Told You So
I really didn't want to say it, but the universe has left me no choice. Here's to all of you who have mocked my phobia of driving under bridges and overpasses, citing the intelligence and experience of engineers.
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LAVAL, Que. (CP) - Huge slabs of concrete and several vehicles plunged onto a busy highway Saturday after an overpass collapsed, crushing at least two cars below and injuring six people.
At least two people were feared dead as firefighters and other rescue workers worked late into the night to break up the massive cement blocks that flattened the vehicles.
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Um, SCARY. Now will people finally listen to my concerns about that new bridge on Highway 59?
L
Friday Quiz
So a friend told me this quiz would be funny... And it was. Until I saw the 47% result for EATEN.
Anyway. Here's my official score:
Your death will be by gunshot, probably because you are some important person or whatever. Possibly a sniper, nice, quick, clean shot to the head.
Gunshot | | 87% | Bomb | | 60% | Posion | | 47% | Disease | | 47% | Eaten | | 47% | Accident | | 47% | Cut Throat | | 47% | Stabbed | | 40% | Natural Causes | | 33% | Suffocated | | 33% | Disappear | | 27% | Suicide | | 20% | Drowning | | 20% |
How Will You Die??
created with QuizFarm.com |
Lil Miss Planet Destroyer
Have two minutes free today? Try out this quiz (thanks, Craig!): http://www.myfootprint.org
My ecological footprint is 7.5 (compared to a global average of 8.8). This means that - if everyone lived like me - we'd need 4.2 planets.
Seeing we've only managed to figure out how to sustain life on one planet... that sucks. Kind of puts things in perspective a little bit.
L
Life is Beautiful
Remember me complaining about how there are so few gentlemen left in the world? I take it back. I take it all back. Turns out, there is one too many.
I ran into Winnipeg Square at lunchtime today to run a few errands and had a very odd encounter on my way back to the office. I was approaching the first set of doors, and I heard someone yelling behind me: "Stop! Wait up, honey!" I ignored the voice, until this short man in a suit hustled to catch up with me, touched my arm, and said, "That 'honey' was directed to you, my dear. I wanted you to wait so I could open the door for you."
Which he proceeded to do. Through two sets of doors, an elevator, and another two sets of doors. Thinking I was finally free of this professional-looking madman, I smiled and wished him and nice day before turning to walk down the sidewalk. But he was still there. And he informed me that he'd be walking on my left side, to protect me from traffic, like all men should do for all women. I had just finished explaining that I'd been taking care of myself for decades - and thus, I'd be fine without his help - when it happened. One of those perfect, Pythonesque moments... A car came flying out of a back lane - ON MY RIGHT - and nearly hit me.
BEAUTIFUL. You just can't plan comedy that good. I haven't laughed that hard since last week's episode of The Office.
Oh, except maybe when Jon Stewart asked the President of Pakistan where Osama is. http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-09-26-musharraf-daily-show_x.htm
L
Smile... It's Wednesday!
Get Outta Town
Anyone in need of a vacation? Yeah, I thought so :)
As a fundraiser for my Joints in Motion project for The Arthritis Society, I'm going to be selling tickets for Fort Whyte's Adventure Travel Raffle.
What are the prizes, you ask?
