July 02, 2008

Here's where I've been, how about you?

Breathe in. Exhale. Wooooooosh. Do you hear that sound? That's me, finally sitting still for just a moment, after two jam-packed months that included 10 planes, 2 road trips, and a house move. Last night I (quite accidentally, actually) got 8 hours of sleep, and miracle of all miracles, woke up much more rested this morning than I've been awhile, which also meant I wasn't Grumpy the Narcoleptic Grouch all day. This is good, I think I'm going to go with it.

I'll be doing my best to stick around home this weekend, continuing to catch up on sleep and some other projects, playing with Pico, 'blading, swimming, all that good stuff. Right now though, it's time to think about winding down for the night, seeing if I can get another decent night's sleep, and off for a busy and hopefully productive day of work before the 4th of July weekend.

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June 13, 2008

Airline fever, and a note about The Great Walk to Beijing

Hi there everyone! It's been a very busy week over here. I'm a little wiped, just got off plane #10 in 5 (or 6?) weeks in the wee hours of yesterday morning, coming back from Chicago! I was there for Internet Retailer Conference, which was a great experience to have, both booth time and sitting in on speaker sessions.

Right now, though, airports, airplanes and I may need a bit of time off from each other. Or at least for this weekend! ;) I am getting a really good sampling of a lot of the airlines in North America, though! In the last 12 months, I've been on flights (sometimes more than one) with all of the following: Southwest, Northwest, American, Alaska, US Airways, United, Air Canada, and WestJet. Otherwise known as my list titled "These are the Daves airlines I know, I know, these are the Daves airlines I know." One day I'm going to have to write up a post about things to do on an airplane when you're grounded on the tarmac for an hour without Internet access and mildly bored out of your mind, that won't get you kicked off the plane. Tip #1 is to make sure you've rented a movie from the iTunes Store. I watched "Stardust" on my flight out to Chicago, and girly as it's going to sound, absolutely LOVED it!

I'm on lunch right now, and as we head into the weekend on this beautiful Friday the 13th, I wanted to make a note about a good cause I'd love for you all to support, if you're able.The awesome Aussie boys of Juke Kartel are taking part in a cancer research fundraiser called The Great Walk to Beijing, which will support both cancer research and funding for building the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia. You can read more about the centre and its purpose here, and can make a donation or sponsor walkers at the site. To sponsor Juke Kartel's walk, you can click here or on the banner below to be taken to that section of The Great Walk to Beijing site. It's sad to say, but we've all lost either relatives, family friends, or family pets (or all of these) to this horrible disease, or know someone who has. Even if you can only read up on the centre, the stories, the strides being made and what the event's all about, education is a great thing. If you'd like to support cancer research and treatment, all it takes is $10, and you can dedicate your donation to those you know and love who've battled cancer. Thank you.

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June 04, 2008

You can take the girl out of Canada, but you can't take the innate Canadian-born need to watch the Stanley Cup finals out of the girl...

Or, "An Open Letter to the CBC," that would begin something like this:

Dear CBC.ca:

Look. I *know* it was probably prompted by the laws of the land, but c'mon. Since when does the Internet have borders? You know what I'm talking about. That... ugh... f-word. Dare I even say it? That firewall, magical filter you have detecting IP addresses, that would let your scripts-o-video-player-on-high know when someone outside of Canada would try to be accessing the live video stream of Stanley Cup playoff games on CBC Sports.

And as I try to load the video stream in the player, I can sense your scripts laughing and pointing, saying "Look! Isn't that cute? An ex-pat trying to watch the playoffs. Hahahaha. I don't think so, cos if you're not here suffering through 6 months of winter followed by the equally brutal season of Canadian Idol like the rest of us, then you clearly have not earned the right to watch the final moments of the quest for Lord Stanley's cup on a Crown corporation's video player. Should have thought of that BEFORE you left, chickie!" Bugger.

