Oh Brinkley! What a star. My housemate's super computer is awesome...I wish I was fancy enough for a Macbook Pro! Make sure your sound is turned on, it makes the video way funner.

Pooch loves the sun

Rap for the Hearing Impaired

It could happen.

How about a hobo?

I am watching TV right now and a Dairy Queen commercial just came on that is yet another example of a trend that has taken over TV. This isn't really a new trend but I haven't ranted about it yet. Apparently TV has decided to try to disrupt the natural order which tends to match up people of equal hotness, intelligence etc. Most of us know this as the number system and frankly I think it has worked fairly well thus far.

There are a lot of TV shows on right now that have a super hot wife and a painfully average husband and we are supposed to believe they are an "average couple". In addition to looks the men on these shows are generally sort of dopey and the wives do a lot of sighing and eye-rolling. In reality this is an 8 married to a 3 which we all know is basically crazy.

The reason that these shows bother me is that if these super hot women are supposed to date/marry the chubby-average-dopey guys, who is an average girl like me supposed to date? A hobo?

Seriously.

Really?

Dear annoying girl on the train,

No matter how nice your lulu lemon pants are they are not dress pants. This means that they should not be worn with stilettos, even pink patent leather stilettos. In addition, you really only need to carry one bag. I realize you think you look extra stylish when you carry your fake Chanel purse but when you put your superman backpack over the other shoulder it kind of ruins it. Finally, the jewel you had put in your front tooth, really not cool. Unless your name is Chingy it pretty much just looks like you have food in your teeth.

Thanks for understanding

Hair Cut

I was having a low self-esteem day today so I got a haircut. The jury is still out on this one...it involves bangs. Here are the pros and cons so far:

Pros:

• My forehead doesn't look as big
• I think I look less like a librarian
• Sheena says I look less pointy
• I think its a bit "trendier"
  

Cons:

• Bangs can be unpredictable
• I think I'm going to have to shower more
• I may not be able to see the frisbee at ultimate
• I'm not sure I can pull off "trendy"
  

Science

Welcome to grade one science.

GlaS Petl
we mebit into a god shap we pot wois on it and slakrKs.
we taPt the GasPetl to the stro sothaT itworodFlot bek Holbti to Flot. wekivroThe ois
we kitthe plat and pota rok on The Plae metle woshrs Aad tiis.

Hint: We were doing an experiment where they had to make objects that float sink, and objects that sink float. Have fun!

Home Alone

My housemate went to visit her sister for a few days so it's just me and the dog at home this weekend. I'm really bad at living alone. Here are a few reasons why:

1. I'm not very good at entertaining myself.
2. I start talking to the dog (more than usual).
3. I watch too many home improvement shows and then feel bad about what my house looks like.
4. I get a bit too chatty with strangers at the coffee shop.
5. I get scared when its dark and have to check for bad guys around every corner like the cops on TV.

I'm always curious what percentage of the population prefers to live alone? I guess it would have some advantages such as not having to worry about your dog ruining other peoples stuff and being able to walk around in your underpants, but at this point I'm willing to forgo those potential benefits for the piece of mind that comes with knowing the bad guys only have a 50/50 chance of getting to me first.

My skinny dog

I took Brinkley to the vet this week. He had to have blood taken so that they could check his thyroid levels again. He has hypothyroidism which resulted in low energy and some weight gain for the poor guy. I'm happy to report that his thyroid levels are fine and he has lost 5kg! He is now pretty much at his ideal weight at 41kg (~90lbs).
I also purchased the FURminator last weekend and I have been having a great time getting rid of all of Brinkley's loose hair! (I know, I really need to get a life.) I was a bit skeptical about the Furminator, rarely do products work as well in real life as they claim to in the demo, but the Furminator has been worth every penny, its amazing! I highly recommend it.
A few other things that I have discovered about Brinkley over the past few weeks:
- He's scared of Snowmen. We saw one on our walk a few weeks ago and we had to turn around because he wouldn't walk past it. Then some kids built a snowman across from my house and he spent a full night barking at it while I was trying to sleep. I tried closing the blinds, but then he ate them.
- He loves raw potatos. He stole one the other day while I was cooking and apparently he's found a new favourite food. A bit weird. But a lot cheaper than TV remotes (the count is up to 12) and rawhides so I'm all for it!

Painting, Ping Pong, and Rec Rooms!

It has been a very busy weekend. Since Sue moved out Sheena decided to move upstairs, but before she did we had to paint the room. As it turns out I am the world's worst painter. You might think I'm exaggerating but I'm not. I managed to mess up the trim, cutting, and I even got paint in my eye...and all I had to do was paint three walls white. Not to worry though, once I stopped trying to help Sheena got all the painting done and it looks great.

So how that we have the whole basement empty we decided to turn it into a rec room! First step in creating a rec room: A ping pong table!! I found one on craigslist and picked it up today. It is soooooo fun!!! The next step for the rec room is the purchase of a Nintendo Wii (Sheena is buying it, not me. I'm a poor student, I can't afford stuff like that). We have a couch and chair all setup with the TV down there just waiting for the Wii. Unfortunately it is IMPOSSIBLE to find a Wii! Oh well, we'll find one eventually and then the rec room will be close to completion. After that it'll be time for a party!