FIRST PRIZE
Hummingbird Highway Tour. Includes two return flights from Winnipeg to Belize City, Belize with 3 nights full facility camping accommodations (meals included) and 11 nights of two-star hotel accommodations. Tour includes: exploring Tikal, Guatemala, visiting Mayan ruins in the rainforest, guided canoeing of the Beliza and Macal rivers, and sun, sand, and snorkeling - plus $1,000 spending money. (Retail Value = $5,616)
OR
The Moorish Empire Tour. Includes two return flights from Winnipeg to Malaga, Spain with 8 nights of two-star hotel accommodations. Tour includes: relaxing on the beaches, taking part in water sports, whale watching, or visiting local castles and museums, plus explore Gibraltar, Cadiz, Seville, the Alcazar fortress, and Columbus' tomb - plus $1,000 spending money. (Retail Value = $5,673)
OR
$4,000 cash
SECOND PRIZE
Queen Charlotte Islands Tour. Includes two return flights from Winnipeg to Sandspit, BC via Vancouver with 4 nights accommodations. Tour includes: one-day car rental, full day excursion, and half-day forest tour - plus $500 spending money. (Retail Value = $2,845)
OR
Saucy Siren of the South Tour. Includes two return flights from Winnipeg to Savannah, Georgia via Chicago with 4 nights accommodations. Tour includes: riverboat cruise, ghost tour, horse-drawn carriage ride, and half-day plantation tour - plus $500 spending money. (Retail Value = $3,112)
OR
$2,000 cash
THIRD PRIZE
Churchill Tour. Includes two return flights from Winnipeg to Churchill, Manitoba. Spend a full day on a tundra buggy watching the polar bears - plus breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (Retail Value - $1,998)
OR
Hiking the Black Hills Tour. Includes two return flights from Winnipeg to Rapid City, South Dakota with 4 nights accommodations. Visit Mount Rushmore or hike the trails at Custer State Park and the Black Elk Wilderness Area for spectacular views of waterfalls and wildlife. (Retail Value = $1,739)
OR
$1,000 cash
Tickets are 1 for $5 or 3 for $10 and I'll be selling them until the first week of December. 50% of proceeds go to my fundraising project, and 50% go to Fort Whyte - so you're killing two birds with one stone, so to speak (hee hee).
It's a double good deed. A triple good deed, if you consider yourself a worthy cause :)
Contact me if you'd like to buy tickets, or if you'd like to volunteer to sell a book on my behalf.
L
The N-Word
There are lots of dirty words, but none so difficult for me to utter as the word NO.
I'm becoming increasingly aware that my life is very, very full. And I'll be brave enough to say it: it's too full. I'm making myself sick, running around and trying to fit everything in.
The problem is that all these things are good things. I love my job. I love my relationships. I love all the volunteer and church stuff that I'm involved in. But I realized months ago that it's time to start saying NO to some of these good things.
I practiced saying NO to a few small things, to warm up and get some practice before we got to any really big decisions. I told myself that the world was full of capable people (ha ha), and that it didn't always need to be me. Guess what happened. No one believed me. My NOs were totally rejected. I heard phrases like "but you'll do it anyway?" and "we need you to reconsider" and "can't do it without you, Lindsay." One person actually laughed.
And so here I sit, dead tired after a weekend spent making everyone around me happy, and dealing with yet another fibromyalgia flare-up. People who barely know me are commenting that I look sad. I'm not sad. I'm just tired.
When you're diagnosed with a disease like this, no one tells you about this part - about the psychological toll and how it will affect areas of your life that have absolutely nothing to do with mobility. I'm so blessed to have friends and family who rally around me on days like this. I know it will be better in the morning. Today's just a tough one.
This all makes it very ironic that I'm beginning my new round of fundraisers this month, to start raising money for Joints in Motion - happening November 2007 in Athens. I know that it doesn't make sense to other people, why I'd commit to such a huge fundraising and physical training process when I'm not healthy myself. But this is one project that actually invigorates me - it's a net gain on energy.
It's the thing in my life that makes me feel like I'm winning.
L
No, I would NOT like fries with that...
Once again, I've been distracted from my intended rant... I was all
worked up about something while I was getting ready for work this
morning, and by the time I got here, my deep frustration had been
displaced by newer news about - among other things - TiVo-proof
advertising, the whole idea of overthrowing your PM while he's out of
the country, and Rosie calling Oprah 'a tiny bit gay' on national
television.
So here was my original topic du jour: McDonalds has announced that
they'll be retrofitting some of their 'kitchens' in order to
accommodate serving all-day breakfast.
THIS IS A TERRIBLE IDEA, RONALD. Or whoever's stupid idea this was...
Come to think of it, my money's on Grimace.
Em and I were actually discussing this very thing last week, and we
decided that what makes the Sausage & Egg McMuffin / Hashbrowns / OJ
combo so amazing is the fact that you can only get it before 11 am.
Make it available all the time, and no one will care. It would be
like having your birthday every day, or Christmas.
First the end of the Two Cheeseburger Meal, now this? Come on. Is
nothing sacred to you people?!
