Friday, August 18, 2006

A Clean Computer Is A Happy Computer

"Is your computer annoyingly slow?

Got stuff popping up on your screen all the time?

Well I can help you solve that problem in 20 minutes."

With over 10 years experience......now serving Abbotsford and surrounding area

CALL Jim 604-302-9971

Thursday, August 17, 2006

My Online Yard Sale

I have items to sell and will be posting them at my yard sale online. If you are interested in anything please e-mail me at abbysales@gmail.com

or call 604-302-9971

Check out the items here http://jimsonlineyardsale.blogspot.com/

Monday, August 14, 2006

Clearbrook Brewing Company



Clearbrook Brewing Company

Clearbrook Brewing is a brew on-premise operation offering its customers a state-of-the-art facility to assist them in producing beers, wines, coolers and ciders for personal consumption. Commencing in January 1993, Clearbrook Brewing has grown and now occupies a 5000 sq ft facility at Unit #2 2043 Abbotsford Way, (click here to view map). Our aim is to provide quality ingredients, friendly staff, good advice and assistance, along with production equipment to ensure a commercial-quality finished product you can serve with pride.

Clearbrook Brewing operates under provincial U-brew license 201726 and as such we are compliant with the British Columbia Liquor Controls Act. In a nutshell, you, the customer, must take an active part in starting the batch. We can oversee fermentation and filtration. You, the customer, must package (bottle or can) the batch and remove it from the U-Brew. Through this endeavor the customer must also sign a contract of bailment: i.e. sign that the batch is yours. Remember a U-Brew replicates what your would do at home, you just get to do it in a shop with equipment. Please don't ask for samples, trades, extra batches, or phone orders. We have a strong industry and wish to keep it that way.

Visit Their website here for more info

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Craigslist Vancouver

If you haven't experienced Craigslist Vancouver it is time to take a look.

Craigslist is a centralized network of online urban communities, featuring free classified advertisements (with jobs, housing, personals, for sale/barter/wanted, services, community, gigs and resumes categories) and forums sorted by various topics.

It was founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark for the San Francisco Bay area. After incorporation in 1999, Craigslist expanded into 9 more cities in 2000 (all in the US) four each in 2001 and 2002, and 14 in 2003. As of June 2006, Craigslist had established itself in approx. 310 cities all over the world.

The Vancouver site has many adverts from Abbotsford and area.

Visit Craigslist Vancouver and see what all the fuss is about.


"New Hemp Heart Product"
Visit Site For More Info
109-2669 Langdon Avenue
Abbotsford BC

Somethin' A Little Extra In Abbotsford

There’s Somethin’ Xtra in Abbotsford

Tucked back in a small little strip mall just off of South Fraser Way you will find a unique one of a kind bakery in the Fraser Valley called “Somethin Xtra.”

Owner, Rita Hemmerly, tells us that the reason they are so unique is that all of their products are “egg free and use NO ADDED SUGAR in any of their products,” which are perfect for those with type 2 diabetes.

The CANADIAN Diabetes Association Says:
To limit sugars and sweets like sugar, pops, desserts, candies, jam and honey because if you have Type 2 diabetes the more sugar you eat the higher your blood glucose will be.To Limit sugars and sweets like sugar, regular pop, desserts, candy, jam and honey.
Thankfully there is a store like “Somethin Xtra” that offers jams and other products with no extra sugar added.

NEW PRODUCT ALERT

“Somethin Xtra" has also added a new product called “Hemp Hearts” which is one of the most nutritionally complete food sources on the planet.

Some of the benefits of “Hemp Hearts” are

1) Increased Energy
2) Great For Weight Management
3) Reduces Food Cravings
4) Improves Digestion
5) Non-Allergenic
6) Problems With Constipation Reduced or Eliminated
7) Benefits Pregnant or Lactating Women
8) Promotes Cellular Development and Health

To read more on this product please visit http://www.storesonline.com/site/1609006/page/45029



UPCOMING FUNDRAISER

On August 26th from 10 am to 4 pm Somethin Xtra will be holding a fundraiser to benefit the School Lunchbox Program as well as the Local Food Bank. There will be live music and coffee as well as healthy food samples.

