77

Happy New Year!

A few more hours to go before we ring in 2007. Unfortunately because there will be a significant amount of freezing rain beginning soon, we canceled our plans to go hang out with Serge and Christine. They offered to let us stay overnight, but we just spent a week away from our beds and are not looking forward to doing it again for a while. So, a low key New Year's Eve it is.

Theo is going to watch the end of the Miami game and then we'll watch a movie or some more episodes of West Wing or something until there's some decent programming on for the celebrations at midnight.

Steveo got us the new Incubus album, Light Grenades, which I've got to recommend.

Incubus - Light Grenades - Sneak Peek:



So far, my fave track is #3: Dig



Also really diggin' #5: Love Hurts



The current single rocks: Anna Molly




Definitely worth checking out!!

We also got the new Brand New album - The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me - also kick ass!



Alright -- enough vids for now! Have a safe and happy new year everyone!

Bonne annee!

76

Articles/videos of interest:

Keith Olbermann Proves That Dissent Has An Audience

Big Box Swindle: The Fight to Reclaim America from Retail Giants

Olbermann: 'Civil War' naming is Iraq's Walter Cronkite moment [VIDEO]
"Noting that "it's the media's job to cut through [the administration's deceptive language] and call things what they are," Congressional Quarterly's Craig Crawford quipped that "If these guys were designing road signs they'd probably want to call a 'dead end' sign 'outlet free.'""

Guide to Less Toxic Products

75

(Note to self: Don't post that you are leaving early to surprise someone if that someone reads your blog! - Thanks Mat for not spilling the beans to your whole family!)

I have returned from up North! Because many of you don't know where Kapuskasing is - I have included a map of our journey! (My dad thought that we somehow went through Toronto to get there???) I apologize for the crappy map.

The trip up wasn't too bad -- except the last what should have been 20 minutes of the ride took us about 45 because the freezing rain had started. You know it's bad when the transport trucks are going 30 km/h with their four-way lights on!

Surprised Theo's parents -- both his brothers were out. After nine hours of driving we were ready for bed and zonked out before his brothers got home. It was mostly a nice, restful holiday with lots of video games (Theo and Mat had two XboX 360's and two TVs set up.)

Ate lots of good food -- and too much of it! I can't wait to get back to yoga classes next week. It's just not the same doing it at home!

Santa was very nice to us both -- new duvet, food processor, cell phone, housecoat, Toronto FC tickets and toques, lots of chocolate etc...

Mat made us a macaroni picture of Theo and I -- which we promptly put up on our fridge when we got home!

More photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/laura311

[74]

Four more sleeps until Christmas!

And- even better- I thought we would be leaving for our nine-hour drive to Kapuskasing early on Saturday - but now we're leaving tomorrow after lunch!

Tonight we hit up a Christmas party at Jason and Kimya's -- and we get to meet their new baby Eleyna. Afterwards we'll stop by my grandma's house where my parents are having dinner to say goodbye and spend a little time with them before we leave.

I apologize for the lack of posts lately-- but I thought that without any meetings after work I'd have more time to write! Instead I've been wrapping gifts, baking like mad, and spending time with friends.

Saturday night I went out dancing with a few friends at Tila Tequila -- here's a pic of Daniel, Salma, myself and Christine.

Good times!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone -- and I'll tell you all about my first French Christmas when I get back! :)

[73]

I can't wait! Theo and I have our tickets for the end of March -- We Will Rock You in Toronto!

[72]

THANK YOU! I’m so tired of all this hoopla over Second Life. It’s a dumb game, a crappy game, and there really aren’t that many people playing it so can we stop taking it so damn seriously?! Reuters opening up a full-time journalist there, Crayon launching itself, American Apparel… good for you. I don’t care to hear about it anymore though.

It’s like when a radio station with top 40 (which often seems like top 10) plays the same damn song over and over again, and a potentially good song is ruined.

I love social media, don’t get me wrong. But it’s been absolutely exhausting to see every second freaking (PR) blog talk about Second Life, and their meeting in Second Life and I wear this in Second Life and blah blah Second Life… arghhh!

[71]

What? The square brackets are back? It's only because I'm using the laptop and not my computer. I still haven't figured out how to do that on my new keyboard.

*Sigh

It's December 13th and I was finally paid for the month of October today. Sadly most of my paycheque has already disappeared to bills... The rest will soon be dedicated to Christmas presents!

The good news on the money front is that my work is paying for the writing course I took at Algonquin and I should see that money before Christmas. It will go directly to next semester's course.