L
Man vs Machine
Okay, so humans invented television. And television commercials. And then a machine to skip over television commercials. And now we're attempting to outsmart a machine designed to outsmart these 'intrusive' advertisements... Is that funny to anyone else?
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Fox is running a 30-second television spot with just one static image in an effort to reach viewers who fast-forward through ads using digital video recorders like TiVos. U.K. advertisements for Fox's new drama, "Brotherhood," which premieres in Britain in October, simply shows an image of Providence, R.I., where the show is set, and the program's logo. Viewers fast-forwarding through the ad would see the image for a few seconds; those watching it normally would hear dialogue from the show in the background.
Jon Hollett, a Fox International spokesman, said the company was experimenting with ways to get its messages to DVR users who routinely breeze through ads without antagonizing real-time viewers by broadcasting a flat, silent image for thirty seconds. "This is something that is going to have to be addressed one way or the other," he said. "Making sure that you can get to your viewers when they're fast forwarding ... is of crucial importance."
Television executives fear the new technology could make ad-supported free programming obsolete. In the United States, DVR users could dodge as much as $8 billion of the $74 billion in television ads shown this year, according to Jupiter Research, a technology consulting company.
Advertisers also have begun experimenting. Earlier this year, KFC Corp. promised coupons at its restaurants to viewers who could identify a secret code only visible when its commercials were replayed in slow motion. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C214847%2C00.html)
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Ever feel like people are getting TOO smart? We're just coming up with too many gadgets, and the poor advertising industry is scurrying to keep up. (Why is it that people are upset when the automotive industry cuts factory jobs, but no one ever feels sorry for advertising executives who lost their jobs? We have families to feed too! Well... We have manicures and shoes to purchase! We keep the economy in motion, dammit.)
Suddenly, someone's going to have this amazing idea that media and entertainment would be less intrusive if we could hear it but not see it... Brilliant! We'll call it... THE RADIO.
L
Adventures in Advertising
Photo shoot is complete. With a sickly plant kindly donated by Chuck's mom. Mine... well... the pictures speak for themselves, I think.
So for those of you keeping track at home, here's what I've accomplished at work recently (in addition to regular *real* work, of course):
- Purchased identical live and dead goldfish
- Learned how to hang (very ugly) wallpaper
- Touched a live goldfish
- Touched a dead goldfish through a plastic bag
- Learned that freezing plants just makes them wet and soggy
- Am now an expert on fishbowl castles and shipwrecks
- Learned that paint thinner kills plants but does not make them brown
- Learned that wallpaper won't stick with spray glue (you'd imagine that two kinds of glue would make the situation twice as sticky...)
Incidentally, all things I didn't learn in university.
Anyway. I'm off to ice some cupcakes, then band practice, then finishing up the YA newsletter and presentation for Sunday.
Have I mentioned that Geoff's coming home tomorrow? :)
L
Result of: Paint thinner, salt mixed into fertilizer (note clumps on top), three days of light deprivation, 24 hours in the freezer, then placed in front of a heater for a day.
Result of: Paint thinner, salt mixed into fertilizer, five days of light deprivation. And I talked meanly to it.
The Travel Commandments
Some highlights from DailyCandy's "do as we say, not as we did" Travel Commandments:
Don’t pay for luggage carts. Walk outside and grab one that someone left curbside.
Wear socks or be forced to walk through the metal detector barefoot.
Remember, Europe’s on the metric system so calories don’t count.
The time spent at a cultural event should be inversely proportional to the time spent at the cafe next door.
Tip well. If you’re American, tip even better.
You’re not a traveler if you can’t haggle; you’re a tourist. But you’re also not a traveler if you haggle for six hours; you’re a cheap bastard.
You are far more likely to get in an accident while driving a rented car. Get the insurance.
When in Rome, go topless. But when in Puerto Rico, wear a shirt. Trust us. (It’s illegal.)
A language barrier is not an obstacle; it’s an excuse to avoid small talk and gesticulate wildly.
Learn some local geography: Sweden and Norway are not “real close.”
You call it a romantic three-day weekend; the airlines call your Friday night departure a sitting duck. Keep a plan B at point A just in case a jauntily named storm comes between you and paradise.
