Seriously, how could I resist not writing about Markham?

The GTA section of today's Toronto Star [Bugmenot] discussed the success of the new Green Bin program. I remember just two months ago, we were greeted by infamous suburban signage in public parks town-wide-- introducing us to the Mission Green initiative and the new bin that is hitting town. I was quite excited when we first received our Green Bin welcome pack-- which included the Green Bin, the mini green bin, and the hip instructional DVD-- which, by the way, is excellent.

Although it took time to get used to, my family has learned to accept this new process of sorting out "waste" in our home. I get this crazy giddy feeling every time I have an opportunity to put something in there, whether it is small things like nail clippings, to large things like watermelon skin.

My mother has definitely been the strongest advocate for ensuring that Green Bin items go into the Green Bin-- not primarily because she's pro-environment, but because she just loathes having garbage sit at home for two full weeks.

Since the start of the Green Bin initiative, the Town changed its collection schedule to have Blue Box and Green Bin items collected weekly, while the remaining waste (now known as residue) will be collected bi-weekly. This I think has made the community think twice before they throw anything, especially as it has been so hot and humid the past few weeks. Councillor Jack Heath had this appropriate quote:

We call it a little bit of tough love... If you want to hold on to the yucky stuff for two weeks, you can, or you can put out your green bin once a week.

According to the Star, 66% of Markham's garbage is being diverted away from Michigan landfill sites. From my personal household observation, however, the proportion doesn't seem that high. Though I do notice that we continue to only have one garbage can full of residue, albeit more full, with the new bi-weekly residue collection arrangement.

I recently had a conversation about Green Bins, and we brought up a few noteworthy points:

• Organics are being diverted at the small expense of additional bin liners. The Town requires that we keep our large and mini-Green Bins clean by lining them with plastic bags. I'm unsure whether the bags are later recycled.


• How are plastic bags removed from the organics? See Page Two


• How do we encourage people living in flats to support Mission Green? (Not that there's many highrises in Markham.) From my personal experience living in rez, my roommates are sometimes too lazy to bring the items down to the ground level.

In addition to the Green Bin, the Mission Green program introduced new materials that are accepted in the Blue Box, including paint and aerosol cans, and all Plastics 1 thru 7. Sadly for take-out kings like our family, polystyrene is still not accepted, and must be taken to recycling depots.

Although you shouldn't notice anything seemingly different on the website, but for the past week, I undertook a fun project to make my site valid XHTML 1.1 and valid CSS with a little guidance from the World Wide Web Consortium and its XML parser.

I totally miss debugging. As frustrating as it is at times, I have always enjoyed the satisfaction of resolving programming problems. I totally remember those fun days of Turing and Visual Basic in Grade Eleven and OAC Computer Science. I also remember back in Grade Nine when I got so excited about making webpages and spend hours on end staring at the screen.

I guess nothing's changed.

Sometimes I wonder why my life would be like if I was in CS. I'd make a good errr Computer Scientist. Minus algebra. Minus calculus. Essentially, all math. Except maybe stats, but that's still pushing it.

Better stick with Planning.

The Blue Man Group was astounding, and it was just an amazing production. Thanks Bowie for a fantastic birthday treat.

The Blue Man Group is a clan of three individuals perceived as extraterrestrial beings that landed on our planet to manipulate everyday things we possess, and perform captivatingly bizarre things with them. Although each Blue Man depicts its distinctive personalities, they each come together in harmony to perform mesmerizing acts with utmost synchronicity-- acts that fully intrigue your sight, your hearing, and your touch.

Just like how wearing frosh T-shirts eliminate the distinctiveness of each individual, and unites everyone as a cohesive group, the Blue Man Group encouraged each audience member to tie a strip of streamers around your head upon entering the theatre-- similar to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles headband get-up-- and fuse together with the other audience members; this process is almost parallel to the common unified "Blue" look of the trio.

What made this theatre production remarkable is its acknowledgement of the audience, there were countless moments of audience members getting on stage and performing with the trio in blue. What's more, they managed to get the entire audience involved in part of their act with hilarious chants and easy-to-do coordinated group movements. I've yet to see such an interactive theatre production.