Unhibernation League...again

Unhibernation league is going to start up again the first week in February. Thanks to Ali and Andrew for hosting the first event in December. For those of you who couldn't make it we had a great time decorating gingerbread houses...well until Jon accidentally stepped on Maarten's gingerbread house, that part was pretty sad...especially for Maarten. I have too much homework to get anything planned for this week but it is definitely starting the week after because I really can't handle too many more nights hanging out at home with my dog. (wow, that sounds even more pathetic in print than it did in my head). Anyways, for those of you who are interested I'll be sending out an email with an event sometime this week. If you don't hear from me send me an email to remind me to plan something...I'm a bit forgetful.

oh, also an update on my new years resolutions...I'm switching it to one chin up...they're REALLY hard!

The Golden Globes

Phrases uttered in my house while watching the Golden Globes:

My dog's life is hard like Beyonce's

If you're Diddy, I'm Chingy

It must suck to be that one non-funny British person. Everyone would have such high expectations and then nothing.

I'd hate to go to an awards show. I'd feel so homely. I mean, I realize these celebrities have a lot of people helping to make them beautiful, but I don't think they're exactly uggo's when they wake up in the morning.

I wonder if they use paint chips to match the colour of their spray on tans to their dresses

Why is that guy from that movie with Jessica Simpson presenting at the Golden Globes?

Resolutions

I think I'm generally against the idea of new years resolutions. Primarily because I have a hard time wrapping my head around a period of time as long as a whole year. So I think this list is really more of a list of general things I'd like to be able to do in the next little while...let's say 3 months-ish.

1. Do 5 chin-ups...in a row. Currently I can do 0 chin-ups.
   
2. Knit something other than a scarf
3. Run faster
4. Drink champagne for a whole night to see if i have a hangover the next day. (there is a rumor that you won't get a hangover from champagne if that is all you drink...I'm intrigued)
5. Read the Economist every week

I think if I can accomplish at least 3 of these I'll be pretty happy.

Hawaiitis

I seem to be suffering from a fairly severe case of hawaiitis. It is a pretty debilitating disease. The symptoms are as follows:

• Lethargy
• reddening (or browning) of the skin
• increased body temperature
• cravings for alcohol and "tapas"
• inability to make decisions

I've been doing my best to work through the disease but its pretty hard. Anyways, happy new year!

Mele Kalikimaka

A few pictures from Christmas day here in Hawaii. Luckily Santa was still able to find us here and mom cooked a great turkey! (I was responsible for making the Hawaiian eggnog aka Pina Colada's and I'm happy to say they were very well received.)

The pastiest people in Hawaii. We're working on it...I promise.

The girls wearing some festive jewels from Grandma

View from the Lanai

Hawaii bound

Off to Hawaii tomorrow morning! I'm really excited. I hope I don't get eaten by a shark.
Merry Christmas everyone (or other holiday wishes if you don't celebrate Christmas). See you in two weeks!

Unhibernation League

It's time to start up the unhibernation league again. Really it was time to start up the league in October, but I was lazy and busy getting used to being in school and didn't get my act together. So, I think the league should start after January 7th. Here are a few ideas I have so far:

• Climbing
• Speed Skating (either Steph or Maarten will need to be recruited in order for this one to work I think.)
• Roller Skating
• Skeleton
• Andrew's annual scavenger hunt

I'm pretty excited for the league to start up again. I had a lot of fun last year!

Wii

I'm thinking of buying a Wii. From what I've heard the sports games are supposed to be pretty fun (not to mention the potential of "Dance Factory") and you don't have to be one of those "gamers" to have one. I'm waffling about it though because they are still a bit expensive and I'm a poor student. Seems like fun though!

Farewell to Milton Friedman

Milton Friedman passed away last Thursday. I'm really surprised how little I've heard about it in the media. Maybe I'm just watching the wrong shows, or perhaps things have gotten so bad that the death of one of the most significant economist of the 20th century isn't important enough to interrupt the 24/7 coverage of the "TomKat" wedding. Either way it's always sad to lose a smartie.

procrastination strikes again

Procrastination has been getting the better of me lately. I just can't seem to convince myself to get anything done, especially school work and laundry. If this keeps up I may just have to buy new clothes. In addition this blog has also taken a bit of a hit due to my procrastination. So, in an attempt to rectify the situation here are a few things that I've been thinking about lately but haven't managed to get into print:

1. Short people. Short Pants: Why do I keep seeing short people in excessively short pants? Inevitably the people in short pants are also wearing white socks and bad shoes which only makes things worse and apparently these people are completely oblivious to the breeze on their ankles. I mean I can understand that tall people who don't care about their clothes sometimes end up with short pants because their legs are just too long for regular pants, but these short people actually had to put in effort to make their pants too short...they had to get them hemmed like that! Is this some sort of sick joke being played by tailors all across Calgary?
2. Bathroom reno: I'm renovating the bathroom. Today I had to go choose tile at the contractor approved tile store. The lady who was "helping" me was horrible...she was one of those people who is determined to do the least amount of work possible while at work without any consideration for the difficulty this will cause for the customer. Here's how our conversation went: I said: " I'm renovating my bathroom. My contractor said I needed to come here to choose tile. I think I like this tile here but I would like to take it home to see what it looks like in my bathroom. Can I do that?" Her response: "Well, I can't let you take the sample we have out here, so I'd have to check in the back for another sample" - awkward pause - Then I said: " Ok, I can just keep looking while you go check" -awkward pause - Then she said: "Oh, well I guess you can probably take the one out here if you can bring it back on Monday". Then i said:" Ok, could you tell me the price on this tile?" and she said: "Well I'd have to go to the back to get that"...I think you get the idea. This is when you really start to see the negative effects of the labour shortage...I think I'd prefer if they just hired monkeys or something.
3. I had more things I was going to write about...procrastination and juvenile alzheimers is not a good combination.