If you order coffee in your hotel room, ask for it in a to-go cup. It’s a much bigger serving, especially if cappuccino or latte.
Buy your own water at the nearest convenience store. You’re a true sucker if you pay for the bottles in the room.
When disaster strikes — and it will — relax. Remember: It’s all part of the adventure and will make for a great story later.
The Saga Continues
T minus 24 hours til our photo shoot, and these plants are not dead. The scientist's emotions? A little exasperated, honestly. I've been nothing but cruel to these plants, and still they lack the common courtesy to curl up and die. The ungrateful bastards.
L
Not Quite Dead Yet
The stupid plants won't die. They look sick, but they most definitely do NOT look dead.
Kari-Ann and I have more than a few things in common. One of them is our need to be successful. Basically, if we think we won't win at something - or at least be very good at it - we generally won't bother signing up in the first place. I never would have guessed I'd be unsuccessful at killing a houseplant.
This morning, Kyle, Chuck, and I assessed the situation and made the call to leave one under the sink and put the other in our freezer. They both look more sick now than they did this morning. But still not dead.
So, here at the end of Day Four, the score stands: Plants - 2, Lindsay - 0.
L
Plant A, after four days under the sink
Plant B, after three days under the sink and 8.5 hours in the freezer
Killer
This afternoon, I embarked upon what is probably the single most ridiculous thing I have ever done for my job... I am on a mission to kill two houseplants by Wednesday. (For a photo shoot, not for fun. Though I'll admit, it is a little bit fun.)
I went to Walmart today (because I thought they'd have the unhealthiest plants) and then proceeded to pick the two that looked the sickliest. To my disappointment, they actually look pretty feisty. I brought them back to our office, where I proceeded to feed them paint thinner (it had a giant, cartoon-like poison symbol on the bottle). I'll put them in a dark closet for the weekend and see how they're doing on Monday. If they're not looking sick by then, it will be time to get experimental.
The suggestions I've received so far (feel free to submit your ideas!):
- Gasoline
- Alcohol
- Nail polish remover
- Diet Coke
- Subject it to verbal abuse
If I can't pull off this little project, it's going to be SO FUNNY. I kill plants accidentally all the time. Now let's see how I perform under pressure.
L
The Official 'BEFORE' Picture
Exhibit 1: Paint Thinner
UPDATE (5.18 pm) - Did some online research and found some articles that began with some varation on this sentence: 'No one sets out to deliberately kill a houseplant...' Joke's on them. These Martha wannabes would DIE if they know I was using their gardening tips for evil. Anyway. One such article suggested that plants don't like salt. So I poured some into their soil (and added just a dash of pepper, for artistic flair). They are now safely tucked away underneath the kitchen sink for the weekend.
Exhibit 2: Salt & Pepper
Exhibit 3: Light Deprivation
(note ironic proximity of Sunlight dish soap bottle :)
Humpday Smiles
In case anyone's bored at work today (an absolute joke for those of you who have the honour of working in advertising)...
Two sites that bring me endless amusement:
The Dilbert BlogDwight Schrute's Schrute SpaceHolla at Bethany for introducing me to the Dwight blog. Then holla at me for being the whitest white girl in North America and using the word 'holla.'
L
The Good Old Days
This Dilbert reminded me of my *massive* HR file from Loewen. Sigh. The good old days. Between low-cut tops, short skirts, and making coworkers cry, I pretty much kept those people in business. The HR department, that is. Not Loewen. Though I tried to keep them in business too :)
L
Under Attack
Aaron, Caitlin, Jessica, and Geoff were over on Sunday night to see Part One of Cait's (controversial) miniseries on ABC, 'The Path to 9/11.' I caught the last half-hour last night, and I'll need to borrow a copy to see the rest of it.
Honestly, I was really skeptical. But it was great (and not just because of Cait's connection to it, and our connection to Cait).