And so on it would go, but I'm going to stop here, and give you a little bit of back story. Here in the U.S., the Stanley Cup playoffs were being broadcast on NBC, and yes, normally on any given day, I'd have NBC. However, I moved over the weekend, and somehow when I scheduled a satellite re-hook-up for the coming weekend, I didn't factor the playoffs into the equation. While ABC, CBS, and even the CW are all part of California's equivalent to Canadian "farmervision" (don't require cable or satellite), apparently NBC deems itself above all that jazz and does not make an appearance in the free TV lineup. Bugger.

So two nights ago, during the triple overtime game, I found another TV to watch the game on. Tonight though, was a different story. I tried more ways to get access to a broadcast than I should probably admit to in writing. Well, desperate times call for creative search engine queries. And at last, the result I was looking for, courtesy a kind group of folks posting over at Yahoo!Xtra (New Zealand) Answers. Third period, and YES, I could watch the rest of the game! Crisis averted. Where there's a will, and the help of kind folks sharing information across the globe, there is a way to watch the final game of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Let us all bless the Internet.

Time spent researching ways to access the game broadcast online: 2 hours at home, plus another half hour at lunch, plus an hour or so last night. (Um. A lot. What? See my post title.) Getting to watch the final game of the Stanley Cup playoffs? Worth every second.

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June 01, 2008

Happy one year Cali anniversary

Today is my one year anniversary of being a California girl. I remember everything about this day, last year, from Karen dropping me off at the airport in Ottawa, early in the morning, to lugging my three jam-packed suitcases through the customs area at Pearson airport, to posting a blog from the airport about moving out here, to arriving here and the kind man who helped me stack my jam-packed suitcases onto a luggage cart, to the incredible obstacle course of getting myself and my luggage cart to the car rental area, to finally being on the freeway driving to my new home. Then, once I was here, going out for dinner with Jen and Adam, and seeing a tumbleweed tumbling its way across a street we were driving on.

The last year has been one of the busiest of my life, filled with so much change and growth, learning and loving and laughing and fun, getting to do all the things I've wished for and worked for since I was very young. Moving clear across the continent on my own, away from my family and close friends and familiar surroundings, is not something easy to do... but it was the RIGHT thing to do, what I needed to do to actually, truly, finally live my life and discover my dreams, and just let go and start being me. It was both the craziest and BEST decision I've ever made.

So one year later, I sit here in my living room, on my big comfy red couch, with Pico curled up beside me, and am thankful. What would life be like if I hadn't been willing to dream? One of the things so many people noticed upon my moving to California was how much happier I sounded, and it's true. While I have days where I miss the people I'm closest to in the world like crazy, I'm also the happiest I've ever been. Because I'm living, really and truly. And I want to thank everyone who supported the decision I made last May. I love you, my family, and my friends. And thank you, Universe, for this gift of the life I'm living, the love that surrounds me, and the realization of these dreams.

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May 21, 2008

A good way of shooting yourself in the foot, or, how to destroy the airline industry, one user fee at a time

It could be because I'm rundown, fighting a cold and fever, and therefore have less patience and zero mind-to-keyboard filter. Or, it could be because this is one of the more messed up lines of thinking and business plans that I've ever come across. Either way, what I'd like to know is what in the name of actually getting people to travel is the airline industry thinking?

No, I'm not talking about the fee for a second checked bag - that's old news. It's the fee for the FIRST checked bag proposed by American Airlines that has me going jigga-wha?

Yes, I realize the ever-skyrocketing cost of fuel has hurt the industry badly. It's hurt just about every industry. But in an economy where the ripple effect of fuel costs has been less disposable income because of it costing more to fill up your car, higher heating costs (if you use gas heat), higher food prices probably because of transportation costs (and, of course, droughts), higher public transportation costs, and other current economic factors such as the number of people having to sell or foreclose on their homes, do they honestly think adding yet ANOTHER fee on top of all the others is really going to ENCOURAGE people to fly?

