Money Money Money

There is a new online trend. I care about all of you who read my blog, I want you to be up to date on all the latest trends. BUT... I think that no one will actually do this.

Cyber begging.
Essentially people set up sites asking for money. Usually there is a sob story, or tales of credit card debt, or plastic surgery wants. Kind people donate a dollar or more to the person usually via pay pal. This is both brilliant and incredibly pathetic. However there are other people asking for help with medical expenses, this is a whole different category of sad.

I think that your soul gains so much more if you fix the problems by toughing it out. Maybe that is the poor student in me that is talking. I'm used to being poor, but at the same time, I know exactly how much I owe. Most people that are in finacial difficulties ignore their problems by not ackowledging their debt. This is like sticking your head in the sand. Don't do that!

Worse comes to worse, there is always cyber begging. Here's some links for you:
http://www.cyberbeg.com/
http://donatemoney2me.com/?gclid=CJbPrJnoi4oCFSUqYAodpx32dw

Wonders of the World

I got a post card from Sarah and Ryan today. It was of Victoria falls, one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. This got me thinking, how many wonders have they seen? I thought there were only 7 wonders. Actually there are 7 wonders of the ancient, medievel, modern, natural and underwater worlds. There are a few other categories, but I think that they are a bit of stretch.

How many wonders have you seen? I think that Sarah and Ryan will probably win this contest, but you never know Karen may win this weeks challenge too!! If you aren't sure about some of these wonders, you can click on them to find out more.
THE ANCIENT WORLD, I think that only one of these still exists.
The Great Pyramid of Giza
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
The Colossus of Rhodes
The Pharos of Alexandria

MIDIEVEL WORLD
Stonehenge
The Colosseum
The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
The Great Wall of China
The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
The Hagia Sophia
The Leaning Tower of Pisa

THE NATURAL WORLD
Mount Everest
The Great Barrier Reef
The Grand Canyon
Victoria Falls
The Harbor of Rio de Janeiro
Paricutin Volcano
The Northern Lights

THE UNDERWATER WORLD
Palau
The Belize Barrier Reef
The Galapagos Islands
The Northern Red Sea
Lake Baikal
The Great Barrier Reef
The Deep Sea Vents

THE MODERN WORLD
The Empire State Building
The Itaipú Dam
The CN Tower
The Panama Canal
The Channel Tunnel
The North Sea Protection Works
The Golden Gate Bridge

I have seen 3 wonders, the CN tower, northern lights, and the Golden Gate bridge.

You are the 1000 visitor!!!

I was going to post something about how Anne Heche has left her husband for her co-star in Men In Trees, the show that I am addicted to. I actually stopped watching ER because of the time conflic with men in trees. 'the hot guy' is just too hot to miss, apprently Anne Heche agrees.

But anyways, I just noticed that I am visitor 999!! So that makes you lucky number 1000. What is your prize? I steamy harlequin romance novel that didn't make the big brothers pick up. I don't read them, I sell them. So if you are the lucky person. write me a comment, so I know where to send off the book. Also if you desire a particular genre of Romance novel, let me know I may be able to accomodate. Sorry I don't have any pirate romances. I might have a few with cowboys though!

To all the non-winners: thanks for stopping by! Totally appreciated, dude.

I have been doing a little research on some of the places Sarah and Ryan have recently visited. I was shocked at some of the stats I found.

According to the UN, the life expectancy of Zimbabwean women is only 34 years. You can read more about it here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4890508.stm

In Zimbabwe, 1 in 5 children are orphans because their parents have died of AIDS. 25% of the population of Zimbabwe has AIDS. Of the 20 countries with the highest rate of AIDS, 19 of them are african countries.

Zambia isn't much better. Life expectancy there is only 43, and the average household income for 1 year is only $370. Just over 1 in 10 infants that are born alive, die before their first birthday. This number does not include the infants that are stillborn. If you were to look at the number of children that die before their 5th birthday, the numbers woud be much higher, about 3 or 4 out of 10 children.

SCANDAL

So the other day I ran into a woman who lives in the co-op. We say hello in passing and chat while gardening in the summer. Well the other day she starts congratulating me on my exciting news. This has me totally confused... why should I be congratulated? Then she tells me. Apparently someone told her I am preggers!! WHAT? Total news to me. I think it's hilarious that my gossipy little co-op has bothered to start a rumour about me. I wonder how far it will travel? Perhaps I will get presents! I feel a little bit like a celebrity, this week pregnant, next week dating someone new. Maybe I'll make the cover of our monthly newsletter!

interesting phobias

I think this a list of possible phobias. I seriously doubt that anyone has actually had some of these.

Barophobia- the fear of gravity
Cathisophobia- Fear of sitting.
Deipnophobia- Fear of dining or dinner conversations
Dutchphobia- Fear of the Dutch.
Ergophobia- Fear of work
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia- Fear of long words <-- I seriously doubt this one. It's too ironic!
Somniphobia- Fear of sleep
Vestiphobia- Fear of clothing

Water Kills Woman

I know that I have talked about water intoxication before, but it was recently in the news again. Essentially water intoxication is when a person's electrolytes are so out of wack that the brain swells, causing seizures, internal organs to shut down and possibly death. A woman in the states was in a contest and drank a bunch of water ( I can't find exactly how much) and was later found dead.

Some of you might remember that a few years ago I volunteered at Riverview on the Self-Induced Water Intoxication ward. The people in Riverview drank water for the high they got when their brain started to swell. It was due to a compulsion to drink water similar to the compulsions people with OCD experience. Most of the people on the ward were schizophrenic with OCD. Sadly Self-Induced Water Intoxication is very difficult to treat and most people who suffer from it, spend their entire lives in a secure facility.

