexively tosses the coats onto the bed. They both land on the meat eater's head. INT. LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT Louis comes out of the bedroom and closes the door. Then from within there issues forth a tremendous roar that rattles the christmas tree. LOUIS Okay. Who brought the dog? Despite the potential for humour and ridicule, we enjoyed our Tofurky totally unquestioned. We had roasted it at home and brought it to our conventional-food-eating relatives’ house. Once carved into slices, it actually resembled turkey and stuffing. With the help of a crantini or three it could probably go a few bites unnoticed by the unsuspecting carnivore. But it was far too precious to waste on silly pranks. This was our little christmas miracle – a real dinner. It went well with a glass of wine, and a side of mashed maple yams. More importantly, it included us in the family tradition, guilt-free. Yes, the rest of the family ate a turkey body, bird carcass, carrion, however you want to think of it. Neither of us enjoyed seeing it on the table. It was actually quite a weird feeling to see it, and think that just one year ago, we’d have eaten it. Yech! But this was not a battlefield. This was not a forum for espousing the virtues of veganism, or for picketing the christmas table. We were thankful for our own convictions, and reminded ourselves that patience and being healthy examples of human beings were the best way to deal with holidays. We just politely averted our eyes and got down to what christmas gatherings are really for – drinking, er, visiting! posted by veganunderground # 10:37 PM who ya gonna call?

Yeah, raccoon, dog, raccoon-dog, what's the difference, really? I think it's a raccoon dog that is skinned alive in a Peta vid which appears in Earthlings. Today a woman got in the elevator wearing a rabbit? fur coat with fur trim and fur boots. I've seen a lot of fur around - seems the cheap, Chinese fur is making fur desireable. There have been protests outside the Bebe store in downtown Vancouver over the holidays because of the fur products they sell. I might join them for a bit. I've been sending letters to the my federal gov't in protest of the Canadian seal hunt. It's also very inhumane, despite the gov't's assurances of the otherwise. Up to 40% of the seals are alive when skinned and they are taking whitecoats (only a month old) and bluebacks (only a few months old) when they're not supposed to be. The fur industry makes me sick when I think about it.

Aaaaarrrrrrghhhhhh!

Welcome! I gotta try your bars... I'll check Whole Foods up here in the Great White North for them, maybe I'll have to order them online... They look yummy tho!

Welcome aboard! Your ambition for good is admirable - good luck with all your preparations.

When I first tried a packet of vega berry (free sample), I was so full I couldn't eat for 6 hours. That should tell you that your putting too much stress on your digestive system....your also using too much of your bodies resources on trying to assimulate/digest that stuff!!! Also if you have to have it two hours before you train then that vital energy used up digesting it that you could have used for your workout! If it was so benefitial/digestable then it wouldn't bloat you out for 6 hours, you might as well of eaten a cooked meal..... Stay fresh and seasonal as much as you can!!!! Juss sumphin ta think about... I find that I can't eat much of anything before working out - feels like it's bogging me down. If I eat a bunch of fruit, with or without vega, 2 hours or so before hand, I'm just getting hungry again by the workout, but I still feel totally enegrgized. Do you eat right before a workout? This morning I was at the kickboxing gym at 6:30 am and all I had was a banana when I woke up at 5:45 am. Maybe that's a bad example, because I ate cooked food last night for dinner at an Indian restaurant and I felt like shite this morning. But normally, I have a great workout on just a banana, and that's less than an hour before... Yeah, you're right, 'bwii. Jeez! I should listen to my own body more.

That's awesome 'bwii! I gotta do more one arm/one leg'ers, I've been working on higher numbers of regular push-ups mostly. And I am definitely gonna start doing switch-grip pull-ups - good stuff. I'm inspired!

When I first tried a packet of vega berry (free sample), I was so full I couldn't eat for 6 hours. Yeah, they're pretty packed - if I'm going to have Vega before excercise, it's at least 2 hours before. Then I'm ready to rock. Also, I only use 1 scoop at a tiime, 2 scoops is too much - maybe that's what you ate. It is a meal replacement if you have 2 scoops, which makes 6 hours about right...

It's been working for me - been mostly raw all week (the road trip to San Francisco interrupted the raw stretch a bit) and I've been having awesome workouts - tons of energy, healing super fast too. If you have a blender, try banana/mango/kale smoothies (with Vega is bit more filling).

Oh yeah, all organic. I'm as scared of non-organic, GMO, factory franken-fruit as I am of dairy! Okay, maybe not that scared! As an aside, ate some cooked food tonight at a great Indian restaurant while out to dinner with the inlaws and all I could think of was the fruit and kale smoothie I'm going to have for breakfast tomorrow morning before my 6:30 am workout... my stomach's looking forward to it too, it didn't like the dinner so much tonight! What's happening to me!? Bigbwii, what have you done, you've brainwashed my stomach!

Awesome! I'll try to find a copy and check it out!