My Christmas shopping is almost done. Theo's gift (which I can't say what it is, in case he reads this!) and my mom's birthday present. I also have to print some pictures and frame them for my parents and grandma.

I'm super excited for my first French Christmas. Theo's family's traditions, French-Canadian traditions and foods -- I can't wait to experience it. I'm also excited because Theo's parents go to Church, and I never did and am very curious to see what this Midnight Mass is all about.

This weekend my family and I are going out to Thomas Tree Farm in North Gower where we have been going for many years. We'll listen to the Vinyl Cafe Christmas CD on the way there and pack a lunch to eat after we've taken a sleigh ride out to the trees and cut one down. We also get cookies and hot chocolate after the always-tough-picking-of-the-tree. Normally one of my mittens or hats goes on the one we think we want while we walk around to make sure there isn't one that's better. I'm not sure if that's cheating, but no one has called us on it yet! Steve normally cuts it down and we take another horse-drawn sleigh back to the lodge with all the trees on a mini trailer behind us. I know, not as traditional as walking into the forest to pick one out, but at least these guys are planting trees to replace the ones we take!

What are your family's traditions?

69

It's been another hectic week. Habitat meeting Monday night, came home and had dinner at 9 p.m. watched some more of season four of The West Wing and went to bed. Tuesday night had class, wrote a PSA on Habitat for Humanity's ReStore Holiday Sale, came home, watched Studio 60 and went to bed.

We've been catching up on West Wing a lot this week and are currently on season five. It's such a smart show -- we love it!

Last night we went to see Apocalypto - which was bloody as all get out, but decent.

Today is Sunday, aka, football day. Bruce, Theo and I went out to breakfast at our usual diggs and now the boys are in the other room watching the game. Trying out a new recipe for dinner tonight.

Lots of e-mailing and catching up to do today, so today's post is short.

Promise to have more later.

In the mean time: new Mark Fiore animation for all the enjoy.

First Christmas party pic of the year!

68

Alright ... Theo has replaced my keyboard with a freebie he got from work. It's messing me up! I can't figure out how to do the square brackets anymore (the 9 key has it -- but I don't know what combination of shifts or alts or whatever keys I need to press with it to get it to work... help?) and it has all the French accents on it which would be excellent for spelling his name correctly if only Blogger took accents.

I had some trouble earlier with Blogger, so I didn't post some excellent Olbermann videos and other interesting links I had -- will do that tomorrow.

I was just about to head to bed when I decided to see if this would work finally -- and it has!

Just thought I'd share that I'm getting in the Christmas spirit already -- Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe was today, and I received two Christmas party invites today also! There is a box of Clementine oranges in our fridge, as well as egg nog (which is translated to "lait de poule", or chicken milk, in French - yum!) so yes... it must be Christmas time!



I'll post more about Stuart and Christmas and all that good stuff tomorrow when I get home if I'm not too tired from my two-hour and four-hour meetings at work, followed by a two-hour volunteer meeting for Habitat for Humanity....

Bonne nuit!

[67]

More Jamie Cullum....

[66]

[65]

Watching: Theo play Gears of War (Ugly,violent video game -- but the commercial uses Gary Jules' Mad World!)



Allo mes amis...

I'm quite tired tonight so this will be quick:

If you're in the Ottawa area and are looking for a great night out go see the new play at the Great Canadian Theatre Company - Leo. ( And no -- I'm not just saying that because I am a leo.)


Leo, Isolda and Rodrigo are childhood friends caught in the sharp corners of a love triangle. They come of age during the heady days of Salvador Allende's election. When a military coup turns Chile against itself, innocence disappears. Passion and politics collide in this stunning new play about life and love in dangerous times.

It's excellent -- Theo and I saw it last week and everything about it was great - the actors, the script, the set, the characters, the music....

Anyone in Ontario who is up early on Friday morning should watch CityTV's Breakfast Television show for a chance to win one of the beautiful necklaces from Rachel Norman's Tai Knots.

I am the proud owner of a beautiful necklace she made for me a few years back and I've gotten many compliments on it. I've gotten many a gift there as well!

To end tonight I have some suggested reading for those of you who are interested in yoga --or just want to know what all that chanting OM is for...

The Sound of Om

[64]

The History of Pop Music in 4 Chords So many songs, so few chords.

[63]

Subject: Take action before December 7 to support the ban on Terminator seeds

Support the Ban on Terminator Seeds in Canada!

Issued: Nov 21, 2006

Please distribute widely TAKE ACTION BEFORE DECEMBER 7!

Tell your Member of Parliament to support a Ban on Terminator Seeds in Canada!
On December 7th 2006 the House of Commons Agriculture and Agri-FoodCommittee will hold a one-hour hearing on Terminator technology.