Water intoxication also happens to athletes, usually runners and endurance athletes. Usually their get severely dehydrated and then chug water, which causes a change in electrolytes that is too fast for the body. Which is why you are supposed to drink water before, during and after you exercise.

Bonus points for anyone who can tell me what the fear of drinking is called.

Purple birds beware!!!

Salem .................One
Feather Duster......... Zero



Outdoor cats kill birds. Salem kills feather dusters. She even carries the feather duster around the house in her mouth.

Potluck

This post is a complete mix of things that don't warrant their own posting.

I'm back in school now. I think this will be a very tough semester. Demanding profs that are as famous as Britney Spears- at least in the psyc world. Wasn't it just last week I was complaining that I was bored? Not anymore.

Sarah gave me some very good movie suggestions. I managed to watch Wimbeldon, The Matrix III and the new Bond movie last week. All of them worth watching. I love Paul Bettany he was in Wimbeldon, a Knights Tale and the Da Vinci Code. The only movie he was in that I didn't like was the Da Vinci Code. Although I think he played his freaky albino character very well. I watched the Da Vinci code for the same reason I watched Titanic- because everyone said it was soooooo good. Wrong!

Changing gears...
Pierre Trudeau's son Justin is entering federal politics! I don't often get excited about politicians, but Justin has been the spokesman and advocate for Katimavik for the last five years. He was also active in raising awareness of Darfur. He made a documentary about his trip to Darfur, it aired on CBC. He has also done some environmental stuff that I can't remember right now. He seems like a very good person, I think that he will do good things.

The view from my computer chair. I don't know if you can tell? A tree has fallen down into the ravine and broke the fence.

Last weekend was my work Xmas party. In retail it's too busy to do it in December (plus moving to the new store). There are always lots of prizes and gifts from the sales reps. This year there was a motorcycle! It is one of those battery powered ones. When I was little I wanted a barbie jeep. My boss Lina won it, she is the most proper Italian lady ever, but she was a good sport and hopped on.



I had a little mini new years resolution to get rid of one of my credit cards. I decided my Molson Canadian Mastercard wasn't giving me any perks. It was so much fun to chop it up! It was 2 days later when I realized that it's the card that I use for my cell phone and Vonage as well as all of my online purchases. Ooops! I spent the next day changing my billing information with all those companies.

How was your day?

SFU was forced to close today after the buses stopped running. As a result my commute home took 5 1/2 hours. I managed to catch the 2nd bus off the mountain. I'm glad I didn't catch the 1st one as it jack-knifed OFF the road! I have never been so scared in a bus. I wasn't sure we were going to make it at one point. Who thought it was a good idea to put schools on the peaks of mountains.

Everyone I'm sure has had trials and tribulations today. All except Sarah and Suds, who were in Zamibia working on their tans. Seriously people! Why are we living here? Feel free to vent in the comments area.

PS. I just finished running a bath to melt my toes in. The phone rang and while I was talking, Salem fell into the tub! She's having a rough day too.

Brrrr.!

I just checked the Environment Canada website. Tonight and tomorrow it is going to be -16 with the windchill. Make sure you don't leave your cats and dogs out! They can get hypothermia and frost bite on their toes and ears just like we can. Also make sure you salt everything tonight, it's going to be very cold and icy tomorrow.

Any one remember the movie with Jake Gyllenhal called The Day After Tomorrow? It's about what happens when the weather gets really extreme. Wind, Rain, Flooding, Snow, Cold - does this sound familiar to anyone?

Screw You Canada Post!

I am so angry with Canada Post. I bought some shipping supplies from them for my Amazon sales. I wasn't home when the package arrived, so they sent it to the post office. But they didn't send it to one near me. The sent it to a post office in Burnaby! If I drove, this wouldn't be a huge problem. But this post office isn't on a bus route.

I called customer service and asked them to send the parcel to the post office near me. Request denied. Apparently there is some kind of contract in place- the post office in Burnaby handles packages for my my postal code. Ok. Fine. I requested that they redeliver my package. Request denied. So I make my 5th phone call, to the national customer service centre. They confirm that there are 3 post offices closer than the one where my parcel is being held hostage. But the friendly lady on the phone said that there is nothing I can do, even she said this is ridiculous! As long as this contract is in place, my parcels will continue to be sent to Burnaby.

I think this is horrible customer service. If I could boycott them, I would. Eventually I might pick up the parcel. I have until the 20th to do so. I was thinking I might demand service in French from now on. Poste Canada n'est pas? That's right. Canada Post is a run by the federal government. As such, I have the right to demand service in BOTH official languages. Watch out Burnaby Post Office! You have a French speaking customer coming your way, and no I don't understand a bloody word of English.

Weather

I know that talking about the weather is usually a boring thing to do. But I think that our weather is blog-worthy. I am sitting in bed with my laptop, running on batteries. This morning I woke up to 6 inches of snow (how strange) and now there is a wind storm so strong that I am going to sleep with socks and a bra on, just incase a tree slams into my house. I always see women on the news being interviewed after something bad has happened and they always look horrible. I should probably wear make-up to bed.... Those of you that know where I live, know that I live next to a ravine full of trees. My power has been surging every few minutes, and I have even lost power for a few seconds. Thank god for laptop batteries, or I would be completely without technology! LOL

The big wind storm that we had kept me up half that night as I listened to CKNW and saw transformers all over my neighbourhood blowing up. That was really scary. The sky would light up with a green tinge, like in the movie the matrix.

Those of you that don't live in BC don't know what I'm talking about.