it's in you to give.

My friend Cory and I headed over to Canadian Blood Services at 888 Dunsmuir St, Vancouver, the other day. We'd been chatting about giving blood, and he decided he wanted to give it a shot. I am a big advocate for donating, and it gets my blood pumping (sorry... bad joke) when I can recruit friends to come along.

Blood donations are desperately needed, all the time. Check out this chart from the Canadian Blood Services website:



To quote the website, one donation can save up to three lives.

The donation itself takes ten minutes, tops. The paperwork and all that jazz will leave you there for a maximum of an hour, though I've never been that long unless I was busy visiting. That can tend to happen, as the staff and people donating are so incredibly friendly. I will almost guarantee, that you will walk out of there with a smile.

To ensure a positive experience, make sure you do the following:

- Eat something healthy prior to donating. If your blood sugar or iron levels are too low, they will not allow you to donate for the day, or for the next 56 days, for that matter.
- Avoid smoking directly after donating. It's a good chance you'll feel woozy. Try to wait it out for about 30 minutes, you crazy chimneys.
- Try to not drink coffee before going. It can make your blood pressure skyrocket, which can also lead to you having to wait to donate.

If you are frustrated by eating healthy/no caffiene, don't fret - you will be loaded with the opposite immediately after your donation. I'm talking Timbits, Cookies, Coffee and Juice. Go crazy, kid!

So, what's left to be scared of?

Oh right, the needle. The nurses will cover your arm with a paper towel, if you are really freaked out by the sight of being poked. Also, I promise, it doesn't hurt very much at all. My recommendation is to go with a friend - that way, you'll be side by side in your comfy seats, and can talk eachother through it.

We're privileged if we can say we're healthy, but there's a lot of people that aren't. This has to be one of the easiest ways to help a brother out, so... Get into it.

PHONE NUMBER: 1.888.TO.DONATE (1.888.236.6283)

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Anthropologie Karelia Jacket, $248.00. Why, oh why, didn't I buy this in Edmonton?

TO DO LIST

it's that joyous time of year when people will be asking about what your "new year's resolution" is. we all know that doesn't work, but goal-setting is very important, and effective, if you do it the right way.

the way to success, is the TO DO LIST. it's time to "get real", and make things happen for yourself. the TDL allows you to hold yourself accountable, and keep tabs of what positive steps you're actually making.

to take that one step further, i'm going to make myself REALLY accountable, and post my TDL on this blog. feel free to call my bluff if i'm slipping.

i'm quite familiar with the TDL, so i figured i'd share a few tips and tricks.


The Rules for an Effective To-Do List (TDL)

- Include deadlines for tasks you've procrastinated on
- To Do Lists can be short term, or long term. I prefer to call the long-term lists a "plan". Don't mix the two together. I find it easiest to make a large list of small goals with a 4-6 month expiry, and then tuck away a 2-5 year plan in a drawer somewhere. Mixing big and small goals, like 1. Get hair cut, and 2. Buy a house, should not be on the same list unless you're actually capable of executing both in a timely fashion.
- Don't be vague. For example, don't say "Get Fit", say "train to climb the Grouse Grind in 60 minutes" (clearly, not a real goal of mine).
- Keep your list handy in a purse or wallet. It feels damn good when you can pull that list out and check something off. GO, YOU!
- Don't feel too bad about making a "wuss goal" at first. For example, if you're quitting smoking, don't feel guilty about putting "I will only smoke on Friday, Saturday and Sunday" on the list, when you know you want to quit entirely. You are taking a step in the right direction, and that's a hell of a lot more than you've been doing so far... right?
- Once you finish your TDL, write up a new one. This is why a "wuss goal" is allowed - you will always have a stern follow up to-do until you meet your bigger goal.
- If you're asking, "Does this mean I will perpetually have a TDL once I start?", the answer is YES, if you're doing it right.

here goes:

TDL - EXPIRY DATE: APRIL 30, 2011

1. Turn my "restaurant shopping" into something productive, by blogging once a week
2. Get my ass to the gym, by February 28, 2011 (and yes, I mean even if it's just once. I've procrastinated on this one for YEARS).
3. Go to RBC and top up RRSP
4. Contact Flight Centre again about that incredible job posting after January 1st, and prior to January 5th, 2011.
5. Start doing 20 squats a day, 30 weight lifts for each arm, and 30 sit ups 5 days a week.
6. Cook a legitimate dinner for myself (aka not Kraft Dinner or Campbell's Soup), at least once a week.