WRITE to your Member of Parliament and the Minister of Agriculture before Dec 7th.

Sample letter:
http://www.banterminator.org/take_action/national_campaigns/canadian_campaign/sample_letter

Find your member of Parliament here: http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/house/PostalCode.asp?Source=SM

Please copy:
Hon. Chuck Strahl Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Telephone: 613 992-2940
Fax: 613 944-9376
E-Mail: Strahl.C@parl.gc.ca

Right Hon. Stephen Harper Prime Minister
House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Telephone: 613 992-4211
Fax: 613 941-6900
EMail: Harper.S@parl.gc.ca

Wayne Easter, Liberal Agriculture Critic
House of Commons Ottawa, OntarioK1A 0A6
Telephone: 613 992-2406
Fax: 613 995-7408
EMail: Easter.W@parl.gc.ca

André Bellavance Bloc Québécois Agriculture Critic
House of Commons Ottawa,OntarioK1A 0A6
Telephone: 613 995-1554
Fax: 613 995-2026
EMail: Bellavance.A@parl.gc.ca

Alex Atamanenko NDP Agriculture Critic
House of Commons Ottawa,Ontario K1A 0A6
Telephone: 613 996-8036
Fax: 613 943-0922
E-Mail: Atamanenko.A@parl.gc.ca




In March 2006 and February 2005, your letters stopped the Canadian government from acting to end the international moratorium onTerminator ("suicide seeds") at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. In March, the Canadian delegation to the UN meeting did not object to the reaffirmation and strengthening of the moratorium. Yet, our government supported the moratorium without actually stating a position on Terminator. Now we find out that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is preparing the road for approval of Terminator Seeds!!

DEMAND that the Canadian Government state its unqualified opposition to this dangerous technology and take immediate steps to legislate a ban on field-testing and commercialization in Canada. Terminator or Genetic Use Restriction Technology (GURTs) is a technology of genetic engineering designed by the multinational seed industry to render seeds sterile after first harvest, thus preventing farmers from saving and re-using seed, forcing them to return to corporations to buy seed every season. This predatory strategy has been widely condemned, in Canada and across the world, because it threatens farmer livelihoods, food security, and agricultural biodiversity. And yet, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency continues to prepare for the potential introduction of Terminator seeds and there is no policy in Canada to address the devastating impacts Terminator would have onfarmers' livelihoods.

UPDATES: In August 2006, Monsanto announced that it will buy US seed company Delta & Pine Land. If the deal goes through, Monsanto will own the most advanced research on Terminator including the only greenhouse trials of Terminator seeds in the world. (Monsanto previously committed not to commercialize Terminator but has begun to reword this pledge.)

In October 2005, the Canadian Patent Office granted the first ever Canadian patent on a Terminator technology (owned byDelta & Pine Land and the U.S. Department of Agriculture). Swiss multinational Syngenta has requested a Canadian patent on Terminator potatoes.

FOR MORE BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND A SAMPLE LETTER:http://www.bantermina... or contact the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network at info@cban.ca


This action is organized by the Canadian Biotechnology ActionNetwork http://www.cban.ca...
Please join us in the Campaign againstTerminator seeds and other forms of corporate control over seeds

Please contact us for more information or to donate. info@cban.ca613 241 2267 Lucy Sharratt, CoordinatorCanadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN)Collaborative Campaigning for Food Sovereignty and EnvironmentalJustice431 Gilmour Street, Second FloorOttawa, Ontario, Canada, K2P 0R5Phone: 613 241 2267Fax: 613 241 2506coordinator@cban.cawww.cban.cawww.ba nterminator.org/p/282

[62]

I know I'm writing this about six days late -- but here goes:

On Monday I attended the Third Monday Meetup.

We were disussing the good, the bad and the ugly of social media. Here are some topics that came up:

- Echo chamber effect
- You never run out of ink on the Internet (yes, but can you run out of ideas?)
- How does one person have enough attention for everything?
- Dialogue vs. conversation
- The Long Tail
- Negative posts and the power of Google
- Bloggers and stats
- The immediacy of blogs
- PR pitching to blogs
- How to establish credibility
- Hot and cold mediums (Teresa, you should have been there!)
- Living and dying as the only two options - false dichotomy?
- Shelagh Rogers (yay!)
- Media literacy
- Did you know it only takes 5000 copies sold for a book to be on the best seller's list?
- Classic PR mantra: "We're first!"
- The pros and cons of Second Life

Quite a good night full of discussion, good points and laughter.

Can't wait for the next one!

