A little bit of OCD?

Posted on November 1, 2008
Filed Under Main | Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago, I sat outside and glanced over at the neighbor’s laundry hanging out on their line.  My bored mind noticed that she had used the same color pegs for each item on the line.  So, for example, a t-shirt was held up by two blue pegs and a pair of jeans was held up by two yellow pegs.  No mixing colors.

Coincidence?  Perhaps.  So I looked next time she hung out laundry and, sure enough, the same pattern was repeated.

But today, her laundry looks slightly amiss:
 

As you can see, she used all blue pegs to begin with, then she must have run out.  She switched to yellow.  But then strangely, the very last item - a facecloth, I believe - is held up by one blue peg and one yellow.  Did she run out?  Is that last item driving her crazy?  Does my noticing all this mean anything about me?

Including the word OCD in the title of this, I am not suggesting that this woman is obssessive or compulsive.  But OCD definitely intrigues me because I believe that pretty much everyone has a bit of it.  I remember, as a child, feeling the need to make a slight sound when clearing my throat.  I always felt this urge whilst sitting quietly in front of the TV.  I’m not sure why I did it; it was simply an urge that I had to satisfy.  It drove my parents nuts!

I don’t do that anymore, but I think that we all have things that we did or still do that if people knew we did, would make them think we were a bit cooky.  Some of us double check and some of us wash our hands and worry about germs.  I feel very fortunate that I’ve never had anything that I felt very obssessed about.  I imagine that that can be overwhelming and extremely tiring.

The washing line next door just made me think about what this woman is thinking.  Does she simply like having things in order and has hardly realized that she seeks out the same color pegs for each piece of laundry?  Or is the laundry just the tip of the iceberg.  I don’t know her.  Maybe one day I will.

Quebec versus The World

Posted on October 8, 2008
Filed Under Complaints, Food, Main, Service Reviews | 2 Comments

On Sunday, Hubby and I took took the kids into Montreal to see my Mum and Stepfather.  We met up at Fairview Shopping Centre in Pointe-Claire, Quebec.  We had lunch there and visited a few shops. 

First things first: lunch.  We got most of it at Frank Supreme, which serves hamburgers, hotdogs, fries and such.  The main part of my lunch, a souvlaki, was purchased from Kojax.  You can always rely on Kojax to hand over the best, most yummiest food.  They’ve never failed me.  Ever!  Their souvlakis are soft and moist and very garlic-y. 

I’m drooling now.

Unfortunately, we don’t have a Kojax here in Cornwall so I’m left day dreaming about our future visits into Quebec!

Anyway, that was the food part of our visit.  The next part was the shopping.  I’ll head things off now by saying that bought nothing.  We drove an hour and a quarter, and spent $20+ dollars on gas and we bought nothing.  Why?  We’re terrible; we see things that we like and say, “we’ll wait and get that at Wal-Mart.  It’ll be cheaper”.  How sad is that?

But really, the point of my blog entry today is my visit to Best Buy.  Now, I like Best Buy, so this isn’t a jab at them directly… or maybe it is.

I found myself looking at their desktop computer.  I found one that looked exceedingly cheap and immediately wandered over to check out it’s specs.  All in French.  I am billingual, but when it comes to computer terminology, I much prefer to read it in my mother tongue.  Best Buy have the specs, price and such on little cards in front of the items.  The cards are inserted into plastic covers and from something similar to a sideways-hanging three-ring binder.  I flipped over the first card and found the next card to provide warranty details.  In French.  Flipped again and found more French.  And that was it.

Rolling my eyes, I wandered away from the computers and headed towards the widescreen TVs, something Hubby has be lusting after for a while now.  As I’m flipping over yet another French card, a sales person called Steven steps up.  He was nice and polite and asked if he could help me.  Yes, I said, provide these descriptions in English.

I could go and print it in English for you if you’d like, he offered.

All of them? 

The poor guy looked uncomfortable.  Although I wasn’t aiming my annoyance at him, I found myself in a situation where I was struck with one thought.  It was a thought that I hadn’t fully appreciated the 8 years or so that I have been living outside of Quebec and I ended my conversation with Steven by sharing this thought with him:

“You know, I used to live here in Quebec and I don’t miss it one bit.”