I know that it was a docudrama and not a documentary, so you take it with a grain of salt. But I really liked the approach: all the historical events and things that lead up to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. It was like the thinking man's 9/11 movie. We sometimes like to pretend that these 'bad guys' woke up on September 10 and were like 'we're going to do something BAD tomorrow.' But this had been building for so long, and there were so many warning signs. I don't blame people for not acting on them, not really. This was just one thing on their radar screen (pardon the pun), and how are you supposed to hypothesize which radical groups will suddenly escalate to something like this, and which will fade off again. I wouldn't want to do their jobs.
It's funny how David Cunningham (who directed the movie) is under attack because the media 'discovered' that he's a Christian. Um, must I really say it? SO WHAT. It's funny that people even care about that. Tomorrow, it will be all over the papers that he hates green peppers on his pizza. Or that he only drives domestic vehicles. Ooh, what a conspiracy! He must HATE the Japanese!
People have way too much time on their hands.
L
PS - Don't you love how we're all 'oh, it's CAITLIN's movie.' Like she was personally responsible for the entire thing :)
Faster Than a Speeding Bullet
My weekend report is late this week... My sincere apologies to those of you who live vicariously through my little Monday morning updates.
My weekend was pretty good. Went to a wedding on Friday evening. Ran around like a crazy person running errands, etc. on Saturday during the day.
Saturday night, Geoff and I went to see 'Superman Returns' at IMAX. Have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy a good (bad) superhero movie? And Superman is arguably the best of them all. He has all the cool powers, kind of whatever happens to suit the situation. Oh my! Lois needs superhuman speed to save her? Check. Now she needs someone to take a bullet? Check. Flying powers? Ridiculous strength? Fireproofness? Check. Check. Check. I especially love how Superman slips on a pair of glasses and throws some brown tweed over his spandex suit, and everyone's fooled into thinking he's regular old Clark Kent. It was one of those classically bad movies that was oh so good. Add in 3D glasses for a few scenes, and it's just way too fun for words.
Sunday morning I was singing, and our Sunday School class started our new book, 'The Naked Christian.' I started reading it and it's good. Really good. I'm looking forward to getting in-depth and having some really great discussions about some of it.
I was sick yesterday, so I worked from home. One of those morning where I woke up and absolutely everything hurt. I really, truly hate those days. On the bright side, at least being 90 won't really be a shock to me. Most definitely SLOWER than a speeding bullet.
In the evening, I dragged myself out of the house and we got our bridesmaid dresses ordered for Jessica's wedding. Feels really good to have that done! I think they'll look amazing. We also got to see Jessie's dress, and it's just as beautiful as I remembered it.
There ya go.
L
Friends or Foes?
Do you think the show 'What Not to Wear' does more harm than good? Or is a slightly more fashion-conscious population always a good thing? Are Stacy and Clinton our saviours? Or an early ripple of the antichrist?
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the show. But every once in a while when I'm people-watching (which I do pretty much constantly), I see a woman and observe her outfit, then think to myself, 'Now there is a non-fashion-savvy person who's been watching 'What Not to Wear.''
I saw three of those women on my way to work this morning.
They are ALWAYS wearing a blazer or jacket, and shoes that are *trying* to be trendy but obviously originated from either Payless and/or Walmart... In short, no salesperson consulted. Or if they were consulted, somebody lied. They have 'trendy' accessories that just don't quite work, and their bags always look like they were intended to 'go' but never 'match.' Note the use of the word *intended*. To borrow from classic Hollywood (aka 'Clueless'), the final result is a Monet. From far away, you're thinking that she must know what she's wearing, but you get up close and it's all messy.
Yikes. I wonder what strangers say when they blog about me :)
L
Funniest. Campaign Photo. Ever.
Photo Credit: Mike Aporius, Winnipeg Free Press
Photo Caption: Mayor Sam Katz and local resident Danny Spence "pinky swear" after an announcement for a new crime-fighting initiative Thursday afternoon at Central Park. Spence was promising to use the change Katz gave him towards food.
Friday Smile
"Life Isn't Fair..."
"...And the sooner you learn it, the happier you'll be."
(Ron & Sherri Hildebrandt, circa 1984... and probably weekly after that)
Argh. This might make me unpopular.
I'm not sure how I feel about racial-equality agreements. Don't get me wrong... I believe that our workforce should reflect our society, and that everyone should have identical opportunities that are in no way tied to the colour of their skin.