Please take the time to call Rita, who is very knowledgeable in her products at 604-850-1848
Or visit her at 109-2669 Langdon Avenue in Abbotsford.

Letter From James Breckenridge

This is a letter I received from Mr. James Breckenridge (homelessinabbotsford.com) regarding the state of the homeless after the closing of Compassion Park. It makes for an interesting read.

Hi Mr. JW heehee

Actually I have had air conditioning as my application for one of the Supported Independent Living Units was accepted so I am at the Salvation Army upstairs in their "PODs". Have access to my own computer but unfortunately not the internet. I work part time in the Emergency Shelter and while it is not something I would or could do as a career (in fact I have worked more hours than I should for health reasons) it is something that needs be done. I would very much like to find an interesting and challenging job - while I am on a positive roll.

They pretty much went back to chasing the homeless as soon as compassion park closed. The emergency shelter is full most nights and we are turning away a lot of people because of no room, about a dozen each night over the long weekend. As far as I know only two people from the Park have a place to live and that has more to do with people going out of their way than anything that was done "officially". As I have written I think the mayor et al thought it was going to be far easier than reality turned out to be. Actually you should read "need for follow - up" on the website as it addresses this point.

I have been plugging away networking, lobbying and whatever opportunity presents itself for trying to get things moving. Very frustrating as I find my sense of urgency to get moving tends to be much more immediate than that of the "homed" people one needs deal with on homeless issues. Still, it needs be done so I just need to remember the Serenity Prayer

Monday, August 07, 2006

Youthworks

Did you know that almost a third of Canada's homeless population are 16-24 year-olds?
That's about 65,000 young people without a place to call home.

It's a serious situation - one that needs to be addressed.

In January 2006, Raising the Roof launched Youthworks, a Canada-wide initiative aimed at breaking the cycle of homelessness among young people.

The logic behind Youthworks is that the best way to deal with homelessness is to solve it at the beginning, not treat it at the end.

Read more about this national effort to end youth homelessness.



Bans On Feeding Homeless.......

Please don't let this sort of thing happen here in Abbotsford.

Bans on Feeding Homeless Spread, Face Challenges
by Catherine Komp


Aug. 4 – Anti-poverty activists and civil rights advocates filed a lawsuit against the city of Las Vegas this week challenging an ordinance that makes it illegal to feed homeless people in public places.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada filed the suit Wednesday on behalf of activists with Food Not Bombs, a grassroots anti-poverty group that provides free, vegetarian meals in hundreds of city parks across the country. Plaintiffs claim the new law, passed July 19 , violates constitutional rights to free speech, free exercise of religion, free assembly, due process of law and equal protection under the law.

Las Vegas joins a growing number of cities passing laws and ordinances that target the homeless and their advocates. City councilors in Orlando, Florida also recently voted 5–2 in favor of a measure making it illegal to feed homeless people in public parks and other downtown areas.
The Orlando ordinance bans dispensing food to large groups within a two-mile radius of City Hall without a permit, and limits permits to “two per user per park in a 12 month period.” The ordinance states that feeding groups in public parks creates “hazards to the health and welfare of citizens, birds and animals, and is detrimental to the aesthetic atmosphere of parks.”

As previously reported by The NewStandard, a growing number of cities are passing laws and ordinances intended to push homeless people out of public places. In addition to anti-panhandling, anti-camping and anti-loitering ordinances, feeding programs in public parks are the latest targets. Homeless-rights advocate Michael Stoops described this trend as "a big battle in downtown American between the interests of low-income people and the interests of the business community."

Food Not Bombs has faced pressure in other cities, including Richmond, Virginia and Venice, California. Likewise, faith-based groups offering meals in parks have been pressured by city leaders and businesses to move their programs to less visible – and often less accessible – places.

The ACLU announced it may also bring a lawsuit against the city of Orlando on religious grounds. "The city is not going to be able to interfere with church groups and religious groups who are fulfilling their mission of feeding the homeless," Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida ACLU, told Reuters.