And it’s true, having lived in the UK and now in Ontario, I see no reason for any free-thinking human being to move into Quebec.  (If you already live there, you have an excuse.  This is not aimed toward you.)  In Quebec, the French so fear loosing their francophone culture and their precious bastardized language, that laws have been made up to keep the province from naturally evolving like the rest of the world.  Living there, having lived there your whole life, you don’t feel the oppression.  You just don’t notice it.  But when leave and come back, it’s like walking into a brick wall. 

It’s all around you and the memories come back about the store clerk who refused to speak English simply because he was being stubborn or the many times you received correspondence in French and would only receive it in English if you requested it specifically.  I also remember having the idiots from L’Office de la Protection de la Langue Francaise show up at our work place in Pointe-Claire and kick up a real stink because we had a sign up that read “Employees Only” rather than “Employes Seulement” or whatever.  Or the poor guy who owned that backery in the mall on Donegani who had a sign out front with the word ‘welcome’ in about 30 different languages.  He had to take it down because French wasn’t dominant.  It must be first on the list (on top) and twice the size of every other language, L’Office says.

See?  Do you see why I don’t miss living in Quebec? 

So, I suppose I am complaining about Best Buy because Quebec’s Law 101, the law created to detail how the French language is to be protected, states that other languages can used on signage, product labels, etc, as long as French is markedly predominant.  Best Buy have made a choice to not cater to Anglophone shoppers.  Keep that in mind the next time you’re in the market for a computer or a widescreen TV.

La La La La Elmo’s World

Posted on September 13, 2008
Filed Under Complaints, Main, Product Reviews | Leave a Comment

Something’s been bothering me.  It’s not anything that’s life-changing or life-or-death, but it’s a daily question mark for me and I’m now seeking an answer.  Can anybody help me?  Can anybody put this niggling question to rest?

Is it Mr Noodle or Mr Nuno?

(From 4 minutes)

I hate Elmo’s voice.

Free stuff for Canadians!

Posted on March 23, 2008
Filed Under Love it!, Main | Leave a Comment

Free full size Coffeemate:  http://www.coffeemate.ca

Free box of KASHI granola bars:  http://www.foodforchange.ca

Free sample packs of shampoo and conditionner from Garnier:  http://www.garnier.ca

Available across Canada.

Support our Troops?

Posted on December 24, 2007
Filed Under Complaints, Cornwall, In The News, Main | Leave a Comment

“Support our Troops“, the bumper sticker read.  It wasn’t the first time I’d heard that mantra and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.  But what does it mean?  What kind of support are we expected to provide our troops? 

Are we talking moral support?  You know, the kind of thing where we, as a country, make sure our troops know that we appreciate what they’re doing.  If so, how do I, as an individual, and how does this bumper sticker owner, show our support?  I don’t get it.  Would I be showing my support if I bought a bumper sticker?

The answer is ‘yes’.  I would be supporting the bumper sticker makers of Canada.

It’s kind of like a light-hearted debate I had online soon after Madeleine McCann went missing.  My opinion was, and remains, that Mr and Mrs McCann were wrong to leave their children unattented.  I voiced this opinion long before it was popular to do so (nowadays, a lot of the papers have turned on the McCanns and are highlighting their faux pas while still showing sadness over their loss).  

Just to be clear (as I’ve been attacked online for this misunderstanding already), I do not think that the McCanns wanted Madeleine abducted or that they made it happen.  I’m simply saying that, as parents of such young children, they should have been there and would most probably have prevented the abduction simply with their presence.

Anyway, I bought this up because I was widely criticized for this opinion and most people who commented could be quoted as saying something like:  “Instead of criticizing these poor people, let’s just get Madeleine back safely”.

I’m all for bringing her back safely - in fact, if there’s anything I can do personally, please let me know - but what a nonsense comment.  I was not simply criticizing the McCanns, I was offering a opinion which I hoped was up for debate.  I completely understand if someone has an opposing point of view (such as: the McCanns were right to leave their three children under the ages of 4 by the themselves in a holiday apartment night after night while they ate dinner with their friends), but no one actually offered me such a point of view.

All this to say that I hear and read other people’s thoughts and I’m often stumped by them.  As human being, myself included, we say things to appear to be doing, thinking or saying the right thing in the eyes of the world.  We want to seem caring and ‘in tune’ with the feelings of others and while all these things aren’t wrong, they leave a bad taste in my mouth and I sometimes wish that we could eradicate all this PC bullshit.  We deserve better than this.