Admittedly, I'm far from a number cruncher, so I could be speaking out of turn. Still, in the long run, don't you think this will just discourage people from travelling? Already, there's so much that can't be taken in a carry-on bag. And hey, they've reduced the number of those that can be taken on board too. Maybe we should just start sending our luggage to our travel destinations by overnight courier. Eventually, I'm sure it will be a cheaper alternative.

So let's think about the effect of discouraging people from travelling, shall we? While the business travellers will still travel, how about the leisure travellers? How about family vacations? Not only could the ever-mounting fees piling up dissaude families from travelling, or cause them to travel less, but they could also prevent those who do travel from partaking in what goes hand-in-hand with tourist attractions: buying memorabilia. Why? Because they're going to need to add a whole lot more to the sticker price of souvenirs just to get them back home.

So there we have one ripple effect: less people travelling to tourist destinations, so less $$ for the airlines, less $$ for the hotel, restaurant, and related services industry, less $$ spent in these cities, and there we go, another dig at the economy.

How about at the airlines themselves? Already the number of flights are being reduced. Less office staff, less ticket counter staff, less airport staff, less ground crew, and so on we go, down the line. With less people booking flights, what about travel agents?

You can probably see where I'm going with this. And sure, maybe my outlook is a little extreme. But before we start offloading more user fees onto people and sing its praises because it's not actually a tax (coughahemshadesofCanadacoughahem), let's think this through. Do you want people travelling, or do you want a whole lot of empty seats on the flights you're still offering?

So I'm going to issue a challenge to the rest of the airlines remaining out there. Don't be sheep in the barnyard parade that seems to inevitably happen whenever one airline comes up with some way of extracting more cash from a vein tapped so often it's just about ready to collapse. Otherwise, you might find that the rest of us are perfectly happy to stay right here at home.

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May 19, 2008

Day after Disney syndrome

A big hello from the Orlando airport, where I am trying not to fall asleep as I type. ;) Only 9 hours of travel til I'm back in Cali... let's hope for some sleep on the plane! Writing quickly, I'll fill everyone in later. Hope everyone's had a great weekend!

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May 15, 2008

Song you must hear

Hey all, popping in quickly on my lunch because I just remembered there's something that really needs to be shared! Yesterday, my friend Tina told me about a song she knew I'd love. It's called "Dave Navarro's Goatee Sucks," by Dangerous Dave / The Bugs. Anyone who's heard my Montreal "Tweety Bird" story will know why I think this song is hysterical. That said, no, I'm not dissing Dave Navarro in any way. He's actually a nice guy, or he was to me. The whole thing was just really funny if you know me!

So go have a listen, you might laugh too! You can find it at Dangerous Dave's MySpace page.

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May 14, 2008

Rewrite - it's fixed. And I'm very, very happy to stand corrected!

Well, originally this had been a post about why parts of my website were broken, but that must have been the magic everything needed to get up and running again! So yes, everything is working again, gallery included.

In the meantime, everything's a flurry of activity. May's a busy month over here! I'll be back to blogging soon enough, and will probably actually have things to write about! Always good. ;)

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May 05, 2008

Birthday weekend

I celebrated my birthday this weekend, since I'm in Portland this week for work! I am so, so lucky to have such awesome friends. I had the best night, guys and gals, thank you so much! And a huge thank you to Jen and Adam, for looking after Pico while I was away! Love you all. :)

I'll put some pics up in the gallery when I get a chance!

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April 27, 2008

It could be just me, but I won't be watching this show on purpose

I've had MTV2 on in the background for awhile tonight, and a show came on called "Boiling Points." I don't know how many of you reading have seen this, but basically, it looks like people are being set up (kind of like candid camera), with someone intentionally trying to hit their "boiling point" in a set number of minutes that changes depending on the scenario.

Um. Don't we have enough rage and misdirected anger in the world without intentionally provoking people? I realize they're told later that they're on a show, and I think (from what I can tell), are awarded $100 in cash if they don't completely lose it in the set time. But still. For real?

The show declares itself to be "the most annoying show on TV." I'm going to have to agree with that one.