What I disagree with is the favouritism involved in 'evening things out.' Quite simply, I don't believe in promoting people into upper management because they're ___ (insert minority label here) instead of basing it on their performance. To me, that's more insulting than not having those positions in the first place: getting promoted or admitted because you're a minority. It's still being treated differently and unfairly, it's just working out to your advantage this time. And imagine managing a team of people who resent you for getting a promotion you didn't earn.
Of course, all these arguments are null and void if there is in fact a ceiling for blacks and other minorities in business. Because that's so wrong, I can't even find words for it. And I sympathize because it's not like it's a really fair world out there for women.
But the world's not really that fair. And the advertising industry less so. It's not like really ugly people get promoted into the upper echelons of the agency world.
In any case, it's a hell of a good time to be black and working in advertising in NYC.
L
Ad Firms to Hire More Black Managers in City New York Times - September 08.06
Drama Drama Drama
I have a love-hate relationship with drama. I don't really care for it in my own life, and I have a difficult time tolerating really dramatic people. But I'm amused to observe drama unfolding elsewhere in the world.
There was all kinds of drama (the good kind) in The Post this morning:
A furious Bill Clinton is warning ABC that its mini-series "The Path to 9/11" grossly misrepresents his pursuit of Osama bin Laden - and he is demanding the network "pull the drama" if changes aren't made... "The content of this drama is factually and incontrovertibly inaccurate and ABC has the duty to fully correct all errors or pull the drama entirely," the four-page letter said... ABC spokesman Jonathan Hogan last night defended the miniseries as a "dramatization, not a documentary, drawn from a variety of sources, including the 9/11 commission report, other published materials and personal interviews." / "Many of the people who have expressed opinions about the film have yet to see it in its entirety or in its final broadcast form," he said. "We hope viewers will watch the entire broadcast before forming their own opinion." / Executive producer Marc Platt told The Washington Post that he worked "very hard to be fair. If individuals feel they're wrongly portrayed, that's obviously of concern. We've portrayed the essence of the truth of these events. Our intention was not in any way to be political or present a point of view." / The miniseries' creator and the 9/11 panel's former co-chairman, Tom Kean, who was a paid adviser on the film, said some scenes are made up and plan to include a statement at the show's beginning.
As I read, I had this feeling that everything in this article seemed vaguely familiar... And then realized quickly that this is the miniseries that Cait (my brother's significant other) worked on last year in Toronto and Morocco.
'The Path to 9/11' airs in two parts this Sunday and Monday on ABC.
L
Read the whole article for yourself at www.nypost.com.
Damaged Goods
I don't know why I second-guess myself. Last week, I got a pedicure in a *new* colour and the whole time the girl was painting my toenails, I was thinking, 'This is a mistake.' See, the nail place didn't have that colour for sale - and I have a personal rule that demands I never get a pedicure in a colour I don't own (in case it chips and I need to fix it up).
Well, guess what. It chipped. And I had to go last night and try to find somewhere that sold it. Fortunately, it was a one-stop adventure. But still. Lesson learned.
I know what you're thinking... This girl is SHALLOW. No worries, this is one minor blip on my radar screen today. And it's actually a very clever intro to what's really on my mind this week. (HA! Kari-Ann will LOVE this one...)
So here's a funny thing: Sunday School starts this coming weekend, and I'm actually looking forward to it. I don't think that has ever happened before. But our Young Adults class is starting a new book that I'm really excited about. It's called 'The Naked Christian' and it's all about being real and authentic - instead of acting 'churchy' and pretending that because we're religious that everything in our lives is sunshine and rainbows. It's a topic I'm pretty passionate about. And I think we'll have some really amazing discussions.
It's got me thinking... Who was it who decided that Christians were supposed to act this way? I'm pretty sure it was us. But I don't get it... If we pretend that our lives are perfect, then why bother with Christianity at all? If we've got it all together and we're good people who never do anything wrong, then why did we need to be saved? It's completely illogical. I think we can be a much more effective encouragement to the world around us if we let our imperfections show (but still wear make-up in public, obviously).
I'm equally excited about the church bulletin announcements I'll be able to submit this fall: 'Come check out The Naked Christian! Sundays at 9.30!'
