Upchuck the Kool-Aid

Today, for the first time in at least two years, I bought toothpaste that wasn't Colgate Total, which is, of course, the most advanced toothpaste for your superior oral health. I bought Arm & Hammer instead. I feel a little guilty.

Sometimes advertising = good

Oh those crazy advertisers!

I just read this news story about an ad encouraging economic development in South Korea that uses a picture of the Calgary skyline. My first reaction was to think that the art director/designer who picked the photo didn't know what city it was and didn't think anyone else would know either. But the CEO of Calgary Economic Development thinks otherwise. Says he, "This is a testament to our city and what we're doing here." I wonder what the art director's boss had to say about the whole thing.

Matt is not dead

Don't worry; Matt's appendix hasn't ruptured. He's not dead. He's actually feeling better. If he was dead, though, I think this would be a good picture to blow up really big and have framed and displayed at the funeral.

iGoogle poetry

Something on Chelka's friend Amber's blog made me think that horoscopes would make really good poems if you just spaced them out all funny. So here's my horoscope poem for today:


Confronting an
                           emotional situation
                                                             today
          sounds like
          a
          smart idea,

but

                            be ready
              to turn down your volume
    so you don't come on

                                                  too strong.


On second thought, I think I have too much graphic design training in me to space out a poem like a poet instead of like a designer.

MIL blog

I read this blog post today and it made me think of Matt's mom. I wish she had a blog. That would be a good one to read, I bet.

Watch out, boys

Boom boom bah boom.

4th of July in Canada

Today has been rainy and cool. In short, crappy weather for the 4th of July. Even if there were supposed to be fireworks tonight, they would have been rained out. Our inaugural use of the football helmet mini grill coincided with the heaviest rains of the day (and the best crash of thunder I've heard in this country yet, which caused me to pump my fist in the air and cry out, "WOOOO!"). The grilled corn was tasty if not local, as were the traditional Independence Day root beer floats, but it was just not the same spending the 4th of July indoors on a gray, rainy day.

So I spent the day researching Canadian brand presence. Actually, I didn't. But I did just come across this article on the CBC website that lists the top ten iconic Canadian brands. They are the following:

1. Cirque du Soleil


2. Ski-Doo


3. CBC


4. Roots


5. Toronto Maple Leafs


6. Montreal Canadians


7. Calgary Stampede


8. IMAX


9. CN Tower


10. Terry Fox

I'm not sure how accurate this list is, as the agency who compiled the list admits that these were "not necessarily the most valuable iconic brands, but were the special favourites of our panel." I guess as an American, and therefore an outsider, I shouldn't speculate on iconic Canadian brands. But as an American, and this being the 4th of July, I feel it is my patriotic duty to butt in and have my say. And my say is thus: I didn't know Ski-Doo, IMAX, and Roots were Canadian companies. Upon arriving in Montreal, I was in fact confused as to why all these Canadians had Roots logos all over everything when the US Olympic athletes had Roots logos on their outfits in Athens.

I have much to learn about Canada. But not today. Today is for stars and stripes! I'm going to see if I can find fireworks on TV.

Past and present residents of Tallahaseee and Woodville

Last night I dreamt that on August 1, Matt and I were moving into a house with his brother Dan. I think the house was in Tallahassee. It was certainly in a nasty hot climate like that. Where the garage door should have been was a giant screen door, and the space that should have been the garage was the living room. There was still a drive way leading up to the garage/living room though, and to the side of it there was a two-sided, somewhat rounded bookcase. We were only allowed to put our stuff on one side. The neighbors got the other. I was really not looking forward to this move, because I liked our current apartment better than this trashy house.

This is completely unrelated to the above paragraph. Danger Kitty has gotten so much nicer in his old age. He turned five a month and a half ago. He follows Matt around all the time just like always, but he's much more cuddly and insistant that Matt pet him. When I am home alone, Danger Kitty gets lonely after a while and come over to squeak at me and rub against my legs. It's nice to have a 20+ pound ball of fur wanting to love you.

Edward Abbey rules

I read this quote on the 90% Emissions Reduction email list.

"One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast....a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards."

From a speech that Edward Abbey gave in Colorado, which was published in High Country News in the 1970s or early 1980s under the title "Joy, Shipmates, Joy."

yumyum

Right now I am eating homemade yogurt made from local, organic milk topped with strawberry-rhubarb sauce made from local strawberries and rhubarb. This is the first time I've ever had rhubarb that I can remember and definitely the first time I've ever cooked with it. The sauce turned out sweeter than expected, and the yogurt turned out more sour than expected, so the mix is delicious. I hope you are enjoying fresh local produce wherever you are!