My brother Kevin is finally home after one of his bucket-list adventures: a motorcycle trip to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. It sits on the northern-most part of the US highway system – in fact, 10 miles north of the actual highway. Sarah Palin couldn’t see Russia from Prudhoe Bay, but that country isn’t far away. …
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My co-starring role in a grade-eight production of Tom Sawyer has become a bit of an inside joke. I bring up my performance as Becky Thatcher to Derek as if it was my glory-days moment and he uses it to build up my self-esteem. “The woman who triumphed on the Gainsborough Central Public School stage as Becky Thatcher is worried about (insert worry here)?” …
Many people think sexism is a thing of the past. More women than ever are doing whatever they want -working or raising kids or a mixture of both – so they reason that it must mean they’re treated equally. Oh I wish it were true! Many individuals and companies aren’t sexist but some industries are still overwhelmingly that way, including my own: Media. …
Wire BBQ brushes are back in the news and in front of Health Canada. It’s conducting an investigation after nine injuries were reported to have been caused by the brushes, in the past few years. Sometimes wires come off the brushes and land in the food. They end up in people’s tongues or throats and potentially migrate into the gut. It’s dangerous and sometimes difficult for surgeons to remove. So we set out to find an alternative. …
If you’ve never had reason to buy advertising on Facebook, let me tell you that it works. You can micro-target your ad to reach the narrowest of demographics. Do you want to appeal only to Moms in their 30s with two children who belong to Pinterest and eat only organic arugula? Done. Or you can blanket the whole FB population. You control it and you set the budget. You pay by the click. It’s cheap and it’s effective. …
This novel was one of the darlings of Canadian publishing last year. It was nominated for this, won that, short-listed for something else – does it bother you that I didn’t even share the specific prizes? That’s kind of what reading this book is like. …
I’ve lived with many people over the years, most of them were my husbands. *rimshot* …
Today is Miss Sugar’s 11th birthday. She is the junior-senior of our senior cat duo, adopted from the London Humane Society when she was nine. The first thing we did was change her name from Kitty. Talk about unimaginative! …
If you don’t know Patton Oswalt, please allow me to introduce you. I’ve been a fan so long, I used to have to order his stand-up comedy CDs (CDs!) from the US. He’s funny, smart, original and thinky without being Dennis-Miller-over-my-head thinky. He also played Spence on King of Queens and a computer geek/genius on Two-and-a-Half Men, among other things. …
Who’s Allowed to Criticize Patton Oswalt and a Neighbourly UpdateRead More »
You may remember Cousin Kim from Erin Davis’ retirement show. She was my “date”. She’s a great lady and one of Derek’s favourite first cousins. Now, Kim is coming through a terrible ordeal as the result of seemingly “safe” over-the-counter medication. …
Confession: I’ve watched this video several times and it’s always been on mute. I don’t really care about the song. Macklemore isn’t my thing. A 34-year-old rapper doesn’t want to be my thing. But what he is, is a caring, sweetheart of a guy who loves his Grandma. …
I’m pretty sure that Robbies Pizza was the first pizza I ever ate. That is correct – not Robbie’s; Robbies. I unearthed one of their flyers in a pile of my father’s stuff.
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The motorcycle industry is hurting. This isn’t anything new. It hasn’t really recovered since sales plummeted in the mid 2000s when the economy took a hit and the first things people gave up were their “play” items. They stopped buying sports cars, boats and bikes. When things started to pick up again, motorcycle manufacturers found themselves trying to sell powerful machines to people who were too old to want them. …
When Ken’s away, I’ll do whatever it takes to not be boring. Our morning show – a talk show, may I remind you – eats up so much more content when there’s just one person at the helm. Without Ken there to keep the conversation going, there’s only so much I can do alone that’s interesting. Oh, I could prattle on incessantly if I loved the sound of my own voice a bit more! But “interesting” is the key! …
Trust me. This is worth your time. A woman who would obviously make a great friend or colleague decided to give her fiance a collection of boudoir photos. …
I’ve always been curious about what makes time seem to speed up or slow down. Why can we remember tiny details about something that happened in our teens but nothing at all about most things that occurred in our 30s? …
Review: The Power of Time Perception by Jean Paul ZogbyRead More »
Considering the amount of time I’ve spent in my old hometown lately and the Facebook friends I have from high school including the group dedicated just to my class year, you’d think I would have caught wind of the farewell party for the school itself. But no one breathed a word about it until afterward. Looks like most of my old classmates didn’t even attend. Pity. …