What also made it special was that the play was executed almost like an anti-Broadway production. There was no verbal dialogue between the three men, there was no loud singing voices, there was no graceful dancing; just lots of easy listening pop-rock, heart pumping percussion tempos, captivating splash of art, and just pure laughter.

I cannot articulate enough how effective the show managed to bring together the crowd and united us as one group.

If you're the type to fall asleep in musicals, I definitely suggest you to tag a friend or a date and see this show. It is by far the most entertaining production I've seen, and it is without a doubt a great spectacle of abstract art, sensational sounds, and humourous communicative expressions. It presented an added sense of touch that you don't normally experience in a traditional theatrical production.

Seeing this show has definitely shed new light on me about Twinkies, Captain Crunch, plumbing tubes, streamers, rock-n-roll, and edible paint.

PS: Just remember to bring your glasses to the performance, because sadly I have to inform you that there some reading involved in the show.

I've been feeling rather uninspired to write anything lately, however, I thought I'd at least write a small entry, just so let all you know that I'm still alive.

Tonight, my co-workers-- Angela and David-- along with good old Paolo hit the Cumberland to go see March of the Penguins.

March of the Penguins is a French originated docu-movie about the life of Penguins, told in the English adaptation by Morgan Freeman. The movie is quite intriguing in that it was portrayed as a "love story." It goes through the many life stages of penguins, from finding a mate, and taking care of their young.

What really amazes me is the stark similarities in the behaviour and the obvious signs of emotions expressed between penguins and humans. Not only are penguins extremely cute, but I truly commend their struggle for survival in the arid, and harsh conditions of Antarctica.

This movie is amazing and is definitely one of a kind. Funnily enough, it is almost like a chick flick with Penguin stars. There are indeed teary moments in the film, which I just find so enchanting.

I totally suggest everyone to go see it.

It was definitely a pleasure to see Coldplay live.

After my exhaustive long weekend in Montreal and a demanding day at work, I was seriously in no frame of mind to be attending a concert. I was just feeling somewhat uninterested and just want to curl up at home and go to bed for the evening.

However, of course, I went nonetheless, and Coldplay definitely put on a pretty great show.

Let's start with the opening act, which I later discovered at work to be a band by the name of Rilo Kiley (courtesy of my co-worker David) Blue Mountain. It was by far the worst live performance I had to witness. The band was completely incoherent; to the point that we didn't even manage to get the band's name. During the introductions, the four of us managed to hear, "We're [mumble]......" and that was pretty much all I heard from them when they spoke.

I suspect they're either drunk or high, because I really don't see any reason for such garbage. The music was barely tolerable and the crowd was simply not grooving it-- as we witnessed the large portion of the crowd tuning out, looking elsewhere, and chatted with their friends. They simply didn't attempt to have a feel for the crowd, and their lethargic ambiance totally became contagious.

Coldplay finally got on stage at around 9:15, and they totally rocked the house. After watching many performances on the tube, I've always wanted to experience that raw energy that the band seems to amplify in its music and presentation-- they definitely delivered without disappointment.

They managed to play a variety of hits from all three albums-- with a slight favouritism towards X&Y (obviously), but I wanted to steer particular attention to their performance of The Scientist. It was just amazing-- their ability to feel the music and allow the crowd to join in and sense the way that the band felt for the song.

At the end of the song, he interacted with the audience through what I call an interpretive hum-a-long, where the audience followed along to Chris' free interpretation of tune. It is difficult to explain, but I am astonished how they managed to create that kind of intimate atmosphere in a large and somewhat detached venue such as the Air Canada Centre.

There is something about Chris Martin that strikes me when he's performing. He presents a feeling that he gives it his all-- his passion and spirit-- into his dance and song that is almost radiating.

It was definitely a feel-good concert-- a concert that you leave feeling joyful, carefree, and just wanting to spread my arms and fly. Eugene says that my urge to fly is attributed to the weed that's obviously going around, however, I disagree.

Their humble and warm presence is incredible, and it really causes people to respond, unite and have a good time.

I simply just left the concert feeling wonderful. Performance therapy is what I call it.

PS: All my pictures turned out like shit. I kind of expected it, so as a result of my anger, I will not be posting them.