Starting... NOW!

MY DREAM JOB.

I was advised there was a posting for a Social Media Specialist on the Flight Centre website. The application's mandatory requirements were that I subscribe to Linkedin, Twitter, Blogspot/Tumblr/etc, and a few other things along the way. And, in 140 characters, explaining WHY Flight Centre would need me.

This is what I said:

@jilleasy & @flight_centre #unbeatable because I'm a #honorsbroadcastinggraduate #promotionsandsalespro #worldtraveller #socialmediajunkie

As some of my friends that follow my Twitter would know, I missed my bus stop and wound up in another city the other day, due to me twittering/blogging.
If that doesn't show some dedication to the web, maybe this will:

My Life, in a Nutshell:
- 12 years old; got dialup internet package for 12 hours of usage
CONSEQUENCE: Racked up 88 hours in one month, causing my parents to almost have heart failure

- 13 years old; the discovery of Yahoo! Chat, ICQ, AIM, Paltalk, and MSN. Second, the discovery of using these all at the same time. Computer crashes multiple times a day, and gets infected with viruses. Mom and Dad not impressed.

- 13-15 years old; sitting on the computer for 8 hours at a time, making (now embarrassing) websites via Angelfire.com and photobucket.com, joining the "Site Fights". Since I'm feeling brave, here are my old websites: UGH #1 and UGH #2 These have not been touched for years... Do not judge too harshly!!!

- 13-15 years old; joining picpage.com, facethejury.com, enternexus.com, Yahoo! Groups, and any other social networking site I could get my hands on. I want to go on a trip to Fort Lauderdale, FL to visit my e.boyfriend, Tom #thankgodididntgo #thankyoumomforsayingno
- NAPSTER DOT COM.

- 15-19 years old - stay up til 6 am chatting with people on MSN. Tired. Internet usage tapers off due to schooling... and parties.
- ENTERNEXUS BECOMES NEXOPIA, and the thing explodes. BOOM! All time spent on Nexopia.
- MYSPACE. #nufsaid

19-21 - Myspace is my life. But then, a little thing called Facebook is opened up to those of us not in University, and the world changes.

21-Present - Facebook, blogspot, hypem.com, fotolog.com, and of course, TWITTER.

^ With that said, that is one portion of my life. I feel I could consider myself an expert on Social Media. Mixed in with my Broadcasting background, passion for travel and food, and my fascination with social interaction and information sharing, I believe I could truly find ways to engage a lot of people, via the web, about how to travel the world with Flight Centre.

Campagnolo

While taking the 19 down Main Street, I spotted a little space that appeared to be a beautiful restaurant. I got out of the bus, walked over, and found Campagnolo.

The simple, deconstructed decor, including exposed cement walls and wooden beams and tables, immediately drew me to think of salt tasting room in Gastown. With that being said, the bar was highly raised. Next, my eyes grazed over the menu in the window, with a wince, expecting the prices to be a slap in the face....

12 dollar pizza?!?!?!

It was like a dream come true. My foodie friend, Benjamin, and I made a date to experience this place.

The meal started out with some delicious parmesean-crusted croutons (which happened to be about two-foot long sticks), which we ripped through quickly and asked for seconds.

We decided to share the beet salad. Now, I personally don't think you can go "wrong", with beet salad, because beets are truly delicious (IMO). But still - this salad rocked my world. They took it to a new level.

House-made ricotta cheese, cracked pepper, olive oil, mint, shaved vegetables and, of course, beets. It tasted like there was some sort of citrus (maybe lemon?).
This tower of deliciousness was fresh, light, slightly tangy, and the beets were perfectly cooked. Nothing worse than feeling like you're going to break some teeth chewing on beets.

My friend had spotted the Duck Ravioli on the online menu, and boy, was he determined to get it:



The meal was definitely "gourmet food-sized", as I like to call it, holding 5 pieces of ravioli. With that said, these were jam-packed with duck, and my friend loved every bite (Taking his word for it, as I am a pescatarean... gawd, I hate that term). He said it was smoky, with carmelized onions and the duck was very flavorful.

Now, I love gnocchi, and I was intrigued by a food called "gnudi" on the menu: Basically, these are a take on gnocchi, but rather than potato filling, they are filled with cheese. SOUNDS LIKE HEAVEN, right?

