Hollywood Décor

I recently purchased some new lamps for my home – nothing overly swanky or mod … but lamps that were not your usual base + shade. I was quite pleased with my purchase – and even better, they came in a 4 lamp set … so now I’ve got the same style lamp in different sizes all throughout my house. Why try something new when you know something will work. I received many complements on my lamps when visitors came over – so I thought this was quite a good purchase. A few days ago I was watching a rerun of one of my all time favourite dramas – Beverly Hills 90210, when I saw the very same lamp on the sofa table in the Walsh house! What could be better – the greatness of my lamps being validated by an Aaron Spelling show! Too bad that episode was filmed in 1993 – meaning I’m only 14 years behind Hollywood’s home fashions.

P.S. I think growing up, we had the same throw pillows as those on the Married with Children sofa.

Car Cargo

On my drive into work today, there was a Smart Car in front of me. I'm not a big fan of Smart Cars - the drivers of these vehicles are so smug because they think they are Gods gift to the environment. I remember having a conversation with a good friend of mine about how these cars only use half the petrol - simply because they are half a car! When these cars were new, one of them almost hit me as I was crossing the street - and I wasn't so sure what type of impact it could make (although I didn't really want to test it out). But I digress...

So this Smart car this morning had some unusual cargo in it's so called trunk. There was a collie in the back! I couldn't believe it ... who would subject their largish dog to the embarassment, as well as small cargo hold, of a Smart Car? Clearly only a smug Smart Car driver.

Wassa matta wit them!

I took this photo over the spring- with the intention of commenting on it here. It is just too good. During my travels this past spring I saw several couples that looked just like this one - wearing identical outfits. Check these two out - matching shirts, both wearing jeans, and I'm not sure if you can tell, but they have exactly the same shoes, but in his and hers versions.

What is the motivation in dressing like this while on vacation? Is it so that if you get separated from each other you remember what the other is wearing? Maybe you could go up to a local and say "Have you seen anyone who looks like this?" and just cover your face.

If this is what the future holds for couples - it's quite bleak in my opinion.

Note: Photo taken at Stonehenge

Thanksgiving

It is now autumn – well I guess it was “officially” autumn several days ago. But now that all the trees are losing their leaves and rakes are flying off of the store shelves, it is official. One nice thing about autumn is Thanksgiving – which apparently is this weekend (in Canada – for all the US readers, of which there might be 1). The other day when I expressed my shock at it already being another long weekend, I was told by a colleague that “it is early this year”. Which got me to thinking – who makes the decision on when Thanksgiving is? Is there a committee, special council, or task force? Because if so, I’d like to nominate myself to be part of that group. I think I’d be quite good at deciding when Thanksgiving should be. Of course I’d leave the decision to the last minute, just to keep everyone on their toes. So when people are out in their yards, cursing the trees for shedding so many leaves … or when they are turning up their thermostats and making their beds with their winter duvets … I’d get on all the TV stations and say “here is something to brighten your weekend – take an extra day off – we’ll make it the Thanksgiving holiday on Monday!” Who says tax cuts and healthcare spending make people happy – give them a holiday out of the blue – that’s the way to win their hearts!

Is it time for a bear patrol?

I can't say that my job is boring ... because there is something unexpected that happens just about every day. I guess that's what happens when you work with the public ... but last week there was something VERY unexpected that happened at my workplace. Late at night, a special visitor came into the building - a black bear in fact. The full story can be read here. Sadly I was not in the office at the time when the bear came in, but apparently he just walked by the coffee kiosk (which was closed), and then was on his way. If I was around, I would have run down to the cafeteria and brought him a coffee, first to be a good host, but also because if that bear made the effort to come into the hospital to the coffee kiosk, he must have been really needing a caffeine fix. I'm sure no one told him about the drive-thru Tim Hortons down the road. Naturally the days following the "bear incident" there as chatter everywhere about being prepared for unexpected visits to the hospital, what would happen if the bear got aggressive? The discussion reminds me of the Simpsons episode where there is a Bear Patrol instituted following a bear strolling into Springfield. I wouldn't be surprised if we get a patrol of our own soon. Yesterday as I was walking into the office, there were a few fine upstanding members of "protection services" (that's fancy talk for security guards) talking about other potential animal attacks. According to these fine upstanding public servants, bears are not the issue - in all seriousness - cheetah's and jaguars are really what we need to be looking out for! Clearly we are wiser than the residents of Springfield!

