One hand tied behind my back.....

Some of you may be wondering, "Is Judy ever going to post anything ever again on her blog?"

I thought I should explain.....

Note condition of left hand:

My left hand and wrist with cast

As you can see, the cast extends to the tips of my fingers, only leaving my thumb free to mock me. At this point, the hand is only good for hitchhiking....

Typing is a laborious exercise that I have to carefully consider before beginning to write something as I type with only one hand and it is so very frustrating.

I know that I should be thankful that it isn't worse and I respect those individuals who are dealing with so much more. I am thankful.

I know many are wondering, "where did she hurt herself?"  (Roller Derby practice), "how did she hurt herself?" (I fell down).

My new Roller Derby skates

 I fractured two fingers (at the joint where the finger meets the hand). One apparently "shattered" (gotta love the Doctors who "paint" with words).

So now you are thinking...."wow! Judy is pretty cool! She does Roller Derby!"

and you would be right....I AM cool

but....

I should clarify about the falling down part.

I didn"t have skates on at the time (insert sad face emoticon here).

Go ahead.....I know you want to laugh.

Judy

"Walking the Talk" (Guest Blog)

"Walking the Talk" - how one green event pro went from teacher of sustainability to student

By Guest Blogger – Stacey Winkelmann, Absolutely Events

Sometimes you find yourself doing things you just don’t ordinarily do in your everyday life – one of those is writing a little article for a blog.  However, when I was extolling my tale on social media, my good friend Judy said “why don’t you write about it and I’ll post it as a guest blogger on my blog?”  But, I digress…

The other thing - and the point to this article, that I didn’t ordinarily do in my everyday life is really watch the amount of water I used at home.  Certainly in my business, whenever I would consult with or plan events for clients; we would always propose the most sustainable water choices in bulk versus bottled and maybe even include a community give back where a water resource might be involved where possible.  Although at home, while we have changed our shower heads to low flow and reduced toilet tank water levels, shut off water while brushing teeth, do laundry at full loads, we really don’t have any idea of how much we use or waste.

Well, the other day I was FORCED to use as little water as possible for two days.  You see, a water main down the street had broken and there we were…  camping in our own house!  I was thankful for the grocery store that stocked the 2.5 gallon water jugs.  This was our water source for cooking, cleaning, etc., for who knew how long?  Spit baths, brushing teeth from a cup, one pot cook meals, one pot clean-up too and all those other things that you normally take for granted at home every time you lift that faucet handle and water comes rushing out and down the drain for your modern convenience.  Aren’t we lucky!  Yes we are indeed, however, this experience has reminded me to be more cognizant of our earths resources not just in our 8-5 workday lives at events, but in our whole lives.

I’m fortunate too that I belong to an organization called GMIC (Green Meetings Industry Council).  I’m part of the Northern California Chapter.  The Global organization supports the One Drop Foundation.  I’m proud to say as of our Board meeting last Saturday, it was unanimously voted that our Chapter would also charitably support One Drop.  If you are interested in finding out more information on our precious water resources or if you can help, please visit the One Drop Foundation website.

As Fast As I Can

Something very strange happened last week. It wasn’t UFO strange, meteor falling through the sky strange, animal with two heads strange….but nonetheless it was strange and of course….I took the opportunity to stretch it into a metaphor for life.

Grab your coffee, recline your chair and sit back….this is a long one.

I was driving down the highway, my husband in the passenger seat, the speed limit marked as 100km per hour. My 2003 Chevy Impala loves to go fast and after all these years, we know each other so very well. I set the cruise control at 100km per hour and head for home. It was dark out, there wasn’t a lot of traffic on the highway and I was scanning the ditches for animals (deer seem to love to jump out at the last moment).

About 5 minutes into the trip…..

Glancing down at my gauges, I notice that my speed has decreased to 80 (which was strange when you are cruise control) and so I responded by depressing the gas pedal a little further, using a little more force.

Picture the following thought bubble here: That’s strange……I feel like I am going faster, but my speedometer is now reading 60km per hour.

What the hell is happening? Am I suffering some kind of stroke? Have I been thrust into an alternate time and space? Did my friends put something in my coffee?

My sensory system is telling me that I am traveling 100km per hour (or more at this point), but my eyes are seeing 60km on the speedometer and transmitting that information to my brain.

We are clearly experiencing a malfunction at the junction…but which junction? My mind is racing with the possibilities, not least of all that I am losing my mind. Am I about to be sucked into a black hole? 

The speedometer is dropping further now and I depress the gas pedal in response. The gauges do not respond. We are now whizzing down the highway, the tree-line zooming past and my brain once again tries to rationalize the situation.

I FEEL like I am going faster and faster, but my speedometer is saying that I am going slower and slower.

Glancing over at my husband, I am looking for any sign that something is really and truly wrong with me.

“How fast do you think we are going?” I say in a panicked voice.

“Pretty fast!” he responds (checking his seatbelt)

“My speedometer is saying that I am only going 40km per hour!!! What is going on?” I say…in a very concerned tone.

“I think it must be broken because you are obviously going very, very, verrrrry fast and you should perhaps SLOW down!” he exclaims, bringing his seatback into the upright position.

Can this be true? Can your speedometer just die like that?

I take my foot off the gas pedal and the car begins to slow. Coincidentally, the speedometer now begins a steady freefall, bouncing along until it finally rests at zero.

The speedometer has clearly crapped out on my 2003 Impala.

