Denied!

I've returned from Aurora, Illinois. It was fun, despite having to work and not really getting to see the sights. I honestly didn't have many expectations about seeing all the landmarks shown in the movie, for a few reasons:

1) Stan Mikita's Donuts doesn't exist. And the large statue of the hockey player is standing on Richard Dean Anderson's driveway. (Strange coincidence: in terms of the REAL donut shop Tim Horton's, one thing I learned during my trip is that there's a franchise in Toledo, Ohio! Excellent!)

2) The big spike that's impaling the cars (a.k.a. the "Spindle") is actually in Berwyn IL. It's another suburb of Chicago, and I'm sure we passed through it at some point, but I also heard that the sculpture's been dismantled to make way for a Walgreens.

3) Most of "downtown Aurora" was filmed in Covina, California.

4) Gasworks doesn't exist in Aurora or in Toronto (anymore).

Not to mention the fact that we were mostly in Naperville, which is next to Aurora. It's a happenin' place...not!

Oh well, I still got to go to Chicago for a little bit, get wined and dined by the vendor reps, had a big hotel room all to myself, and didn't have to pay for anything. Except the tolls. The guys just didn't seem to have any change on them at any given moment.

"And the man at the back said 'Everyone attack' and it turned into a ballroom blitz"

My Small Part

I have to say, Live Earth was a good idea, and it totally kicked my ass into gear. I thought that I was perhaps average in terms of being environmentally conscious. I recycle everything that I can, I try not to waste anything, and I know that global warming is for real. There is hardly a single light bulb in my house that isn't compact fluorescent. Recently, I decided to offset the carbon emissions from my trip to Greece. I have friends and family who are far more eco-friendly than I, but I listen and learn from them.

Now, after experiencing 24 hours of environmentalism set to music, I realized that I either consciously or subconsciously took a few actions throughout the day to do my small part. I haven't turned the air conditioner on in the past two days, even though it was over 30°C today (actually, this little step showed me that my house is REALLY well insulated!). When I went to buy groceries this afternoon, I bought a reusable bag. I didn't really turn any lights on during the day. I turned my computer off this morning instead of leaving it on.

I know this all sounds like I'm jumping on the bandwagon or buying into the hype, but I do feel like I'm doing something worthwhile. I'm also kind of ashamed that it took a monumental rock concert to motivate me. But I suppose that was the whole point. And now I'll do one more thing in my new quest to save the world: I'll ask you to help.

As for the concerts, I learned a lot from them too. Sneaky Sound System is a very cool band.

"I'll send an SOS to the world"