Obsessive

How do you know when you are acting in an obsessive manner? I never really considered myself to be someone who is obsessive. I typically lose interest in something about 10 minutes after I learn of it - but every now and again I'll take a moment to think about what I'm doing and realize that there is something off. Take for example my activities over the last 12 hours. I've only sat at my computer during that time for about 45 minutes, and in that time I've listened to a new song that I downloaded from iTunes 12 times. So essentially I've listened to that song over and over, every time I've been at my computer. I bet I have other activities like this that I don't even realize I am doing repeatedly. I'm going to start installing counters on everything to determine - and then diagnose myself as obsessive. I bet I could take sick-leave for that!

** as a follow up, as soon as I posted this and turned off the computer (and the song I am obsessed with), I turned on the radio and the same song was on! So clearly the universe is forcing my obsessive behaviours!

I'm back

Hello everyone,

Yes I realize it has been a very very long time since I have posted anything here. I would like to say that my new city is not all that inspiring - but that would be a lie. It is more like I don't know where to start. Things are very different here than other places I've lived. Cowboy hats and pickup trucks everywhere to start. But that's expected of Calgary - it's practically what the city is known for.

My lack of writing for so many months I will attribute to the big truck running into my car. I'll compare it to the great Stephen King. He was hit by a mini van and had a very difficult time writing following the accident. Not that I'm comparing myself to Mr King, but I think all my great ideas disappeared when I saw that 18-wheeler backing into me.

But now I'm back - with stories coming out of my ears. So ask that you stay tuned. I promise many fantastic anecdotes!

Thanks for reading!

It’s only a scratch …

I must report on the events of yesterday – I was nearly flattened by a tractor trailer! Let me backup … it was a very snowy and icy day (nothing new for this city). I was waiting behind a tractor trailer that was trying to backup into the delivery bay. As the driver was backing up he hit my car – and didn’t even see me or hear me blowing my horn! Luckily the truck only hit my front bumper and there is only a scratch, but imagine having this massive 18 wheeler backup right into your car! So traumatic. All of these people around me couldn’t believe that I got hit – and the driver said “I didn’t hit you” – even though I have the scratch on the car, witnesses, and emotional scars to prove it! Anyway, the event is now over, but I had to share with all my readers.

Other than that traumatic event, nothing else much to report. I spend a lot of time in the car so most of my observations have been driving related – not terribly exciting. I learned that one of my coworker’s husband was involved in a sting operation where fraudulent mechanics were being exposed … that’s rather interesting. But again, driving related.

Safe driving!

Long time no blog...

Hello readers!

Yes I know that it has been a VERY long time since I posted a message here. As you maybe aware, I’ve relocated to the lovely city of Calgary! I have so much to write… but will start by explaining why I haven’t blogged. I’ve got this incredibly energy conscious roommate that seems to think it is a waste of electricity to leave the modem plugged in. I mean really – why leave it plugged in when you’re not using it … it’s not like anyone else in the house requires access to the web! Honestly…so just about any time I want to use my computer, there is no internet connection. Additionally my roommate sleeps about 20 hours a day, and the modem is in her room. So that explains that.

Needless to say I am looking for a place of my own – but this time as a home owner, not a renter. The search continues … let me tell you that the novelty of visiting homes when the temperature is -20 degrees and snow is falling wears off awfully quickly. Everyone think happy thoughts so that I can find my own place soon (and remain connected to the web!).

As my first observation about this booming city … the people are a rather confusing breed. As with most other cities, there are lots of large vehicles in which people commute individually. Saving petrol (or the environment through emissions) is not a high priority since gas is relatively cheap compared to elsewhere in the country. But nearly every home that I’ve visited makes use of high efficiency fluorescent light bulbs. I don’t really get why the choice is made to conserve electricity but not anything else. OH – and they don’t recycle here! It’s so awful. There are no blue boxes anywhere, so everything literally gets thrown in the garbage. If you want to recycle – you have to take things yourself to the recycling depots. Madness!