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Further proof of my complete geekdom (like you didn't already know this)

While catching up on my SEO / SEM / ecommerce / other related "geek stuff" reading for work, I came across a couple of absolutely hilarious things that I have to share. Well, okay. Hilarious is probably relative to the audience, but c'mon. When you get to the image examples of one article, if you haven't been living under a bigger rock than I, at times, have been known to, you'll laugh.

First - a great idea for results returned when searching "Chuck Norris".

Second - the folks over at SEOmoz came up with their suggestions for search results missing from OneBox. This article is funny in and of itself. What makes it even funnier, though, is how it wound up influencing Google Trends results after it was posted.

And now, under the "things that make you go hmmm?" category, can someone explain to me how I've heard that classic '80s song "Glory of Love" on the radio no fewer than four times this week, when, prior to this, I don't think I've heard it since sometime in the '80s or possibly early '90s? Does this go hand-in-hand with the neverending attempts at '80s fashion revival? Cos they're missing something here. It's not the clothes or necessarily the music of the '80s that people old enough to remember that decade cherished. It was the global attitude. Nostalgiacize all you want (hee, new word!) but I'm not sure this is quite the same.

All right. Off to do some errands, then further immerse myself in beautiful weekend laze. Maybe I'll actually get some writing done!

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April 21, 2008

If you're easily offended by weather-related terms, you may not want to read this

Officially, most of Canada is about to disown me. I am... dare I say it... that A-word that will make my closest friends cringe...

Acclimatized. I'm acclimatized. To California. And I like it that way.

I first realized this last week. The weekend before the one that just passed, we had summer temperatures. It was 30 or 31 C both days. And I'll admit it -- I spent the weekend by the pool. Come Monday, though, the temperatures started to drop. By this weekend, the highs were around 17 C. Now, funny thing. When I look at a forecast and see daytime highs between 15 and 17 C, I think two things. First "Why is it so cold?" and second, "Winter???" It was when I realized that I was thinking these things that I also realized that yup, I'm now a full-out weather wimp.

However, I'm clearly a case of "can't fully take Canada out of the girl" if I can devote that many words to talking about the weather.

So, let's see. There's not a ton that's new over here. Pico had his first haircut during the same summery weekend. I'll have to post a pic here soon. I'm gearing up for a very busy May, which is awesome. Sleep? Who needs sleep? ;) And yes, we're officially heading into The Birthday Zone. Shhhh. For the record, I've been holding at 25 since my 25th birthday (although I may still change that to 26, cos 26 was an amazing year), and in rock years, I think I'll be 22. So, choose whichever one you'd like. Although, I may actually give the actual age I'm going to be a chance. For those who don't know me, yes, it's still in my 20s. And for those at BevMo who think I'm under 21, bless your lovely souls. MUAH!!!

While I've been off in the land of blogging self-exile for a couple of weeks, I have been keeping up with the news. So for those of you who haven't heard this story yet, I'm thinking the world may be ready to welcome Prince William as king. Seriously, anyone who would not only land a helicopter in his girlfriend's backyard, but also use one to pick up his brother on the way to a stag party, is definitely the people's monarchy.

Now, I'm going to go do some catching up on pop culture, so I can rejoin the land of blogging more than once every few weeks again. And by that I mean there's a copy of InStyle magazine practically hopping up and down on the coffee table, it just wants to be read that badly. I'm sure to be back with my usual rants about the second coming of '80s fashion, otherwise known as The Tale of The Mountain of Missing Left Hot Pink Legwarmers (and how they got there). Cheers!