In a letter to Mayor Buddy Dyer outlining his dissent to the new law, Commissioner Robert Stuart said, “This ordinance appears to criminalize the good-hearted behavior of thousands in our community who have supported those that our city has either ignored or disregarded.”

© 2006 The NewStandard. All rights reserved. The NewStandard is a non-profit publisher that encourages noncommercial reproduction of its content. Reprints must prominently attribute the author and The NewStandard, hyperlink to http://newstandardnews.net (online) or display newstandardnews.net (print), and carry this notice. For more information or commercial reprint rights, please see the TNS reprint policy.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Please Sign Our Guestbook

Please take a few minutes to sign our guestbook and tell us where you are from, what brought you to our site and what you would like to see.

Your opinions are important to us.

The link is in the right side panel.

Thank You

Jim

Friday, August 04, 2006

Don't Forget The Abbotsford Airshow

Putting a Human Face On The Homeless Issue

By Robert Freeman Black PressJul 27 2006

Putting a human face on the homeless is likely the first step the Fraser Valley regional government will take in treating the problem, says Chilliwack Mayor Clint Hames.

But finding a cure to the growing number of homeless is going to take the elimination of the main causes like poverty, mental health and drug addiction, he says.

"We need to create a face for homelessness," he says. "We need to understand who these folks are."

Hames and Hope Mayor Wilfried Vicktor, a leading voice for a regional approach to homelessness, travelled to Calgary this week to see how that city deals with the problem.
Despite Alberta's economic health, there's an estimated 4,500 homeless who literally line up every night at Calgary's two shelters - and the numbers are reportedly increasing.
"They have the hottest economy, the most jobs, what the hell is going on?" Hames says.
Officials at the Calgary Urban Projects Society (CUPS) were unavailable for comment.
The society, funded mostly by the Alberta government, operates shelters and a health centre where the homeless can get medical, dental and even chiropractic services.

But Hames suggests that housing is not all the homeless need - that they need to feel they are a part of a community.

"I think homeless people are the new lepers of our society," he says.

People with mental and physical disabilities were once shunned like lepers, he points out, and placed in jail-like institutions where they became an "isolated" and "devalued" segment of society.
"We've created this new leper and our response appears to be - find shelters for these folks ... "but it's not enough to say they need to be sheltered away," he says. "Society has an obligation to give them societal roles."

"We've created an image in peoples' minds that these folks are much different than the rest of us," he adds. "We need to break down the barriers we've created between them and us."
The mayor believes homelessness is "entirely preventable" and that "knowing who these folks are is going to give us a much better clue as to how to get there."

"I think what you'll see us do (at the Fraser Valley Regional District) is try to put a face to the people who are labelled homeless," he says.

Right To Sleep Protester continues Hunger Strike

Right-to-sleep protester continues hunger strike

CanWest News Service; Victoria Times Colonist

Friday, August 04, 2006


VICTORIA - A Victoria homeless man who has been repeatedly arrested and jailed since 2003 for sleeping in public places has taken his fight to the next level.

David Johnston, Victoria's right-to-sleep protester, has been on a hunger strike at the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Institution for 31 days.

His battle, which sparked the establishment of tent cities in the city last fall by other homeless people, has frustrated courts to the point where Johnston is now serving two consecutive sentences of 120 and 90 days.

Johnston has gone on a hunger strike every time he's been jailed. This most recent sentence, however, is putting his life in danger, and authorities are powerless to stop him from starving to death.

The homeless man has signed an order which prevents prison or medical officials from force feeding him or hooking him up to an intravenous drip if he passes out an event he believes will happen in six to 10 days.

B.C. Corrections officials would not comment on Johnston's case, but confirmed that if an inmate goes on a hunger strike, prison staff can't force the inmate to eat.

''I feel like an old man,'' said Johnston, who has dropped from 170 pounds to 143. ''If someone punched me in the mouth right now, all my teeth would fall out. My gums have receded an inch.''

Johnston, who spends his day in solitary confinement where officials can keep close tabs on his declining health, said the reasons for his hunger strike are simple: he believes the Crown is corrupt and he thinks no one should eat in jail.

Victoria Times-Colonist