:)
L
'Mystery' Solved
Thank god. Can we all go back to our normal lives now?
L
A summary, a new record, and a series of observations
Let's see... Out for martinis and sushi on Friday night (though I technically only observed the sushi portion of the evening, having been way too hungry to wait when I got home from work). To the lake with Geoff on Saturday (with a little bit of car drama along the way). Hung out with my parents eating ice cream, competing in mini golf (and I do mean competing), making and consuming dinner. Jess and Kevin came late on Saturday and Aaron, Cait, and a whole bunch of our friends came up on Sunday. Spent all afternoon on the beach and in the boat, BBQ for dinner, then came back to civilization. Yesterday was so lazy... Slept for most of the morning, sat in my hammock on the deck for half the afternoon (with Steph keeping me company). Figured out that you can't really buy food anywhere on Labour Day, so we ordered Chinese for dinner.
Tanya (one of my new roommates) moved in yesterday, and she appears to be the sweetest person in the entire world. I say 'appears' because Bethany seemed sweet when I met her too... Anyway. Tanya holds the new record for Fastest Engagement among all my roommates. The previous record was something like two weeks after move-in, and she actually managed to get engaged almost a week BEFORE she moved in. Very impressive. Sherri (the third and final roommate) arrives today.
Yesterday, Steph and I went in search of food and ended up at Tim Horton's where she introduced me to onion bagels with herb & garlic cream cheese. Delicious. We managed to have about a hundred mini-adventures on this little excursion, including:
- Having this long-haired hillbilly guy check us out in a manner so revolting we just about lost our appetite for bagels (almost).
- The guy who was making our bagels (well, toasting and cream cheesing them) was almost done, right in the middle of that last half-cut before wrapping it up and bagging it... and then one of his co-workers came and told him that he'd actually had the day off. He left the knife in the bagel in mid-cut and went to the back, and we were forced to wait a minute before another employee finished the job.
- The funniest Alabama/Kentucky redneck truck pulled up in front of our house, and we were laughing hysterically... And then just about died when this tiny little halter-topped girl hopped out from behind the wheel.
In other news, I'm working on a new theory that wasps feed on mosquitoes. Think about it. (Was that the sound of your mind being blown?)
L
PS - Don't forget about Humpday Breakfast, happening at 7.15 am tomorrow morning! All are welcome.
Rewriting History
"When high school students in Shanghai crack their history textbooks this fall they may be in for a surprise. The new standard world history text drops wars, dynasties and Communist revolutions in favor of colorful tutorials on economics, technology, social customs and globalization.
"Socialism has been reduced to a single, short chapter in the senior high school history course. Chinese Communism before the economic reform that began in 1979 is covered in a sentence. The text mentions Mao only once — in a chapter on etiquette.
"Nearly overnight the country’s most prosperous schools have shelved the Marxist template that had dominated standard history texts since the 1950’s. The changes passed high-level scrutiny, the authors say, and are part of a broader effort to promote a more stable, less violent view of Chinese history that serves today’s economic and political goals."
Where's Mao? Chinese Revise History Books (Joseph Kahn, New York Times, September 01.06)
The Most Wonderful Time
I'm pretty sure I rambled on in a previous post about how much I love the fall... It's definitely starting to cool off at night, and that makes me happy. Fall is really more of a fresh start than spring or January 1. Last night, I went to Staples with Em to help her get some stuff for her classroom - that also made me happy. It was kind of a zoo there with parents and kids getting all their supplies, but getting Em all set up was fun. I'm such a geek for loving to organize like I do.
We also 'celebrated' the end of summer with a stop at DQ for Blizzards.
While we were out shopping, I made a wicked CD purchase: Heart's greatest hits. I've been listening to it pretty much non-stop, and I think I made some people laugh while I was driving in to work today... Can't help it. I challenge anyone to listen to 'Alone' and not sing along.
Off to Falcon for the Long Weekend... See y'all on Monday!
L
Quote of the Day:
'I actually was not intending to be here tonight, but then MTV explained that Justin Timberlake was bringing sexy back.' - Al Gore, at the MTV Video Music Awards
