Posts from — January 2009

For Christmas my wife Adele gave me about book about 2012, called 2012 Awakening. In the forward the authors suggest that some of their ideas may be beyond the realm of what you’re into in the moment, so if you find yourself questioning what’s written read it as a story in order to keep an open mind.

Their point of view is similar to some others; that 2012 is not an Armageddon it’s a change in forces on the planet providing an opportunity for us to reach much higher levels of consciousness. They discuss for many of us the feeling that time is moving faster, not via the clock, but in our being and that this is caused by speeding of magnetic pulses in the earth as well as other forces at work. They also talk about the higher level being a realm of divinity. I share this for you to get a general sense why I’m posting today.

Last night between the airplane landing in the Hudson, the frigid 9 degree weather and my spending time after work shoveling the driveway with my son Jake, I was drawn back to this notion this change on the planet.

As many of the passengers shared their amazement, I too wonder how they all survived. While they talked about their thankfulness, I too was thankful no one perished. With frigid air and frigid water how could they have all made it out without someone watching over them?

The changes in the climate, my being and the changes in the world around us make me wonder. I read much of the book so far and many times I’ve reverted to reading it as a story. But the more I look around at where I am, where we are and where we seemed headed, the more I wonder.

Tom Pellicane – Publisher, canvas

I posted the other day about a 60 Minutes TV segment on oil prices. I thought it was a pretty good post and it even garnered a comment from a former canvas intern – Thanks for commenting Kristen – unfortunately I was apparently multi tasking when I posted and somehow content appeared twice in the post.

So here I am again today trying to clean it up and of course multi tasking again…I ended up deleting the post – not good.

The long and short; oil prices have no relation to supply and demand right now, once again speculation and greed are at the forefront of this.

In 2009 focus should be conscious capitalism and triple bottom line. I hope the recent faux pas with the Obama transition are not more of the same and he really will be a leader of change. If not I hope he enjoys his four years before he’s voted out.

Tom Pellicane – Publisher, canvas Magazine

The Holidays and New Years were here now they’re gone. These past two weeks have been a blur. We celebrate Christmas in our house and this year’s was an enjoyable one. It was quiet and homey with my wife Adele, our kids Candice and Jake, and believe or not my ex-wife and her husband. We all enjoyed the day and afterward I decided we’re going to do a speaking tour, seminars and book on how to make divorce work.

Jake got a “bulldozer tractor” he was speechless when he saw it, literally. Candice, at 17, got a lot of gift cards and other grown up items. We hit a wall with a death in the family on the 26th and blurred through the next few days into New Years Eve.

New Years I stayed home, Adele went with her mom and Jake to an early family party. We quickly moved from Happy New Year to Happy Birthday Adele, Jan 3, finishing the two week blur with a birthday cake yesterday and gearing up for the work week today.

Whew…I need a vacation from the Holidays

Today “work” 2009 started off with a bang, clank, crack and fizz… Yes Matt it’s Monday.

My focus for this new year will be Namaste
Namaste everyone, Namaste

Tom Pellicane – Publisher

Happy new year! For 2009 I’m resolving to turn over a new leaf and start blogging more, as well as trying even harder to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

As many folks may have done during the current financial crisis, this year our family held our first giftless holiday. As it turned out, on many levels it was one of the least stressful, and most eco-friendly holidays we’ve ever had. No shopping meant not only saving money on purchases but also saving gas and freight, plus kept heaps of wrapping paper, scotch tape, tissue paper, boxes, shopping bags, and other gift refuse from ending up in the landfill.

Christmas dinner with the Murphy clan was also one of the most pleasant ever—without the usual chaos of handing out and ripping open endless presents (we are a big family, so this was always the craziest part of the celebration), it was a peaceful, relaxing evening where we could truly enjoy each other’s company and focus on good food and conversation.

So while I feel pretty good about lessening our carbon footprint by going giftless—let’s face it, who needs all that stuff, anyway?—there was one thing that tripped me up this holiday. Cookie guilt.

Every year I bake a variety of Christmas cookies, box them up, and give them out to family, friends, and neighbors. It’s one tradition I didn’t want to ditch this year, and am glad I didn’t as I finally hit upon the long-strived for secret to thin, crisp, perfect cookies (though that’s another story for another blog). However, during my cookie-baking bonanza, the eco-guilt began to creep up as the trashcan began to overflow.

Between the homemade English toffee and batches of oatmeal-craisin, chocolate chip, melting moments, chocolate wafers, and sugar cookies, I ended up discarding 15 cardboard boxes from butter and brown sugar (though luckily, my town finally began recycling cardboard in 2008), 40 wrappers from each stick of butter, 1 oatmeal canister, several plastic bags from the chocolate chips, craisins, almonds, walnuts, and brown sugar, 1 bottle from the vanilla extract, several eggshells and sheets of parchment paper . . . you get the picture. The guilt started to mount when I considered how much natural gas I was wasting with all that baking, and that the boxes the cookies got packed in and ribbons that tied them up negated the eco-friendly part of the giftless endeavor if my recipients aren’t as conscientious as me about recycling cardboard and re-using ribbon. Not to mention the reams of waxed paper I’d nestled the treats in that would surely get tossed.

I’m not sure what made me feel guiltier—the garbage I created or all the cookies I ended up eating (one must taste-test, after all). So while I feel good about keeping up the one tradition I know everyone enjoys, I may need to reconsider whether to continue the cookie extravaganza next year. Is the sweet-tooth bliss worth the global impact?

—Diana Murphy, editor in chief, canvas