So that’s it for now … and I promise to post messages much more frequently. I hope all is well and thank you for reading :)

Happy New Year!

Dear Readers,

Happy New Year to you!

I know I have been a truant when it comes to blogging, but I promise a few entertaining posts in the coming days. I've been on the west coast - where having to wait for a full set of traffic lights is considered "traffic", and not seeing your neighbors for two days is cause for concern. Needless to say there isn't much emphasis put on using a computer, let alone blogging. I can tell you though that over here we have the fanciest telephone that I've ever used. There are two handsets that you can use to call each other! It's so complicated that anytime I go to answer the phone I am convinced that I've done something wrong.

Quite a lot has happened over the past few weeks, including:
- packing up every single thing I own into boxes and moving everything across the country
- moving myself across the country (I didn’t have a box large enough for myself)
- hanging out on the lovely west coast
- going shopping for a new (used) car
- holiday shopping
- moving to the prairies (I’m wearing a toque and gloves on the plane so I’m prepared when I get there)

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday, spent quality time with their family (but not too much time), ate some tasty food, and had some good clean fun.

Happy 2007!
- m

An update...

Hello readers. My apologies for not blogging regularly last week. As you may know, I've decided to become a cowgirl and move to the praries ... so that means lots of preparation (on which I will comment further this week). This past weekend I wrote my professional exam - along with about 1000 other people - most of whom were men over 35. I had the privilage of sitting in front of someone who was a "whisperer" - someone who must quietly read each question aloud to himself, writes down his answer, and then quietly read that aloud to himself. I thought I won the jackpot when I heard him whispers his answers! What luck to sit in front of someone who is just giving answers away! The more I listened though - I wasn't convinced his answers were right, so he just became the annoying whispering guy. All the exam invigilators had Scandinavian names (according to their nametags). Maybe there they breed people with a keen eye for cheaters? Or maybe all these people wanted to play a trick on the candidates and just make up names? I would have done that - only I'd use characters from Three's Company.

You're a mean one...

I don’t think that anyone appreciates being around a mean person. Mean people really do suck. There is no need to be mean … just be nice! I think we’ve all been around people who are mean to us – and it is never pleasant. So in the spirit of the holiday season (since there apparently needs to be incentive to be nice) – everyone just lighten up. Smile at a stranger, say good morning to the coffee shop lady, and hug your neighbor. Spread the love and hopefully the mean people will learn from your excellent example of kindness.

Clementines

I bought some oranges last week ... correction, I bought some "clementines" yesterday - and was quite impressed that this variety of citrus fruit comes in a wooden crate. It just seems so "general store" like to purchase produce in a wooden crate. Rather wasteful though - I've been trying to dissect my wooden crate to determine what type of wood it is made out of. I haven't figured out the mystery though - but the wood is extremely flammable (that I learned with the help of a gas stove). Imagine how the carpentry school dropouts who make these crates must feel when they learn that we don't even reuse the crates but just toss them into the recycling bin. These clementines only come to the shops during the holiday season - but they are accompanied by other orange-like fruit like mandarin oranges. I'm not sure what it is about these fancy oranges, but they are somewhat snobby. The clementines come in a wooden crate, and the mandarin oranges are individually wrapped in a thin green piece of paper. I've seen some mandarin oranges individually wrapped in plastic bags. They sure want to differentiate themselves from the lower class naval orange!

Awards

Why are there so many award shows for celebrities and entertainers? I really don’t understand this. There are so many other talented people in the world, and they rarely get acknowledged. But sing a catchy song and you are all over the radio, television, tabloids, AND you win awards. My mantle looks completely bare, where a one hit wonder’s mangle is full of awards like moon men and grammy’s. I think that everyday people should get more awards … like the “thanks for staying home when you were sick” trophy, the “congratulations for yielding to pedestrians” certificate, and “a fantastic thanksgiving cooking award”. I think these awards definitely would look fabulous on a mantle.