[61]

From my good friends at Octopus Books:

In the spirit of Buy Nothing Day we're celebrating as we do every year by closing the store.

Buy Nothing Day is held each year on the first day after American Thanksgiving, the day that has traditionally been known as the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States. The campaign was started by Adbusters in 1992 and questions the rampant consumerism associated with the Christmas shopping frenzy. It is an exercise of consumer awareness that asks shoppers to think about what they buy, from whom and how they often spend without thinking about the implications.

Buy Nothing Day challenges consumers to refrain from shopping and encourages everyone to bring their lunch to work, stay away from the malls and shops and to spend the day thinking about how consumerism has become entrenched in our lives. It gives us pause to think about our media culture and the way it fuels our consumption. It is a day which provides an opportunity for us all to consider the reality of economic disparity between the overdeveloped North and the underdeveloped South, and the devasting affects of overconsumption on the environment.

At Octopus we're excited by the opportunity to participate in Buy Nothing Day. We feel strongly that Buy Nothing Day allows us to contribute to the community by providing an occasion for all of us to consider the way we participate in the global economy through our local buying habits. Even at Octopus Books, where we strive to have ethics and to be responsible in our business practices, we still participate in our social habit of over-consumption. Consumers can’t buy unless someone is willing to sell. By closing the store we encourage everyone – especially our customers and ourselves – to seriously consider their own habits of consumption and to spend the day actively thinking about the implications of shopping.

Did You Know??

- that the average North American spends 60 minutes a day watching, reading or listening to advertisments each day.

- that by the time we're 70 we will have spent 3 years watching ads?

- that on average North Americans are exposed to 3000 ads a day?

- that advertisers spend $370 a year on each Canadian and three times that amount on each American?

The richest fifth of the world

- consume 45% of all meat and fish, the poorest fifth 5%

- consume 58% of total energy, the poorest fifth less than 4%

- have 74% of all telephone lines, the poorest fifth 1.5%

- consume 84% of all paper, the poorest fifth 1.1%

- own 87% of the world's vehicles, the poorst fifth less than 1%

Each year

$8 billion is spent on cosmetics in the United States

$11 billion is spent on ice cream in Europe

$12 billion is spent on perfume in Europe and the United States

$50 billion is spent on cigarettes in Europe

$400 billion is spent on narcotic drugs in the world

$780 billion is spent on the military in the world

According to the UN, ensuring universal access to basic social services in all

developing countries would cost (per year):

$6 billion for basic education

$9 billion for water and sanitation

$12 billion for reproductive health for women

$13 billion for basic health and nutrition

"...each Canadian consumes 16-20 times as much as a person in India or China and 60-70 times more than someone in Bangladesh. Thus we 1.1 billion in industrialized nations have the same ecological impact as 17 billion to 77 billion Third World People." - David Suzuki

FOR 1 OUT OF 6 PEOPLE IN THE WORLD EVERYDAY IS BUY NOTHING DAY.

Partcipate by not participating. Bring a thermos of coffee with you in the morning, brown bag your lunch, go to the library or the park, swap clothes with friends, start planning homemade Christmas gifts...

For more information visit:

www.adbusters.org

For other events happening in the city don't forget to check out our Events Calendar at http://www.octopusbooks.ca/index.php?q=event

the new octopus bookstore
613-233-2589
critical thinking for over 35 years
www.octopusbooks.ca

[60]

Happy U.S. Thanksgiving!

[59]

Watching: Tampa Bay vs. Dallas - NFL Football Game (Theo is watching it, I'm sitting on the couch with the laptop.)

Tuesday afternoon I went to the Rideau Centre to run a few errands and browse for ideas for Christmas gifts. I am of two minds when it comes to Christmas shopping. Mostly I despise the consumer culture that now surrounds the holiday season. I like that for my family it is more about spending time together. That being said, we buy gifts for each other (immediate family only).

For my parents and my grandmother I have bought, for the second year in a row, tickets to the Vinyl Café at the National Arts Centre. It's a CBC radio show hosted by Stuart McLean, and there's music (Canadian, of course) and he has these stories he tells of Dave and Morley and their two kids. It's very homey, old-style, feel-good kind of stories – but they're the kind everyone can relate to. This gift I find very fitting for the holidays especially. We get to spend time together and do something nice we normally don't get to do.

No toys... just something to eat thanks.

I am also of two minds when it comes to tomorrow: Buy Nothing Day. I like that this day (the busiest holiday shopping day of the season) is encouraging people to think critically about their consumption, about the meaning of buying, and hopefully about production as well. There is even a smaller, growing movement called Buy Nothing Christmas!