A part of me is still questioning. It is like when someone tells you it is raining and it clearly is not raining. A part of you wants to believe that it actually is raining…to trust in what the person says…..why would they lie? We have been programmed to trust.

We have been programmed to trust that darn speedometer.

My first instinct was to question myself. My first instinct was to trust a machine over my own sense of reality.

What does that say about me?

This isn’t the first time that my trust has been misplaced…misguided.

Is it my upbringing? The generation I belong to?

Thank goodness I wasn’t flying an aircraft or performing surgery.

Over the past couple of days I have come to the following conclusion:

·   When all else fails (and sometimes it does), you have to rely on yourself, your instincts.

·   Learn that it is okay to question.

·   NOTHING is infallible…..everything and everyone can make a mistake.

·   Trust in yourself

Judy

Get Your Green On Team wins at IMEX Frankfurt!

From left: Judy Kucharuk,
Trevor Roald, Shawna McKinley

I am so proud to have been a part of the Get Your Green On Development Team. 


Co-development and co-creation of the GYGO Game for Event Camp Vancouver was one of the most professionally and personally rewarding experiences in my career. 


I was proud to stand on the stage with Shawna McKinley, MeetGreen and Trevor Roald, Quickmobile to accept the IMEX-GMIC Commitment to Community Award during the Gala Dinner, May 23rd, 2012 in Frankfurt, Germany.


What was Get Your Green On? You can download a post project report here


Judy

Fizzy Water & the Triple Kiss

Standing atop the Frankfurt Main Tower,
Frankfurt, Germany May -2012

“Madam, would you care for water?” asks the waiter with a heavy German accent.

“Yes, please” I reply (the humidity is taking my breath away and my 12 hour deodorant is calling for a generator back up).

“Fizzy or Flat?” he asks politely

“Tap? With ice?” I respond (teetering precariously on my sustainable soapbox that I have brought with me from Canada)

The waiter returns with a teeny, tiny glass (the kind in which restaurants serve freshly squeezed orange juice) and a glass bottle of water. He uncaps the lid and pours me about 2 oz of water (1/2 of the teeny, tiny glass), sets the bottle down with the flourish of someone serving the finest Pinot Noir and slips away.

At this point a droplet of sweat has escaped my neckline and is now trickling down my back. Eyeing the bottle piously (I had requested tap water) I consider calling the waiter back, but hey…..the bottle is already opened! (I lose my footing on    the sustainability soapbox and fall off)

Grasping the glass with both hands I drink, gulping….heavens to Betsy it tastes good!

14 miniature glasses of bottled flat water later, my internal fluid levels have returned to normal. By my mathematical calculations, I have taken in more fluid than is leaking out and my brain function is now fully functional.

I begin to reflect.

Here I was….miles from home, sitting in an open air restaurant in Frankfurt, Germany with a group of friends and work colleagues.

My first transatlantic crossing evah! To be fair….they say we flew over the polar ice cap, but hey….it’s my story and transatlantic sounds much more glamorous.

The trip had not been without it’s {cough} issues. The first bump in the proverbial road (or is it the first proverbial bump in the road....which one?) came in Calgary as we all sat waiting to board the aircraft.

“Attention Ladies and Gentlemen” crackled the loudspeaker “We regret to inform you that we are having some difficulties with the in-flight entertainment system. Our engineers are working on it, but we may have to depart without it fully functional. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may  cause. If you would like to purchase a magazine or other reading material, there is time to do so before we board the aircraft”.

Then they repeated it in French.

We (all of us sitting in the boarding area heard it as) “Yo Passengers! The TV is super broken on the plane, and no….no one is actually working on it cuz it’s real broke, like blue screen of death broke. We have tried control+alt+delete, but it didn’t work so we will be flying 9.5 hours without it. Yep! No movies, no music, no television programs…..nada, nil, nothing. You will be really bored, and honestly…. you will have that single magazine read before we begin our in-flight food service, so perhaps save your money and use it to purchase more booze. Yeah….we know it sucks”.

Sigh…….

Which brings me to this moment, sitting in the restaurant, trying to look like I belong when I so clearly do not. The jaunty blue scarf, tied at my neck that looked so European that morning, now appeared wilted and damp; high heels had been abandoned for flip flops; my makeup a distant memory in the high humidity. 

We get up to leave.

“So nice to see you again Judy” states G, a friend from Barcelona and he leans in for “the kisses”. (Insert haunting strains of banjo music here as I begin to completely over-think the situation)

1. Will we start on the right or the left cheek?
2. Who initiates? (always have trouble with that one)
3. Do you hang on for the kiss? Do you embrace or is it more like one of those little ‘chickens that pick up the toothpick situation’ – do you both “bob in” for the kiss, arms at your side?
4. Would it be two kisses or (as I had seen recently) the kiss “trifecta”?
5. Will I fumble? If he does go for the third kiss and I am not prepared, it can change from an elegant goodbye to something more akin to a bad first date.

I lean in and we kiss right cheeks (so far so good), pulling back slightly we go to the left (almost done) and then pulling away….I hesitate ever so slightly in preparation for the rogue third kiss. Wait for it…wait for it….no! It was not to be. G is a traditionalist and a double kiss kind of fellow. My hesitation went unnoticed (thank goodness).

Whew! I glance around. My friends were laughing and smiling and for once it wasn’t about me. I was fitting in!

Over the next couple of days I mastered the double and triple kiss and by the time I arrived home safely in Canada I felt so damn European!

The next time we meet….I just might lean in for a kiss!

Maybe even attempt a quad!

Judy