Better than Brangelina

Yesterday at work we were starstruck!

G00GLE, oh yes, that Google, visited our office. We might actually even do some work with them. Oh yes. Workin' with Google. I'm not even going to pretend I wasn't impressed.

The three young women who gave the presentation were smart, fun, solid and totally cool.

But all that aside, we were positively atingle when they gave out

a) Google pens

b) Google notebooks (very nice ones; once I figure out how to load a photo on my father in law's computer, I'll post mine)

c) Warm cookies (no joke)

d) Google stickie notes.

They had us at the pens.

Good grief, Schwarzenegger has his own Rae Days!

Check it out: Arnold's stolen Bob Rae's idea!

"With California on the verge of issuing IOUs, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger moved to conserve cash Wednesday by ordering state workers to take a third day of unpaid furlough each month.

The executive order signed by Schwarzenegger will reinstate "Furlough Fridays," requiring more than 200,000 state workers to take unpaid leaves on the first three Fridays of each month."

Saved the province a bunch of dough, as I'm sure it will California. But ultimately didn't turn out too good for Bob Rae, eh. Or us, since Mike Harris came next. Ugh.

O Canada

What a FUN DAY!!!

This morning, Charlie and I went to the Science Centre, and stayed til after 4. We saw EVERYTHING, and even had a picnic on the park grounds behind it. We have a family membership there, and it's money well spent, I tell you. We put paper fish up the air thingie, we saw a 14-foot python, we saw fish, we played on a zillion different games and activities, we had pizza, we got rained on in the rainforest, we hid in the cold, dark cave, and then bought a Canadian flag and Maple Syrup lollies at the gift shop.

I actually woke up around 6:30, thinking I had to get up to go to work. Nothing is better than realizing it's a holiday, rolling over and going back to sleep.

My hub's making his famous potato salad (oooooh, bliss, makes me love him so much), and lo and behold it's been a gorgeous day, not the horrid rainfest we were expecting.

Later, we're watching fireworks from the balcony.

Happy Canada Day.

Okay, Kim, I dare you not to get chills at this one:

30 days hath June

Does doing a bunch of extra "green" stuff for a month really make a difference?

I think so. I've always liked having a bunch of lights on. It cheers me up and since I've lived in apartment buildings for the last 20 years, I haven't had to pay for hydro much. But doing 15 Earth Hours has made me very conscious of turning off the lights as I leave the room, and not turning on so many in the first place.

As for not buying new stuff, I'm happy with how I did, greenwise, considering I didn't buy anything unnecessary and the clothes I did buy when I sorta fell off the horse were organic, and had no packaging and were from a co-op and I remembered to bring a carrying bag. As for my attempts to not being an impulse consumer, I'm glad I didn't buy the towel, the hair extensions, or the bathmats. I sorta still want the shoes. Which of course means that if I do buy them, they're not impulse. Right? And, on occasion, I do need shoes for various occasions that are not entirely butchie.

It all sounds a bit like rationalization in my mind, but I'm also struggling with how my looks have changed in the past year. I'm wider, my eyelids are drooping (I can feel their weight, eh; it's not my imagination), and I'm just, well, different. My clothes from last year are too small, and I'm delighted to have rediscovered G00dwill because now I know I can get ordinarily expensive stuff like jackets there and they're nice, nearly new and totally great for work. I don't want to look or feel drudgie. I really don't.

In other news: Tomorrow is Canada Day! A holiday right smack in the middle of the week. Hurrah!! I read in the paper today some grumbling about its not being attached to a weekend, but I don't care; it's a gift. Charlie and I are going to go to the ROM or the AGO or something cool like that. Again, say it with me, Hurrah!!!



And, Kimmie and Wendy, check this out, see who you recognize:

The machine

I'm alternately feeling excited about my upcoming days off and long weekends, and overwhelmed at how much work there is on my plate these days.

The work is pretty much all writing, rather than editing, and the thing about that is that sometimes writing takes a lot longer, and sometimes it just doesn't come easily. I like it though, but on days (like today) I struggle to maintain my focus.