However, I also like the campaigns that various breast cancer awareness groups do, and the new (RED) campaigns as well. If you're going to buy something – at least have something where some of the profits go to a good cause. I guess this approach is a little more of the opinion "If people are going to buy – we should take advantage of it."

Perhaps those types of campaigns are going to be a step in the right direction towards certified organics, fair trade, local products etc…

Speaking of which, there are two fabulous things I want to share and I don't know which one I'm excited about more.

Goodsearch.com is essentially a search engine where a penny is donated to a cause of your choice every time you use it to search. There is a huge directory to pick from; including charities and schools - you can even add your own. You pick one the first time and you can always have that be your cause when you go to the site to search, or you can spread the wealth and choose a different one each time if you'd like. I like to give to the D.C. Central Kitchen (after reading Begging For Change: The Dollars and Sense of Making Nonprofits Responsive, Efficient and Rewarding For All – I was inspired by its goal and vision) and the Rainforest Action Network among others.

My recent internally ramblings have often been about proper choices in consumption. I try to buy fair trade, certified organic, local etc. whenever I can.

So what's a girl to do when she gets married? Have a diamond ring which could be conflict diamonds? Even if they aren't conflict diamonds, they likely destroyed the environment quite a bit in the mining and refining process…. No ring? I seriously considered that. But I like the mythology/reasoning behind having wedding rings. (A never ending circle; worn on the ring finger because it was originally thought to have a vein that ran directly to the heart…) My want of a ring and my need for something more eco-friendly has been answered: greenkarat.com!

[58]

I'm totally digging this first song -- and their vids are so homemade-cute.

Ok Go - A Million Ways



Ok Go - Here it Goes Again

[57]

Text reads: A lot goes into media. What do you take out? www.media-awareness.ca

[56]

Listening to/Watching: Play With Fire covered by Sarah Slean and Razorlight



It's a dreary, gray Sunday afternoon and I'm in my pyjamas, barefoot, with remnants of last night's mascara still smudged under my eyes and a blue markered dollar sign on my left hand.

Last night Salma, her sister and boyfriend and a few friends of theirs (who used to work with Steveo) and I all went out to club MTL in the Market. We went around 11 p.m. and had a few drinks and began dancing around 12:30-1 a.m. It was pretty packed and on more than one occasion I silently thanked the higher powers that I wasn't claustrophobic! The DJ wasn't on the ball--playing the crappy songs for their entire length, and the good ones for only 30 seconds before moving to the next track. One of the speakers near us kept cutting out, though I suppose that wasn't the DJ's fault.

The bartenders there weren't exactly on the ball either. Apparently they don't serve martinis anymore - though we didn't try to order one. Salma ordered Amaretto Sours and they were way more sour than need be. Aisha ordered a Smirnoff Ice-- which they made from scratch -- and didn't taste the way it should. Funny thing is I saw a girl with a bottle of Smirnoff Ice later on... Oh, well.

We still had a good time, and it had been a long time since I'd gone out dancing. I was impressed that I knew most of the music (mostly hip hop) because I don't normally listen to that style much. They did play the originals of Still Not A Player and Bigger Than Hip Hop -- both of which I knew from the Loud Rocks compilation (rock and rap fused songs).

We left the club around 2 a.m. and Salma's feet were killing her so much from dancing in her new heels for so long that Troy, Gio and Sean all took turns carrying her part way to the parking garage -- they would have probably carried her to the car, except the door to the elevators was locked and we had parked three or four levels up. It was funny to watch. :)

We decided we were all hungry and for some stupid reason we decided to hit Denny's near where we lived instead of hitting one of the other all-night joints downtown. We got there close to 3 a.m. and they said it would be a ten minute wait. After about fifteen minutes, Salma declared we were going home if we didn't have a table in five minutes - she was getting tired. We ended up getting a table a couple of minutes later only to have to wait nearly an hour and half for our food. I ordered a piece of cheesecake, which arrived warm. The waitress had to defrost it. Yeah. Yummm... Meanwhile everyone is tired but so hungry that we just ate our food and left. It was 5 a.m.

Salma and I were trying to figure out when the last time we stayed out so late was. Grad! No, not university grad a few months ago --high school grad five years ago! 2 a.m. on a night out is normal. Maybe 3. 5 was just ridonkulous.

Fun times nonetheless. I took off my coat and scarf and got my keys out while I was riding the elevator up to our floor and carefully put everything on the dinning room table -- along with my high heeled boots which our cat Toby has a habit of chewing on -- carefully undressed and removed my jewelry and crawled into bed. I think I was successful in not waking Theo, who had to get up early to work today. I woke when he kissed me goodbye around 8, and then went back to sleep until 11:30 when I forced myself to get up so I'd make sure to sleep tonight.

