The Day After...

Sometimes men suck.

Don't get me wrong. I believe in marriage and all that, but it's hard when you think you meet a guy who's head and shoulders above the others and then find out he's not. Sigh. Oh for the days of arranged marriages. Just kidding.

Just had to rant...

The Morning After

Sometimes politics suck.

Don't get me wrong. I believe in the democratic process and all that, but it's hard when you see a candidate as being head and shoulders above the opponents and the voters don't see that. Sigh. Oh for the days of enlightened despotism. Just kidding.

Just had to rant...

Do The Right Thing

So, all you Canadians out there. What are you doing Monday?? What did you say? Did I hear anything beside "getting my butt to my polling station"??

For those who may still be hazy on the process, go here and they give you information on your candidates, where to vote, etc.

I'm not going to tell you how to vote*, but I will say that voting itself is very important. Especially coming out of a minority government and possibly going into another. Be strategic. Know your candidates. Understand the issues.

But, most importantly - get out and vote.

*Unless you're in Halifax, in which case you should be voting for Andrew. Note the lovely pictures of the Town Clock. I took those!

Updates

Cuz I know you're all on the edge of your seats waiting to hear how things turned out....

- Name Cards - After I FINALLY got my ream of card stock I put the bag in my trunk for safe keeping until I needed it on Monday. The temperature then dropped 40 degrees and my trunk froze shut. At the last minute I was able to free the card stock and all was well.

- Oh Canada party - I couldn't find "Talking To Americans"! Argh. And there's no place to download it. Anyone know where I can find a copy? Other than that, things went relatively well. People got a respectable amount of trivia right (and no one fell for the "Where's the National Igloo located?" question) and Janet managed not to say anything to embarass me too badly. We also discovered that Canadian Bacon is a Michael Moore movie. Stick to comedy Michael.

Now I'm back to my overwhelming regular life with no more parties on the horizon to look forward to.

Staples - That was like brain surgery

So, for an upcoming event I need to have name tent cards. You know - the things that you put in front of you at a meeting with you name hastily scrawled on it. Then the speaker can see that you have a question, but is unable to decipher what you wrote, so calls you by the wrong name anyway? Or, the person next to you decorates with some cutesy happy face or something? Yes, them.

So, I go to Staples this morning to get a box. Easy, right? Well, getting the real thing is $23 for a box that doesn't even have enough for my event. Plus, they're half the size I want.

So, I get creative. I'll get a box of card stock and fold them myself. Easy right?

I look everywhere. No card stock. So, I flag down a sales associate and ask where I might find card stock. Here's a re-creation of that conversation:

Her: What is card stock?
Me: You know, like 90 pound paper?
Her: 90 pounds?
Me: You know, heavy cardboard paper?
Her: Cardboard paper?
Me: Like for report covers.
Her: Oh, we don't have any of that.
Me: You don't have any heavy paper?
Her: No, we don't carry that.
Me: Why don't you carry that?
Her: Because they don't make it anymore.
Me: Who's they?
Her: (clearly quite exasperated with me) They just don't.

End of conversation. I was quite proud of myself for not force feeding her one of those annoying "Easy Button" toys they were selling.

So, I come back to the office and go to staples.com to find card stock to prove they carry card stock. Search for "card stock". Nothing. Note cards. Photo paper. No card stock.

Now before I go any further I have to explain that I spent several hours yesterday listening to a speech by a senior Staples executive talking about the brilliance of "Staples - That's easy." as their new slogan and brand differentiation.

So, I check WB Mason. Can't order from there as an average person. Darn.
So, I check Michaels and Joanns. They have card stock, but it's all in cutesy colors or patterned. Not quite going to cut it.
So, I check Office Depot. They have it! Fantastic. Where's the closest store? 75 miles away. Okay, this is a problem.

Eventually I go back to Staples and decide to browse under paper. What's one of the categories?? "Card Stock". Under which they had (you guessed it), card stock. Now, why exactly would a search for "card stock" not retrieve an item titled "card stock"??

So, I print out the page and take it to Staples. "Oh," they say, "you mean card stock".

Seriously?!? Am I speaking a foreign language?

Staples - that was SOOOO not easy.

I hope everyone's happy with their name tent cards!

Oh Canada

I'm having an "Oh Canada" party this weekend for a bunch of my American friends. I've made a little Canadian trivial pursuit, I'll be screening "Talking to Americans" (at least until they get offended) and "Canadian Bacon", serving mini donairs and butter tarts..... Oh, and I have a pretty kick ass play list started as the soundtrack to the evening.

All you Canadians out there - anything I'm missing?

Oops

In my good intention to give the blog a new look I lost my links again. I'll get those back up and running soon. Promise...

I'm Not Dead Yet

In the immortal words of Monty Python....

Isn't it amazing? All through the holidays you think "wow - it will be so nice when things slow down in January". Except for the part where they don't.

I came back from holidays and immediately got snowed under with preparation for a work conference (tomorrow) and for a church course (Perspectives - check it out here). All good things, but not the month of hybernation I had anticipated. Sure, I've checked back with Dancing with the Stars and I'm looking forward to catching a little of US National Figure Skating Championships later this week, but mostly that's a few minutes grabbed before I head to bed (which is always much later than I planned). When is this much touted "lull in the action" coming?

So, basically not blogging because no one really cares about the administrative minutia of my current projects and my other thoughts are swirling in and out of my head so fast they never seem to get fully formed.

What we need is a good old-fashioned blizzard so I can legitimately catch up on sleep and all my good intentions.