But what kind of world would we live in if we didn’t feel the need to tiptoe around each other?  I have a hard time imagining it.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Posted on December 17, 2007
Filed Under Complaints, Cornwall, Main | Leave a Comment

Snow sucks.  It really, really does.  Over the last week, we’ve had about 40 centimeters of the damn stuff and temperatures sometimes dropping to -25C.  That 25 degree BELOW zero. 

Since moving back to Canada, we’ve had two decent winters where it snowed and the temperatures did indeed drop, but this week has been terrible.  Definitely the worst winter so far.  And the irony is that, officially, winter hasn’t even begun.

How depressing.

Snow in CornwallAnyway, so we’ve shovelled the car out numerous times and I have even found myself stuck in a snow bank.  No, not in the car, but on foot.  I was trying to get to work this morning and was utterly dismayed to see that they had yet to clear the sidewalks. I trudged along in knee-deep snow (no easy feat), swearing under my breath, and couldn’t believe it when the sidewalk ended with the biggest, deepest and widest snowbank I’d ever seen.

What choice did I have?  I couldn’t turn around and head back.  I had to scale the snowbank.

But fresh snow is not ’scalable’, is it?  No, it’s soft and fluffy and ever so damn pretty.

I sunk in to my waist and had I not had two beautiful children awaiting my return in 4 hours, I may have given up right then and there.  My thighs had ceased complaining and were now completely numb and I’d swear that half the snowbank was in my boots.  My gloves were wet and I was exhausted.

But as I am indeed sitting here typing about all this, it must be obvious that I pushed on and finally emerged from the snowbank.  Yes, completely pissed off and swearing a bit more audibly now.

I spent my 4-hour shift with wet jeans and socks and was thrilled to see Hubby arrive to pick me up. 

My hero.

Ketchup-less Big Macs

Posted on November 30, 2007
Filed Under Food, Main, Product Reviews | Leave a Comment

Big MacWhy don’t they put ketchup on a Big Mac?  Every other burger gets it.

Poor Big Mac.

(The picture makes you a bit hungry, doesn’t it?)

Food Rules

Posted on November 24, 2007
Filed Under Food, Main | 4 Comments

And by that, I mean “the rules about food” rather than “food is great”.  Although it is, of course. 

I have always had a few food rules that I live by.  They never seemed strange to me, but having married and had a family of my own, I see that other people (read: Hubby) see things different and think that my food rules stink.

A few example of my food rules?  Read on:

saladMy Rule #1 - If I serve pizza or burgers for supper, the accompanying vegetable must always be salad.  Never hot veggies like peas or broccoli.

My Rule #2 - The same applies to Italian meals like lasagna and spaghetti.  If I decide to serve a vegetable with it, it’s salad again.

My Rule #3 - I love ketchup but there are certainly things that it should not go on.  I am a bit contrary on this one because:

My Rules #4 - Once milk has been poured on my cereal, I must eat it promptly.  If something comes up and I can’t get to it quickly, it is ruined.  I cannot stand soggy cereal and, in my view, that process starts immediately after the milk has added.

pancakesMy Rules #5 - Sweet foods are for dessert and savoury foods are for meals.  The exceptions to this rules is pancakes, which I’ve just decided to have for lunch.  When I told Hubby about my choice, he said that he’d have a couple after lunch, but not for lunch.  Crazy guy.

My Rule #6 - Hubby has no trouble having a cookie while he’s waiting for supper.  Me, I see that as possibly spoiling my appetite and I save the cookie for dessert.

My Rules #7 - Sandwiches are boring.  When lunchtime arrives, I much prefer something hot or out of the ordinary.

My Rules #8 - Soup is boring.  I never eat soup.  It’s like a slightly lumpy, often salty drink.  I would eat a chunky soup and I love stew.  But soup… yawn.

toastMy Rules #9 - All kinds of bread are good for toasting, but are only to be eaten with specific other foods.  For example, when I make toast, I’ll make it with all kinds of bread: white, whole wheat, rye, etc.  Then I add margarine or jam.  And when I have hamburgers, I like to have the bun toasted.  But a bun, or bread roll, should not be toasted and buttered and eaten with breakfast.  I remember moving in with Hubby and watching him do that and, obviously, there’s nothing wrong with it, I just wouldn’t do it.

My Rules #10 - Peanut butter:  no, never, not under any circumstances.  Not with chocolate and not on toast or bread.  Not with fruit, cake or even out of the jar.  Gross, gross, gross!  But peanuts are yummy.