Tomorrow is going to suck at work. I'll definitely need a coffee.

[55]

Educate yourself:
www.stopclimatechaos.com

http://www.climatecrisis.net/

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/What_You_Can_Do/




Take action:
http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Take_Action/

[54]

Listening to: Dai Th Flu by the Deftones

What's this? Laura is listening to the Deftones and has a major headache? It must be because she just sat through the documentary The Future of Food (watch trailer here) with an angry look on her face and scrunched up brows for two hours and is now both depressed and angry. Lucky for us all that she doesn't give up hope quite yet (though she is reconsidering bringing children into this f*cked up world of ours.)

You see my dear readers -- The Future of Food exposes the truth behind the giants of the likes of Monsanto and other huge conglomerate corporations who say they are into plant biotechnology to save the world's starving poor.

First off, the world's poor are not starving due to the production of food -- but rather the distribution of food. The first world countries throw out so much food because it is overproducing.

Secondly, by creating things such as terminator seeds, suing farmers for "infringing on their patent" when seeds blow into their fields and germinate, and patenting living organisms, genes and life, corporations such as Monsanto are putting more and more farmers (especially in developing countries) out of work.

There are so many things wrong with these giants controlling our food and contaminating what they don't own. They even want to charge people in developing countries fees for using their patented plants, even if they went in and took the plant from those countries in the first place!

Yes - help feed the children.

Greedy bastards.

If interested, please sign the petition here.

Let's not label the genetically modified foods either! Oh no, we don't want people to know what they are eating and feeding to their children. That would make us traceable.

From http://proto.thinkquest.nl/~llb109/monsanto.jpg

[53]

C/O my singin' cousin Kelly's Blog:

Instructions:
Put your iTunes/Winamp/WMP on shuffle.
Say the following questions aloud, and press play.
Use the song title as the answer to the question.
NO CHEATING.

1. How does the world see you?
Prime Time Deliverance - Matt Good (My love of critical media communication studies?)

2. Will I have a happy life?
Finale B - Rent Soundtrack (Ummm...yes?)

3. What do my friends think of me?
Read My Mind - The Killers (They think I'm psychic?)

4. Do people secretly lust after me?
The Score -Sarah Slean (That's a yes!)

5. How can I make myself happy?
Double Life - Matt Good (Can I be a double agent?)

6. What should I do with my life?
Paranoid Android - Radiohead (I knew that Bush was up to something!)

7. Will I ever have children?
New Deep -John Mayer (Is that a yes? With John Mayer?!)

8. What is some good advice for me?
Heading Home - Donovan Frankenreiter ft. K-OS (Go home? But I like it here...)

9. How will I be remembered?
Mary - Sarah Slean (As the virgin mother? Hmmm...doubt it)

10. What's my signature dancing song?
One Year, Six Months - Yellowcard (Not really a dancing song -- I was hoping for Kylie Minogue)

11. What's my current themesong?
The Name of The Game - ABBA (Ok, not really...)

12. What do others think is my current themesong?
Clean -Incubus (More like it!)

13. What shall they play at my funeral?
Rub A Dub - 311 (Yeah!! 311!)

14. What type of men do I like?
Locked Out - Crowded House (Hmm... not sure what my dad would think of that kinda guy)

15. How's my love life?
No Reason To Cry Your Eyes Out (On The Highway Tonight) - Hawksley Workman (How fitting -- Theo is "mon Hawksley" and there is no reason to cry about this relationship! Except when we watch sad movies -- then I cry. A lot.)



And now for fun:

if i were:
a month i would be: august
a day of the week i would be: saturday
a time of day i would be: 3:11 am

a planet i would be: Pluto (Ok, except Pluto isn't really a planet anymore -- how about Neptune?)
a sea animal i would be: a purple starfish (they exist!)
a piece of furniture i would be: one of those couches that go in the corner…
a sin i would be: lust

a historical figure i would be: Cassie L. Chadwick
a liquid i would be: water
a tree: Douglas fir
a plant/flower i would be: iris
a kind of weather, i would be:sunny!!
a color, i would be: blue

a sound, i would be: night time a the cottage

an element, i would be: platinum.
a car, i would be: infiniti g35 coupe in Caribbean blue.
a song, i would be: all mixed up by 311
a book, i would be written by: kurt vonnegut

a food, i would be: chocolate
a place, i would be: the cottage
a material, i would be: something soft and warm... cashmere?
a scent, i would be: vanilla
a word, i would be: comfortable
an object i would be: a warm cup of tea (is that technically 2 objects?)
a body part i would be: pinkie finger

a facial expression I would be: smile
a shape i would be a: ellipitcal

[52]

[51]

This has got to be one of my favorite commercials of all time:





I want a house hippo! Do you think it would get along with Toby?

