Wednesday, March 26, 2008

How to put a crimp in your blogging....

...watch cool videos on other blogs; here's one:










Produce fake ads for other bloggers (and SQUEEE with delight when you get a "You Rock" email from the blogger in question... and an amazing coffee table book! Woo Hoo!):




Start applying for jobs and studying for Nursing Registration exams...


But the best way by far?


Get a puppy!!!


Gibson, the wonder dog! When he grows up, he'll look like this

Friday, March 14, 2008

12 (other things) on 12...

[This is from the 14th of March--originally I forgot about the 12 of 12 so I started a new post then I forgot about the new post too and only posted this on the 25th of March--what a dork!]

Oh crap. I completely forgot about 12 of 12 this past month. Leah and I were walking to swimming and there was a great shot of the sun on what, in spring summer and fall, is a lawn in front of City Hall. At the moment it is a ploughed snow feild about 5 feet high and very impressive.

Despite having missed the whole show, I still want to play along-ish... I'm totally bending (breaking actually) Chad's rules, but I'm going to put myself through an a technicality and hope that the judges, well, look the other way.

1 of 12: I'll start things off with an actual picture of mine (what a concept! Someone should create a project about that! original photos! Okay, I'll stop...) Anyways, this is a picture from the 12th folder in the "My Pictures" folder on my computer (well, I had to count a bit creatively...). This is my friend Stacie, who I've been thinking about a lot this past month. This is from September when she was here in Ottawa and she's seated at the feet of Nobel Peace prize winner, Lester B Pearson. Here's wishing you peace, Stacie and this bit of 12 of 12 fun and frivolity is dedicated to you...





2 of 12: Here's that fabulous Pinball video and 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 song from Sesame Street.





3 of 12: In searching for the first Sesame Street video, I turned up this other one about the Princess Twelvia, who I think must've been the original muse for 12 of 12...



4 of 12: Here is a link to an article from my local GLBTTTIQQ paper, Capital Xtra, about a new series of 12 step programs for the more secular of us who didn't feel quite at home with the "surrender your self to [a choice of deity]" form of 12 step programs.



5 of 12: There are currently 12 oatmeal chocolate chip cookies left from a batch of like 40 ish made just last Sunday. So tasty! Here's the recipe:

3/4 c. butter
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1 egg
2 Tbsp water
2 tsp vanilla
2/3 c flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3 c oatmeal
1 tsp cinnamon (this is what really makes it...)
1& 1/2 choc. chips (well, these are what REALLY really makes it
Mix it all in the usual way for cookies (dry together, wet together, add dry to wet in portions, don't over mix) and drop onto a greased/parchment lined sheet spaced about 2 inches apart. Don't flatten dough blobs. Bake at 350deg for 12-15 minutes. Try not to scarf 40 in 4 days...

6 of 12: A cube has 12 edges and six faces



7 0f 12: Here apparently, is the deal if your Birth Day is on the 12th:



  • You possess a high degree of artistic talent that emerges in almost everything you take seriously, your home, your cooking, the way you express yourself, and any artistic endeavor you commit to.


  • You are highly imaginative and quick-witted, allowing you to be the life of a party, entertaining people with stories, jokes, or witty remarks.


  • You have plenty of vitality, your body heals quicker than most people's.


  • You are especially talented in the verbal and writing skills. These areas, as well as acting and other performing arts, should be cultivated.


  • You have a great deal of enthusiasm and make an excellent salesperson.


  • You can make the best out of a given situation and are easily satisfied.


  • You are emotional, friendly, sociable, and affectionate.


  • You can also be moody and given to self-indulgence, especially when it comes to feelings of depression or self- pity. Be careful not to waste time and energy on trivial matters and keep your priorities in perspective. The keys to your success are commitment and discipline.


  • You must learn to focus your considerable creativity in a given area or field. This will keep from scattering your energies in an endless number of areas


8 of 12: Here are the current Canadian #12s on the best seller's lists:



Fiction (hard cover): Confessor by Terry Goodkind


Fiction (paper back): Revelation by Karen Travis

Non-Fiction: From the Fifteenth District by Mavis Gallant



Canadiana: My Years As Prime Minister by Jean Chretien



Children's : Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel



9 of 12: The 12th element on the periodic table is Magnesium. It was recognised as an element in 1755, but wasn't isolated until 1808. It's name comes from the Greek work Magnesia, a district of Thessaly. Here's it's electronic structure:




10 of 12: There is way more information on the 12 hour clock than I'd imagined.... All I know is there's never enough time for sleeping!



11 of 12: 12% of Canadian men work for less than $10/ hour whereas nearly 20 % of Canadian women do:



"Considerably more women than men earned less than $10 per hour. In 2005,
19.7% of women and 11.8% of men worked for under $10/ hour. Rates were highest
among young adults aged 15 to 24, with 54.7% of women and 42% of men earning
less than $10 an hour in 2005. "



[From the Canadian Council of Social Development]



I naively went to this site looking for minimum wage info, sadly there is no provincial mimimums anywhere near 12 bucks an hour...



12 of 12: What to choose, what to choose... I could go with the number of times I swore when stupid blogger's picure uploader screwed up or the formatting changed randomly which = 12 to the power of 12 *stupid formatting*, [edit: I could go with the number of days this post has been sitting around either in progress or forgotten about which = approx 12], I could go with the fact that Geoffrey the archbishop of York was born on 12 12 1212, or that the 12th thing to come up on Google with 12 as the search term is a thingy on the 12 apostles. [edit: this is where I originally stalled now I have something exciting(to me) to put in] But really, I'll go with one Stacie will appreciate: the number of times our dog Gibson has peed outside 12







Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Totally Mendelbrot, Buffy style

Improv Everywhere is amazing. Google 'em. Also good is their bit where they took over a set of listening stations at a Virgin Megastore and spontaneously started a dance routine. Or when they infiltrated Home Depo and then all started shopping in slow-mo for a set amount of time.

Thanks to Joe.My.God for posting this.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Call me unCanadian, but I hate KD and all it's elbow-shaped relatives

Please, don't eat this:


I have an aversion to macaroni pasta. Fresh or dried no matter. It's the shape. It's just wrong. Wrong in anything: tuna fish casserole, hamburger casserole, anything. It's like the parts that weren't supposed to make it into your food recognisable: the veiny bits or if under-cooked, the cartilaginous bits. Poorly drained, you will be treated to a bleb of luke-warm water with every bite. Fluorescent cheese doesn't mask this problem, it makes it worse.



I have pretty catholic tastes when it comes to food and will try anything once, but I know what I don't like, and it's name is macaroni. Well, and whipped cream but that one has exceptions (thinly on pumpkin pie, sparingly with fresh berries), with macaroni there are no exceptions.



A friend's mum has the same aversion; friend and his dad had to wait for nights she was out to indulge in KD or the like. 2 like minded people out there, I know there must be more.