Wednesday, January 31, 2007

talking to children - tips and tricks

first, observe the following parent child conversations (Thanks to Dave Mitchell for this email contribution):

Here are a couple of things that my son, Isaac, has said:


1. "What are you doing Isaac?" says Mommy.
"Playing with my testicles," responds Isaac.

2. "What are you doing Isaac?" says Mommy.
"I'm not Isaac. I am Pirate Piggy and I'm late for work," yells Isaac as he leaves the room. Mommy shrugs.
Isaac returns with one eye squinted and his right pointer-finger hooked. "Mommy, I brought you a treasure chest. It is full of testicles."

That’s my boy.

Dave


so, what have we learned from this email?

we have learned that obviously it is important to sprinkle the word testicle into the conversation whenever possible.

and thus we conclude today's lesson...

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

contrition (with some smut thrown in for good measure)

so, i'm feeling contrite for my lack of posting. although, in my defense i do point to the week-long migraine which basically incapacitated me.

but then, that would only explain the last week. it would not explain the fact that i haven't written anything remotely interesting since november.

perhaps we'll blame the gods. i'm not sure how, or why, but they seem a handy scapegoat in this case...

i do have a brilliant day to blog about that involves much schadenfreude (for others, not me, since it would be at my expense...), it involves a migraine and a comedy of errors. but frankly i don't have the energy to write it all our just now.

so, i will appease you with this tiny tale...

somehow over the last week 'the word of the day' has been instituted at our office. there is important context here. first, the only participants in the word of the day game are the bad asses in our office (of which i am proudly one). second, some of the participants do not speak english as their first language.

last week on wednesday the word of the day was "rack", as in "hey baby, nice rack!". when one co-worker started walking through the office announcing she had two racks we quickly needed to correct her and point out that two boobs equal one rack...

i was out of the office on thursday and friday, so these are heresay...

i heard that thursday's word of the day was "balls", as in "wow, he's got some big balls on him!". or for those of you who prefer to get right to the point, testicles.

i believe friday's word was smudge. personally i don't understand how that qualifies since it is not dirty or potentially work inappropriate at all in any way.

today the word of the day was "smut".

the best part of the word of the day game is getting the people who don't speak english as their first language (i'm thinking now of one lovely francophone in particular who for the purposes of this post we will call glitter bear, because, well, i feel like it...) guess what it is that they think the word of the day means. today when we announced to glitter bear at my birthday lunch that the word of the day was "smut" she guessed that it was 'women with boobs that hang down really low'. after chuckles (i've spoken of chuckles in the past) managed to bring her self back up from the booth bench which she'd fallen onto while laughing we informed glitter bear what smut was (harder to describe than you'd think), and told her that the word for 'women with boobs that hang down really low' is actually a collection of words and they are: "women with boobs that hang down really low". it didn't occur to me to ask, but i now find myself wondering if there is a french word for 'women with boobs that hang down really low'.

Monday, January 29, 2007

birthday wishes from my mum

via her blog my mum sent me a strip-o-gram for my birthday...

Sunday, January 28, 2007

ughhh

my poor mum.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

day 4

i'm on day 4 of a migraine.

i am also very grumpy.

it's possible there is some kind of corelation here...

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

a Toronto-centric post on eyebrow threading

i've decided to try threading for my eyebrows instead of waxing because i was talking to an esthetician as she was waxing my eyebrows last time and i was saying how i like them kind of bushy and natural looking, i just want they stray stuff cleaned up. she said that to achieve that look i should try threading.

so, that means i'm now looking for somewhere to get my eyebrows threaded.

does anyone know of a good place/person for threading in toronto?

Monday, January 15, 2007

a report-back...

so, i didn't make it to an art opening on friday.

in fact, i didn't make it anywhere.

i can't even remember if we went out for dinner after work on friday. oh, wait, yes i do. john and i picked up his birthday present (a pair of bluntstones), we went to chinatown (happy 7) for dinner, and i got a much-needed haircut.

then i went home to bed. i think i was in bed by 9 or so.

i had one of the worst colds i've ever had a couple weeks ago, i missed a full week of work because of it, and i think it's still hanging on ever-so-slightly. i don't feel sick, but i'm constantly exhausted (and now i have a cold sore, fun times!).

so, the crux of this is that although i had big plans of being social and active and 'out in the world' this weekend, instead i spent a lot of time sleeping.

although, having said that, this weekend we did find time to
- pick up john's present
- go out for dinner together
- get my haircut
- go see children of man (amazing movie, but difficult emotionally, i knew nothing about it, i was expecting fluff, it wasn't fluff...)
- pick up a free washer and dryer, this time not from freecycle (i have waxed poetic on freecycle ad nausium, so i'll leave it alone for now) but from craigslist in the 'free' section.
- have dinner with john's brother and sister-in-law

so, all in all, not a terribly unproductive weekend after all. it's just that in between all the things on that list was me sleeping. last night i went to bed at 8:30.

tonight i was supposed to hang out with a friend who had to cancel because of the weather, and although i miss him terribly and would love to see him, i will admit to you that i was a tinsy bit relieved. it means i can go to bed at 8:30 again tonight. ;)