[50]

Wow! Fifty posts. Meh.

A very cool Audi commercial:

[49]

It's a couple of days late, and I'm not sure she even still reads this thing... but a belated Happy Birthday Christine!
From www.explodingdog.com

[48]

Cute video

[47]

Comedic Roundup: U.S. Mid-term Elections 2006

[46]

Amnesty International says you can do something about violence against women. Watch the clip here. Get more information here.

[45]

Well, it’s been a couple of hectic weeks for me. Between work being a zoo (but a fun zoo) and meetings and school after work – I haven’t had time to blog much.

I seem to be waiting lots. It all began last Sunday when I tried to order pizza and they didn't have my street in their database. I was transferred to customer service, and then put on hold while they called the location closest to me to make sure they could deliver to the proper address. It took me almost ten minutes to order my pizza!

On Tuesday I went to the doctor's office to get a prescription renewed. I waited 45 minutes for the doctor to spend literally less than one minute with me.

My latest dilemma solved is that involving money. I am on contract and get paid per month. (Notice I didn’t say monthly, but per month.) The last day of the month I send an invoice with my hours for that month and then the accounts payable department can take up to 45 days to actually mail me a cheque. I began my contract four days before the end of August. So, at the beginning of October, I was paid for my first four days. This past Tuesday (November 7 for those of you keeping count) I was paid for the month of September. Yay! Money so I can pay the last two months worth of bills and rent etc., right? Wrong!

The bank decided that seeing as I hadn’t had such a large deposit at one time since I worked full-time last summer (as in 2005 – this past summer I was on a part-time internship), that they would hold it for a week and only give me access to $200.

Ummmm….problem! I owe my boyfriend nearly a $1000 in rent and car payments because he’s been covering my ass for the last two months. I called up the bank and after a few minutes of explaining my dilemma the nice man at the other end of the line kindly removed holds on anything under $3000 – in the future. “I’m sorry; you’ll have to go into the branch for this one.”

So, off I go to the bank yesterday after work. After explaining it to the clerk at the counter and muddling through misunderstandings (“Well, it says you have access to $200.” “Yes, but my rent is a little more than that and it is now November 9!” “Oh.”) she finally went to get a manager to clear it all up. I had to explain to the manager what the problem was and she says: “Well, according to our records XXXX is not your employer – YYYY is.” “Well, if you take a look at my bank account you will see I haven’t received a pay cheque from YYYY since May, and that I have been receiving cheques from XXXX since February. The only difference is now I am on contract with them, so it is no longer direct deposit.” “Do you have your pay stub?” “No. But if you look at my account again, you will see in fact that my deposit is coming from XXXX.” And so on and so forth until finally she removed the hold. I then rushed home and wrote out a cheque for the rent and then transferred the rest of what I owed by e-mail money transfer to Theo. I still have to pay off some of my credit card!

On Friday I went to get my prescription filled and had new insurance information to enter with the pharmacy. They couldn't find the company in their database and so it was back and forth and back and forth with phone calls, forms to fill out - at least my prescription was filled by the time we got through it all.

*Sigh. So complicated!

Wednesday night Bruce, Karl, Theo and I went to see Borat. Absolutely hilarious. And to all the naysayers, by making fun of stereotypes I believe he is helping to break them down. Go see it. Now!

Last night I attended a fundraiser for The Pediatric Liver Foundation at the Hunt and Golf Club. There were appetizers, desserts, drinks, a silent auction, a live auction and a fashion show put on by lululemon. It was a ladies night fundraiser, and one of the only men there was one of the models for lululemon. Women were going nuts for him! Taking pictures, touching him (not the clothing – him!), feeding him chocolate covered strawberries…. The folks at my table (all co-workers) were saying how those firefighter auctions must be insane!

There were some really nice silent auction items – Senators packages, tickets for the U-20 soccer next summer in Ottawa, gift certificates, jewelry, a beautiful photo of New York’s Broadway, gourmet chocolates, etc… Unfortunately I was outbid on everything I tried to get!

The live auction item was a wine tasting for 12 people at the LCBO or at your home. Sweet deal! It went for more than $400 I believe – all to a great cause!

That's it for now folks. Check out the interesting post over at Matthew Ingram’s blog on who broke the Rumsfeld news first.

