Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Dec 4, 2009, 7:00 am
I seem to have a thing for travel mugs. I’ve had my favourites over the years, but the most amazing coffee mug I have owned thus far has to be this beauty from Contigo. I drink my coffee pretty...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Dec 1, 2009, 7:00 am
The Kootenay Grain Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Project  is one of the greatest Kootenay-created initiatives for food and sustainability. This year’s harvest was great for some crops a...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Nov 30, 2009, 7:00 am
On Saturday night I curled, that’s a who ‘nother story that I might share some time, how an Aussie ends up in a competition to through a 44 pound hunk of granite down a bumpy sheet of ice ...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Nov 28, 2009, 6:14 pm
This post was written by Mike Thomas for UrbanWorkbench.com © 2009. Originally posted as Weekend Poll Tweet This!Share this on del.icio.usShare this on FacebookDigg this!Subscribe to the comments f...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Nov 27, 2009, 7:00 am
“Every decision made in any level of government should aim to reduce the use of fossil fuels and energy in general, rather than increase them”. Would it even be possible to implement and ...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Nov 26, 2009, 7:00 am
Image by Sucker Punch ! via Flickr Identify the variables that pose the greatest risk of failure for the project and develop contingency plans for them. Sometimes the best option is to remove the va...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Nov 23, 2009, 7:00 am
Image via Wikipedia As far as urban farming goes, we’ve got it pretty easy – A large suburban lot, clean soil. Sure, we’ve got our challenges – City Bylaws that prohibit chick...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Nov 20, 2009, 7:00 am
People used to walk for pleasure, now they walk because it is too expensive to drive anywhere that you could reasonably walk. We’d all hoped that public transit buses would be able to keep up wi...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Nov 19, 2009, 7:00 am
I know enough of what we don’t for sure know is going on to know that it is probably going on. Just because someone sells it, gives it away or permits it to be sold doesn’t mean that it...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Nov 18, 2009, 7:00 am
The media madness and hype has whirled around the topics of peak oil and peak energy – there have been the deniers, and apparently any argument that goes against the mainstream business as usual...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Nov 16, 2009, 12:34 pm
There is a rainfall warning on for today with 40-50mm of rain forecast in the next 24 hours. There is a modest amount of snow on the ground here in Castlegar, more up in Rossland, so there would be so...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Nov 13, 2009, 7:00 am
Tempers flared as residents demanded the fuel that they know was non-existent. The previously daily routine of delivery trucks rolling into town had become an erratic affair, best described as disap...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Nov 11, 2009, 7:00 am
Where I grew up, water meters were a fact of life. I remember sitting under the Liquidambar tree in the front yard playing in the dirt listening to the tick-tick-tick of the water meter down by the f...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Nov 5, 2009, 7:00 am
Public spaces should be respected and kept clean for the enjoyment of all; and around here, there is a group of people who are not all pulling their weight – Dog Owners. Now, I’ve got ani...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Nov 4, 2009, 7:00 am
... good? Share it on StumbleUponShare this on FriendFeedSubmit this to Twittley Technorati Tags: Articles and Commentaries, Building Types, Business, environment, Green building, Growth and Sprawl,...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Nov 2, 2009, 7:00 am
With the first frost comes the need to harvest most vegetables. Our cold room is stacked with fruit and vegetables chilling out till it’s time to be eaten. Some vegetables can be overwintered in...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Oct 29, 2009, 3:58 pm
Image by urbanworkbench via Flickr As the snow falls outside and most of the leaves have fallen, I’m reminded of all the things that were not accomplished on the to-do list. Despite this, we ha...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Oct 25, 2009, 8:38 pm
This weekend I took my sister for a walk along the lovely Waldie Island Trail on the Brilliant side of the Columbia River in Castlegar. This time of year, the colours are stunning along the trail if y...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Oct 20, 2009, 2:32 pm
Many municipalities have small engineering or public works departments that are not staffed by engineers or other professionals who might be able to write up a construction consultancy contract. Even ...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Oct 16, 2009, 8:00 am
Image via Wikipedia Fall – This time of year and this weather makes me feel restless. Writing becomes harder, it’s as though my philosophy becomes cloudy – as the rain falls and sno...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Oct 15, 2009, 1:00 pm
Image by {I br?ke for bokeh} via Flickr If you’d seen my desk lately, you’d understand how I feel about organization – I need it, but it doesn’t come easy. I’ve written ...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Oct 15, 2009, 8:00 am
Will someone please sort out the facts from the BS. If climate change is occurring – whether warming or cooling, it is not an issues reserved for international politicians to discuss, the media ...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Oct 13, 2009, 8:00 am
We love composting. In fact, we’ve got a worm bin in the kitchen as well as two composting bins right down the back. I built these pallet composting bays to formalize the work of the previous ow...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Oct 9, 2009, 9:33 am
So Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize for this year. Considering what he has replaced, he does look like a ray of hope, but it is all a little premature, isn’t it? The poll on the Guardian Website...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Oct 8, 2009, 8:00 am
Image via Wikipedia It is really convenient as a society to assume that no action is required on the part of individuals to change their habits outside of market driven forces, but the economy (and a...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Oct 7, 2009, 8:38 am
Image via Wikipedia Fifty years ago, you could be forgiven for thinking that this generation would be living in outer space, in bubble shaped colonies, transported by hyperdrive-powered futuristic sp...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Oct 5, 2009, 8:00 am
Image by Kassel via Flickr There’s snow on the mountains, about a foot or so on Kootenay Pass I hear, this feels early, but maybe I’m just not quite ready for the onslaught. We are in the...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Oct 1, 2009, 8:00 am
Image via Wikipedia Flipping through the British Columbia Agriculture Plan, which is a beautifully presented document by the way, I was struck by one paragraph and how little has been achieved on thi...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 29, 2009, 8:00 am
Regular readers will know that here at UrbanWorkbench, we’ve dabbled in all sorts of crops that are not regularly associated with the Kootenays. Last year it was wheat, oats and amaranth, this y...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 28, 2009, 8:00 am
On Friday the City of Castlegar changed tack on the Sustainability Process as a result of concerns from community participants. This is a letter I sent as input into why things needed to be changed. T...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 25, 2009, 8:00 am
This year we won the Pass Creek Fall Fair competition for the largest sunflower head. The specimen I cut from our garden just before last weekend’s festivities measured a whopping 18 inches acro...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 24, 2009, 8:00 am
Image via Wikipedia In a recent blog post, I used the phrase, “It is gentrified patriarchal resistance that prevents local resilience”. I was challenged that this was possibly the use of ...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 23, 2009, 8:00 am
The City of Castlegar recently went through a re-branding exercise. This was undertaken by a steering committee, who ended up with a couple of layouts and tag lines for the logo. The City ended up cho...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 22, 2009, 8:00 am
Twitter is an effective outlet for my stream of conscious, it sits there asking, “what’s new”, some posts get cross posted to Facebook, but almost none of them make it to UrbanWorkbe...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 19, 2009, 6:00 pm
It was a damp cool morning as we walked into the Pass Creek Fall Fair grounds when Robyn lent over to me and said, “We live here”. I know what she means by that; while not the biggest fall...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 18, 2009, 8:00 am
... the bread, washing the vegetables. Compared with the life I lead at work and on-line, the simple tasks of homesteading are a much needed break in routine. Looking at the weather ahead and the c...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 17, 2009, 9:03 am
Greenpeace has finished their blockade demonstration at Shell’s Muskeg River oilsands mine north of Fort McMurray in the Tar Sands (Oil Sands) of Alberta, but not without raising international conce...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 15, 2009, 8:00 am
The media reporting on the state of the TSX is pitiful. Daily we hear either that it is rallying, or that some commodity or other is to blame for a slump. And every day, the pundits are able to tell a...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 14, 2009, 8:00 am
So far, our urban farming harvest has been beautiful. I think these are some of the prettiest things I’ve seen coming out of our garden. Totally organic and hand grown, these are magnificent gif...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 11, 2009, 8:00 am
City streets have been hijacked by fast cars and trucks, as though these vehicles and their speeds were the only reason the roads were created in the first place. It is interesting to note that the ro...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 10, 2009, 8:00 am
View Timmy’s Run in a larger map Driving down Columbia Avenue in Castlegar, one cannot help but wonder if the Traffic Light Gods are conspiring against them. This morning driving from South to ...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 9, 2009, 8:00 am
Earlier this year, I suggested that the City of Castlegar look into changing the zoning bylaw, which prohibits the growing of crops in residential areas. The feedback I got from a number of people was...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 8, 2009, 8:00 am
The automobile is king in this town, I was reminded of this, as, for the second time in a month a local paper features a large spread about the local car dealers. This time it refers to the opening of...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 4, 2009, 2:00 pm
or… “why I love the stripped-down, bite-sized chunks that Twitter can serve up” Richard Florida Tweets About Unemployment You either love it or you hate it. A series of Tweets lik...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 4, 2009, 8:00 am
Life is complicated, sometimes we just need to break down all of the information that bombards us, as well as our tasks, chores, and all those nagging thoughts of what we need to improve. This is my l...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Sep 2, 2009, 8:00 am
This week we’ve been inundated with Crabapples and Apples. The sweet cloying smell of these tiny fruits ripening in the kitchen kept the yellow jackets and fruit flies bumping against the window...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Aug 31, 2009, 8:00 am
Hachette Publishing in Canada were kind enough to send me a copy of Christopher Steiner’s “$20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Be...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Aug 28, 2009, 2:04 pm
My desk is a mess. My mind is overloaded. There are so many things “on the go” at once. I’ve been dividing tasks and projects into the quadrants of relative Urgency and Importance. ...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Aug 26, 2009, 8:00 am
... America. The device was manufactured by Voith Hydro and shipped from Brazil on June 17. It has travelled on an ocean barge to the U ... what our customers are saying about their Thesis experien...
Comment - Like

Mike T. posted an article on Urban Workbench - Aug 25, 2009, 8:00 am
Image by Balakov via Flickr I hate having lots of passwords and have found a couple of easy ways to minimize those required for logging into sites. About a year ago I was invited to access the featur...
Comment - Like