Oh, and they were...




The slightly crunchy, bread crumb exterior, matched with a rich, basic tomato sauce, and the gnudi brimming full of their house-made ricotta and spinach. It will be challenging for me to ever get something different at this restaurant, I liked this so much.

Since Benjamin was not "sufficiently suffonsified" (I have no idea what it means, either.. inside family joke), he ordered the salami pizza.



From my travels in Italy, this looked like the real deal. Super thin crust, to the point where the middle falls apart into a gooey, delicious mess of cheese and tomato sauce. I had a piece of pizza that didn't have any salami, and let me tell you... This pizza blew my mind. EVERYONE in this city, needs to go try this pizza. It is zippy from the acidity of the tomatoes, incredibly savoury from the cheese. So damn GOOD!

So all in all, great experience. The server was very helpful, and the atmosphere was not too stuffy. Found myself saying "I need to come back for that pizza..." while I was still in the restaurant.

Campagnolo
1020 Main Street
Vancouver

Merry Christmas

'Tis the season to be mugging

Since I moved to Vancouver, I have made it my personal mission to convince everyone that this city is a safe place to be.

I'm not talking about safe in Coal Harbour, or Yaletown... I'm talking about East Hastings. DTES . "Cracktown", if we want to get politically incorrect...
And trust me, many of us young folk have tested the theory that we can roam freely in these "danger zones". Try google-mapping the following locations:

- The Savoy Pub
- Funky Winkerbeans
- The Astoria
- The Waldorf
- The Patricia Hotel
- 917 Main, most notoriously known as "The Cobalt" (RIP)

^ Not only has the DTES been taken under the party kid's wing, we have made it "kitschy", as it hosts some of the city's most popular nights. Walk on down to Funky Winkerbeans on a Friday night (you got it, just past the adult clothing store and Save On Meats), and I guarantee it will be brimming with carefully dressed, eclectic people, mashed up with some of the city's most rough-around the edges citizens.

This is where I'm going to start getting "hated on":

It has become part of Hipster Culture to bask in the glory of deeming these "dive bars" as our own. I choose the term "our", loosely. I choose to go to these places, as do many of my friends. I believe we should all peacefully coexist - but, is that what we're doing?

Hipster Culture thrives on irony. Take a look in your neighborhood American Apparel - there you will see, that the "mom bum" is no longer something a young girl takes as an insult. People WANT that mom bum, and pay good money for it. Camel Toe? Same thing.

The roundabout thing I'm trying to get to here, is... Are we losing respect for this very special part of our city? If "ironic" is cool, does that mean that we are hanging out in some dangerous areas, just to be awesome? Do we all gather in these places, and think it's hilarious we're in the same bar as lonely, middle-aged alcoholics and drug addicts? The DTES is deemed the "poorest postal code in the country" - a community in its own, that an addict, in particular, can call home. There are not many places in the world you can walk down the street and see people shooting up in such masses, but also see so many safe-houses and touchpoints for people to reach out for help.

I think it is time that we take a look at ourselves, and question the morality of our choices. In an age that we all choose to be different, maybe it's time we dig deeper and question WHY we do the things we do. Ask yourself, do I respect the people around me? Do we want to make this community a better place, OR, are we perverse in the sense that we're subconsciously "making fun", and raiding, this part of the city?

I've been mulling over this since last night, after getting mugged walking to a bar on Pender and Abbott. Heels on, all fancied up, I fearlessly strutted down the street... Until I felt a pull, then a yank, then the pavement, as I was dragged down the street by a man trying to steal my purse.

I wouldn't let go, and eventually, this man ran into the night, towards Hastings. I felt hurt and betrayed by this man, as I felt like I had been defending people in his situation fiercely ever since I moved to Vancouver.
But then, I remembered: I was in HIS neighborhood, and naively taking for granted that my friends and I were in a much better situation than he was. My fearlessness was ignorance. This part of the city is not entirely safe, and homeless people have to survive, somehow. I felt tremendous guilt, as I thought of all the well-dressed kids running rampant in the streets, stomping all over the DTES like it was a playground. I thought of all the people in bar line-ups scrunching their nose, when a "neighborhood resident" would come and ask for change.


It's time we question the price we're paying for novelty. Are we losing touch with humanity?