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April 10, 2008

Checking in

Hi everyone... I've been a bit slammed lately with lots to do, but I'll be back with a new post soon. Thank you so much to everyone who's been checking out The Fame Experiment. I appreciate it! Hope everyone is looking forward to a fabulous weekend, wherever you are and whatever you're doing. Lots of love out to you all. :)

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March 31, 2008

The Fame Experiment, Monday night, and things that will only amuse Harry Potter fans

First, an entirely self-serving public service announcement. Above, and below, you should probably see banners for something called "The Fame Experiment". If you'd like to click on one of them, it will take you to The Fame Experiment website. It's not pay-per-click advertising, but in a roundabout way it may help my blog. I'm taking part in the project mainly to study its effects on my blog traffic. New readers are always a good thing! I can explain the logic surrounding that if anyone really wants to know, but it gets a little blah-blah-links-blah-blah-SEO-blah-blah-site-traffic-blah-blah for those who really just want to turn on their computer, plug in a URL, and read. That whole blah-blah thought sequence, though, that's a big chunk of my life. It's actually not as sad as it sounds. ;)

So, all those who click on this banner win........ my eternal gratitude? Good karma? Interesting reading? Newly gained knowledge? Choose a prize! (And seriously, thank you.)

I'm currently collapsed into a heap on my big red couch -- welcome to Monday night. It's not so different from last night, except that Pico isn't up on the couch watching The Italian Job on TV. I'm really not kidding when I say that my dog watches more TV than I do. Wait'll the Stanley Cup playoffs. If I dare to throw his ball and ask him to "fetch!" during a play, he'll exact his revenge that night or the next morning by weaving in and out of the vertical blinds in my bedroom until they're clanging together in a perfect Pico symphony. I'm still kind of scared to see what happens when he realizes his favorite programming no longer comes packaged with the Hockey Night in Canada theme song.

TV time aside, we do co-exist harmoniously. At least until he figures out how to open the Milk Bone cupboard by himself.

I did make it over to the fitness center earlier tonight though, and also took Pico for a walk. When I decided to resume being a Monday night couch potato, I somehow got to looking through old CD backups of computer files and found one from late 2001. I've been reading old blog entries from 2000 and 2001 that were permanently archived offline, and wow. I don't even remember writing half of that stuff! I was a little less self-censored then. I guess time, a semester of communications law, and irate circus clowns can all help you develop the mind-to-keyboard filter.

What else have I been up to? It was a pretty busy weekend. I went for a hike in the Santa Cruz mountains on Friday, and on Saturday, loaded Pico into the car and drove to Fresno to see Kelly, Timothy, T, T & E, along with Kelly's parents, her sister, and brother-in-law. It was so good to see everyone! And Harry Potter fans, if you can ever make it on a drive through Madera county, there's something you're really going to want to see. The world may never know if Platform 9 3/4 exists, but I can tell you that Avenue 15 3/4 does. For real. One day I'm going to need to look up the explanation for this, but I'll guess it has something to do with measurements?

I'll leave you all to ponder that. If anyone knows the history of this, please leave a comment or drop me an email!

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March 20, 2008

It's come to this

Thursday night, late March. A blond Canadian ex-pat sits in her living room, having come to the inevitable and unavoidable conclusion. It's come to this. It's time.

I'm about to begin Canada's favorite springtime game that I like to call "Choose your own income tax filing adventure."

This year is particularly fun, given that I've come across two entirely different sets of filing instructions for non-residents of Canada, each with a different tax office to mail your return to. I haven't quite figured out yet which one applies when you were a resident for part of the year, but I'm hoping it's the one where I get to claim a portion of the personal tax credit for the number of days in 2007 that I was still living there. If you don't hear from me in the next week or so, I'm probably rocking back and forth somewhere, singing Rick Mercer's "Knee in my Package" song.

For the confused, yes, I file a US return too. ;) But given that I wouldn't know how to file a state and federal return if it walked up to me, shook my hand, then took me out for dinner, I'm letting the pros handle that one.

Before I head off to the land of the infinitely confused to be blindsided by numbers while attempting whichever non-resident-applicable mathematical equation was dreamed up for us this year by someone who's been snowed-in to their government office since last fall, I want to leave you all with a very funny article that was forwarded to me by a friend this morning. If you're in need of some sarcastic/cynical humor, then check out "What's eating you, Mother Nature? Is it us?" by Maclean's columnist Scott Feschuk. I'm sending lots of love and warm, snow-melting thoughts to my friends back in Ottawa. Hope you see springtime soon!

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