Friday, January 12, 2007

art openings galore...

as part of my movement to reclaim my life (i know that i talk about reclaiming my life an alarming amount, it's because it's really easy for me to let it slip away as i get sucked deeper and deeper into my work...) i have decided that friday nights i am going to go to art openings.

there is one challenge with this decision, most art openings tend to happen on thursday nights. but this is toronto, it's big enough that there are usually a couple on a friday night.

there are a few ideas behind this.

first, it is a very low commitment activity, it takes half an hour, an hour if you really like the work. you show up, drink a glass of wine and peruse the art. it means that when it's done you can either go home and veg for the night, or decide to stay out and go to a bar or something because the night is still young. lower time commitment=more likely to happen.

second, it means that we might actually discover some new artists we like (or hate, either way it will spark discussion...) hell, we might even find some exciting new art to buy! i'm getting itchy for some new art, especially since we will have a whole new house to put art in, all that space, so exciting!

third, there is always the possiblity of meeting like-minded people at events like this, you know you already have at least one thing in common. the idea of meeting new people, though daunting because i don't have enough time for the people i already know, is exciting because i like having a wide circle of friends.

and finally, well, it's cheap and it gets us out of the house.

having said all that, i'm not sure if we're going to go to one tonight or not. there are four openings that i'm considering for tonight, but i'm also bloody exhausted and might need to completely collapse. we'll have to see if i can get out...

also, right now i'm just looking at listings in Now for art show receptions, but if anyone has suggestions of where else to look i'd be happy to hear them.

have a good weekend everyone!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

an announcement

it occurs to me that some of you may not know this yet. so, here's the announcement:

john and i bought a house.

it all happened very quickly. we bought it just before christmas, it closes january 19th.

it's not a house we're going to move into, it's our 'country home'.

we couldn't afford to buy a place in the city, so we went further afield. we got a place about 2 hours out of the city. we'll treat it like a cottage, only it's a 3 bedroom story and a half and we can go there in the winter.

it's a good thing.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

come on people, step up!

my mum has apparently gotten 4 interested chef's from her post on her blog, and none from her post on my blog.

lets get those networks rolling!

not that i'm competative or anything...

Monday, January 08, 2007

looking for a chef (well, multiple chefs actually...) - a guest post

Need chefs who can write - or not write.

I'm Mainja's Mum and I need your help finding a chef - 5, 6, or 7 chefs, actually.

I'm about to start a cooking and food related blog (because I want to be one of the billion's person to have a food blog) and I need chefs to either write posts or to tell me the info and have me write the posts. Probably one post a week from each, depending on how many I can find.
Here's a surprise - I can't pay actual money up front but will be monetizing the site and will be splitting the revenue. It's not a get rich quick approach (if you know any of those let me know) but should build a steady revenue stream over time. It'll probably take at least 6 month for the blog to build a readership.

It is an opportunity for a chef to blog without the work of having a blog and to build some credibility. Of course I’m happy to work with chefs who are already famous, as long as I make a ton of money too.

Chef ProfileWhat kind of person am I looking for?
• A chef who loves to cook (duh!) and loves helping non-chefs.
• Someone who will commit to about 3 hours a week.
• Great if they can write so we can hear their voice but if they can’t I’ll write the post from their info.
• A chef with access to a computer and some degree of computer literacy.
• Someone who can scale their advice to recipes and instructions for small meals and kitchens as opposed to restaurant cooking.

Blog Profile
• Ask the chef blog
• Pantry basics
• Kitchen equipment – pots and pans, knives, small appliances
• Suggestions to update old favourites – eventually based on questions and requests from readers
• What can I maker for dinner if this is all I have in the house – based on requests from readers
• Other stuff – what would you like to see on a food blog?

Mainja’s Mum's Profile
• Web designer blogger
• Foodie
• Not a bad cook
• Writer
• Real estate sales in France

Your Help
• Do you know any chefs? Ask them if they’re interested, at least in knowing more and send them this post
• Send a link to this post to anyone that you think might know a chef
• Send a link to this post to anyone who might want to buy a house in the south of France

For more info please e-mail me at sam@fortheloveofwork.com

Thanks

Mainja's addtion - anyone have suggestions on where to or how to find chefs? i'm thinking maybe craig's list, but anywhere else?

Thursday, January 04, 2007

so i made it to work...

i'm still sick. but now i'm sick at work.

the problem is that my whole unit is away this week, i'm the only one here. if i'm home sick then there is no one here.

there's stuff that has to get done that can't wait.

besides which, i feel better than i have in almost a week.

however, i still feel, look and sound miserable.

as a result i'm being ostracised at work, and rightfully so. i walk down the hall to a chorus of voices calling out "sicky!" "germs" "keep away!"

it's uplifting.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

sick and tired

I'm here to whine for a minute.

I'm sick as a dog.

I've been sick off and on since Thursday evening.

Friday night it hit me full force.

And today, well, today I am still sick.

sicky sick sick.

okay, I'm done whining (in this forum) for now.




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