Other times, after a good stretch of rampant productivity, my brain gets rubbery and it's difficult to draw out any more material from it.

But the deadlines don't care.

Tomorrow, I have to pull off a small miracle. I had a mini panic-fest once I realized just how much I'm gonna have to churn out. I've done it before though. I have to keep telling myself that.

I've done it before means I can do it again.

I just did a little search for a cool 70s typewriter image. We used to have this exact typewriter! (photo is from this delicious website: Typewriter Museum) I did all my university essays on it, and, in fact it saved my bacon one time when I had to type up a paper during a power outage. My upstairs neighbour could hear me (it was loud cuz you had to whack it really hard), and came down to see if he could borrow it after I was done; he had a paper due the next day too and his electric was useless. Those were the days, eh? I still remember how sore my baby fingers would get. But don't you miss the ding? And the carriage return. I love typewriters.

Bless me father, for I have sinned

... a lot. Or a bit. Or somewhat. Depending on the Pledge-Deity's mood today.

Our apartment this morning was hot. Like Africa hot. I-don't-think-I-can-stay-here hot. I got dressed without opening the curtains or raising the blind so as to prevent the boiling hot sun from further heating up the bedroom. I grabbed the first thing I knew wouldn't make me boil even more, a yellow sleeveless top with a keyhole thingie with a tie. Then I put on the shorts I wore home yesterday, and grabbed a pair of pants to put on when I got to work, folded them up and put them in my bag.

I got to the office, which was very air conditioned, and changed into my pants.

And checked myself in the mirror and saw - Aaaargh - A large, middle-aged rectangle woman with enormous b0s0ms with a teeny tiny head on top. I'd foolishly tucked the yellow top into my shorts, and so it was too wrinkled to wear over the unfortunately high-waisted pants, so I had to tuck them in. Oh dear. I uttered a nasty, sinful oath.

I have gained quite a lot of weight since this time a year ago. It may be the hormone funfest, it may be the meds, it may be my only-recently eschewed snacking, I dunno. I don't even know how much I weigh, but I do know that all my summer clothes are too small.

Usually I only run into wardrobe malfunction danger when I ride my bike, because I choose and pack my clothes quickly and put them on later at work, but I think I was in that dangerous cycling headspace this morning because I had to run downstairs to my bike to remove the seat in order to return it. To The Store.

So as soon as the store opened, I did return the bike seat and the tool thingie, and then coolly went to the women's clothing area and tried on a bunch of items.

And bought.

New things.

Four organic t-shirts, ranging in price from $12-$15. One pair of quick-dry shorts (so I don't have to wear my hub's shorts anymore), and a pair of ultra-light capris.

When I got back to the office, I googled how to look cool wearing a brooch. I had a brooch on my desk that co-incidentally matches the t-shirt I bought (and paid for while wearing it because I was too embarrassed to be seen for another minute in that tucked-in yellow-keyhole getup) and I have my fab G00dwill jacket here today, and I wanted to put the brooch on it without looking any more middle aged than I felt.

This lady's blog came to the rescue, and you have to check it out.

So I'm wearing the brooch low, replacing the button on the bottom pocket (it's a short jacket). And I just got a compliment.

I'm not sure how to feel about breaking my pledge so thoroughly. I'm trying to rationalize it by pointing out the organic stuff. Confessing hasn't really made me feel better. But I look better.

How I'm doing on my green pledges

This month was proclaimed Green Month at work. I thought it was a great idea, and I joined the team. Everyone was to make a pledge and carry it out for the month. Here's the progress on my two pledges.

Pledge I. Buy nothing new. Since June 1, I've bought four new things: two bicycle seats, both of which I'm taking back because neither of the new seats are alleviating my poor bottom's ache; a jackknifey tool thingie for hub for Father's Day, which I'm also taking back; and, just today, I purchased a new sun hat for Charlie for tomorrow - and I think it just looks too weird on him to send him out into the world with it on his adorable head. In sum: I bought four things, and I have to take them back, all four of them.

Kinda weird, eh? Like the retail forces are trying to help me fulfil my pledge. That being said, I still want a bike seat that doesn't injure my coccyx, I still want hub to have that tool thingie to replace the one that was lost, and Charlie still needs a hat (the kids' used clothing store only had teeny hats that didn't fit).

Pledge II. Do 30 Earth Hours. This meant turning off all the electric stuff (except the fridge), and gathering one's thoughts while saving some power - a la the big famous Earth Hour in March. I did 15 of them. And then I stopped. For the sake of fulfilling a pledge, I wish I'd continued. But for my own sake personally, I decided to stop. I was tired of sitting alone in the dark; it was bumming me out, like, a lot. Charlie and my hub were both on board for quite a few of them, but then hub wanted to get stuff done and Charlie eventually objected to brushing his teeth by candlelight.

So, I turned on the lights and hung out with my hub and kid.

Anybody remember this? Better yet, anybody have the 45?

First swim of the year

Here's what today looked like:
Up...
...then down.

I think that was a test

This post should be read with the sound of commercialism, globalization, and third-world manufacturing NOT being encouraged, while looking at these coins, knowing that they were not spent today.

This is the story, in five parts, of a test that I passed. But with surprising difficulty.

Part I. I've always had a hard time finding shoes that fit my funny feet properly, and that don't hurt. Even when I was little, shoes seldom fit me properly, yielding weird bumps on my heels and the sides of my feet.

My feet are small and wide with very high arches and teeny piggies. My baby toes are usually squished inside my footwear. And in recent years, I developed(?) got(?) Metatarsalgia on my left foot, which is very painful unless I wear shoes that fit and support me just so. The situation also meant I had to give away most of my shoes.

Part II. I made a pledge to not buy anything new for the month of June. So far, so good.

Part III. At lunchtime today I noticed one of my colleagues putting on her coat and grabbing her purse. She is also a dear friend and I'd eaten my lunch during a seminar, so I was keen to get outside, away from the office. I asked her where she was going, and she replied, "W1nn3rs." Before she had completed her uttering of the word, I'd grabbed my coat and umbrella. Wisely, I left my wallet behind.

Part IV. Items I saw, coveted, and decided I wanted to buy today at W1nn3rs: Cool, fun hair extensions ($8.00), a gorgeous, beautifully striped beach towel (I forget the price, but it was a deal), a lovely cream/green/beige chenille bath mat with a little mini mat ($19.00 for both), both of which would match our bathroom and I should point out that our current bathmat's rubber backing is getting kinda crumbly, and two WONDERFUL pairs of shoes that a) fit, and b) looked good, and, best of all c) didn't hurt.

One pair were coppery-coloured ballet flats. I've always always always LOVED ballet flats, but because of my metatarcal problem, most of the ones I've ever tried on hurt my feet terribly. The other pair were cool, black, awesome Hu5h Pupp13s with flowers imprinted on them. My friend did point out their similarity to the my current shoes I was holding in my hand. BUT the Puppies were about $70 cheaper than the my current ones (which are wearing out; really, and I can only get them way, way over at the Eaton Centre). The thing about W1nner5 is that it's pretty much hit and miss whether you find shoes in your size that fit, feel good, look good, don't hurt, etc., even if you don't have funny feet with the metatarsal thingie issue. And sometimes when you go back for something you didn't buy, it's gone.

Part V. I left them all. I didn't buy any of them. Not the hair, nor the towel, mats, or shoes.

I know that some people when they do the "don't buy anything new" thing exclude things like shoes and underwear and stuff like that, classifying them as necessities. But I didn't set up such a rule when I made my pledge. And it's been pretty darn easy for me up til now, largely because I don't go into the stores. I haven't so much as resisted temptation but avoided it.

I want the shoes.

My colleague, who, did I mention is also a dear friend, bought me a cafe mocha before we went back to the office.