My rules have relaxed immensely as I’ve gotten older.  They were more strict in that I didn’t like any ‘wet’ part of my meal, like baked beans, touching my bread or potatoes.  But I’m over that now and I actually enjoy having a couple of different flavours and textures in the same bite.  I know, shocking.

Do you have any food rules?

Test Tube Aliens: cool toy or waste of money?

Posted on November 15, 2007
Filed Under Main, Product Reviews | 3 Comments

The other day, I mentioned wanting a Test Tube Alien for my birthday.  Although the packaging states that it is for ages 7 and up, I figured that my 35th was the perfect time to get this new toy. 

I asked for it, and I got it!

The alien I was given is called Yagoni and ‘he’ is, according to the website, the protector of the good aliens and is an intelligent and respected leader.  Great!  At least I got one of the good guys!

The alien arrives in a cocoon within the test tube.  The instructions say to fill the test tube with water to ‘hatch’ your alien.  After you add the water, it starts to fizz and overflow.  Hold it over the sink and watch closely as you start to see a flashing green light.  Within a few minutes, you can make out a face too!  It’s a little bit creepy as you wonder what is emerging through the fizzy liquid.

When the fizz slows, you can empty the water out and rinse it a few times.  This is the first time you get a real glimpse of your alien.  Mine, Yagoni, has a large, transparent head.  He has a red body with yellow feet.  He also has big, dark eyes and two antennae.  You can see the ‘computer’ inside his head that obviously makes this whole thing work.

Following the instructions, I combined the sloog (included) with more water and fed my alien.  Sloog is apparently a “nutrient rich food from their planet”.  I don’t know what sloog really is but if I find out, you’ll be the first to know.

Before you add the sloog water, your alien’s heart (located in its forehead, by the way) will flash orange, indicating that it is starving.  Add the sloog water and the heart will flash red.  Your alien is happy and healthy.  A green flashing heart indicates drowning, meaning that you alien has too much water.

How does your alien know if there is enough or too much water?  It has tiny sensors at the base of its antennae and at the tips too.

Two more packages of sloog are provided but I only ended up feeding it two altogether.  One packet is still sitting on my desk.  Yagoni does not seem to have suffered.

Now, a week or so after Yagoni hatched, he is about twice the size that he was.  His body expands outwards as well as upwards.  He only has another inch and a bit to go before he’ll reach the top of the test tube.  I assume that he’ll stop growing at that point.

So, to recap, as long as you keep the water at the appropriate level – which is in between the two sets of sensors, your alien will stay alive and well.

What do I do with it now?  Not much, really.  I check its water level, like I would a houseplant, and that’s about it.

So, Test Tube Aliens:  cool toy or waste of money?  You decide.

The Litter Bugs Across the Street

Posted on November 11, 2007
Filed Under Complaints, Cornwall, Main | Leave a Comment

We, as well as our neighbors across the street, live at the very end of a street and so have no one on one side of us.  We love it, as we can almost imagine that we’re alone.  We’re loners, really. 

I was standing at the kitchen sink yesterday, washing some dishes, when I noticed the neighbors across the street pull into their driveway.  The man got out and went to unlock the front door.  Then I watched the woman get out of the car holding what looked like a small white cloth.  Perhaps a wipe or something.  She walked over to the fence that divides their property from the clearing beside it and then tossed the cloth over it.  She then went back to the car and started getting the shopping bags out.  She brought a couple of bags into the house, where they surely have their very own garbage can, and I could tell that the cloth that she threw over the fence never even crossed her mind again.

recycleWe’ve noticed that this couple doesn’t recycle, so we already had a low opinion of them.  Judgemental, I know, but who in their right minds doesn’t recycle nowadays when they have the facilities to do so?

I couldn’t believe what I’d just witnessed!  I wanted to go out there and rant at her.  It is SO out of order to be dropping garbage on the floor, especially if you at directly outside your own home.  I don’t even spit my gum out on the ground and I never, never drop any garbage on the ground.  Candy wrappers, scraps of paper, old receipts… nothing!  I put them into my pocket and bring them to my home garbage if I don’t find one sooner.

I don’t mean to sound so high and mighty but littering like that is just plain wrong.

Did I rush out to pick up the garbage she’d dropped?  No.  The wind was blowing strongly and I knew that the cloth would be at the next block by the time I got out there.  In fact, I watched it blow away.

A day later, I’m still seething about it though.

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