[44]

What a weekend. Yesterday Theo left for Buffalo to go see a Bills game with seven other guys, mostly from his baseball team (which I'm sure he will blog about later when he has recovered.) I went to help out at my grandma's Church Bazaar in the Bake Room, and hung around with my grandma and her friends until we cashed out around 2:30 p.m. Quite the bake sale -- we raked in over $2000! I should have had a bake sale to raise money for tuition!

Last night Christine and I went downtown for dinner at Mamma Grazzi's (delicious!!) in the market, and went to Patty Boland's afterwards. Fun night to get out and enjoy the sights, sounds and tastes of downtown -- girl style.

I have to admit, it wasn't fun sleeping in an empty bed (though Toby- our cat - did come curl up for a bit at around 6 a.m.) I'm quite anxious for Theo to come back home tonight (hopefully within a couple hours!) and to curl up with me.

Today I slept in, cleaned up the apartment a bit, and listened to the Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean. In a few weeks I'm going to a live show with Stuart McLean at the NAC and I can't wait. I take my grandma, my parents (and this year my grandma's sister) and normally Theo (but he can't make it this year) as a Christmas present. It's a beautiful family show, and Stuart's Dave and Morley stories are so heartwarming they can bring a tear to your eye or make you laugh until your sides hurt. They are so easy to relate to. Stuart also plays the best in undiscovered Canadian musical talent. In fact, it was on the Vinyl Cafe that I first heard the incredible, original sounds of The Arcade Fire.

I watched The Take written and directed by my favorite activist couple, Naomi Klein author of No Logo) and Avi Lewis (son of another fave Canadian of mine: Stephen Lewis). The documentary was a stunning look at capitalism, the IMF, issues of power and control, and in the end, of humanity. I recommend you rent, borrow or otherwise see this film. How would you react if the Canadian banks literally took all of the cash out of the country and froze your bank accounts? Scary....

In my Avi Lewis mood -- I then watched the first episode of The Big Picture with Avi Lewis. A documentary is screened and then an hour long "town-hall" style discussion takes place with an audience. This episode dealt with what people will do when a person with authority gives them instructions that are morally corrupt. The documentary discussed the Milgram experiment, the Stanford Prison experiment
and the military culture which has led to the problems of torture and inhumane treatment at Abu Ghraib. There was a very interesting discussion afterwards including a U.S. soldier who quit in opposition to the torture of Iraqi detainees, members of the Canadian and U.S. military, authors, film makers and politicians.

I'm quite tired so I think I'll stop here for now. Will likely post more tomorrow night.

Until then....

[43]

Interesting article on Four Things To Hate About Bottled Water.

[42]

Ok, it's 11:09 p.m. and I should really be getting to bed... but I've just discovered slide, and I had to test it out. I used the convocation photos from my flickr account, so I apologise for the lack of creativeness... but I promise to make a better one when I have more time.

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

[41]

Happy Hallowe'en!

I had a mid-term tonight, but it was quick and painless, so I had time to stop by my parents place to do a little trick-or-treating!

They had the front lawn decorated with our Tin Man from the cottage who was all dressed up for the occassion! Here is the Tin Man as he usually looks (his sign reads DISMUSBDAPLCE)












Dressed up












In the dark



With goofy ol' me!

[40]

In time for Hallowe'en:

[39]

Why do afternoons always pass more slowly than the mornings? In the mornings I get to work, change out of my jeans and into dress pants, make a cup of green tea and a bowl of hot oatmeal and then go through my e-mails. I either open up Pandora or some other music I have ripped to my laptop at work. I usually take around 30 minutes to get through the e-mails. I then begin on whatever that day’s tasks are. Writing a press release, an award nomination, e-mail various people to track down a spokesperson photo or some document needed by someone else on the PR team, setting up interviews with customers… Some days when one or both of my bosses needs a caffeine fix we'll go down to the Tim Horton's in our cafeteria. On days when I have yoga and can’t eat lunch before our mid-day class, I try to have some yogurt or a small snack mid-morning so I’m not disturbing everyone else’s Zen state with my tummy rumblings…

...And then next thing I know it it’s time for yoga class or lunch.

Maybe it’s because I am on contract, and only doing 25 hours a week. That means I usually leave somewhere between 1 and 3 p.m. Maybe it's the 3 p.m. brick wall. The last two hours can seem so long….

[38]

Some interesting links c/o Jane Magazine:

very unsettling

very unsettling
news
about
nuclear bomb

being detonated
in north korea.

women remember everything
and mother earth is no exception.

—Devendra

October 09, 2006

The Virgin Chronicles

I like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris